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Linda Delaney: Hand off my money

I have been paying into Medicare and Social Security every month for more years than I care to mention, and that money is mine. That money was invested in good faith and redeeming that investment is not an entitlement.

It is highly unlikely that I will ever recoup my investment, and that is OK. I’m perfectly comfortable with some of that money going to those who were not so fortunate in their lifetime.

I am not OK with the government, most specifically the current House of Representatives and the 2019 proposed budget, using that money to reduce the deficit they helped create by passing a tax plan that gives unholy tax breaks to corporations and the most wealthy in our society. Taking $537 billion out of Medicare over the next decade is not the answer, it’s theft. I plan to use Medicare and Social Security to meet my needs for the next decade, and I am entitled to do just that.

Discussing the proposed damage taking $1.5 trillion from Medicaid and other health programs would take too much space, but just consider the impact that would have on Northwest Colorado. Consider also that 10,000 Americans who have paid into those programs their entire working lives turn 65 every day, and Medicaid covers costs for more than 60 percent of skilled nursing care.

The federal government already has a big debt to the Social Security fund from the last they “borrowed.” The money all of us have invested in Medicare and Social Security with every paycheck belongs to us, and using that money to effect the deficit congress has created is downright theft.

Linda Delaney

Steamboat Springs


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