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An Age-Old Debate By Art Buchwald, The Washington Post September 4, 2003 I am always happy when we approach an election year and politicians start to worry about senior citizens and how they will vote. The main reason is that I am a senior citizen and I will take any help I can get. The reason I know I am a senior citizen is that I am not a prospect for product merchandising. I have been told by advertisers and TV networks that I don't count and that they only want to suck up to the 18-to-49-year-old age group. Every time age discrimination is brought up it ends up in the Supreme Court, which is made up of nine senior citizens. While I would be happy to have the government pay my Medicare and pharmacy bills, the legislation has not yet passed, as it has many potholes in it, mostly put there by lobbyists. The provision I lose the most sleep over has to do with urging us to give some of our Medicare business to private health plans. I am frightened that the company I sign up with will go bankrupt and the officers will wind up in Brazil. The honorable companies have to make a profit. Since more and more senior citizens will be urged to try out the private sector, the health-care industry will raise its prices. More senior citizens will be dropped if they become an insurance risk. The second thing I worry about is prescription drugs. They are so expensive that the senior citizen actors in the commercials can no longer afford to play with their grandchildren. The government does not want the drug companies to go out of business, but we've reached the point that many of us have to use all our gas money to drive to Canada to buy pills. I don't want to be a wimp, but senior citizens have to pay $140 for a prescription. To make it up to them, they only pay $5 to go to the movies. Because senior citizens still might buy products -- even if advertisers don't want them to -- it has been suggested that they carry an age identification card. The card would permit them to buy a Chevy, Chrysler or Ford, provided they are accompanied by someone from the 18-to-45-year-old age group. Anyone who sells a car to a senior citizen who has no card will be fined $5,000. Not all senior citizens are retired. Some are still working because the company holding their pensions spent the money on other things. Advertisers should pay attention because since they still have to work, these seniors might have money for Polident, electric toothbrushes, vitamins and Viagra. So even if Pepsi wants only youth to drink its products and Anheuser-Busch wants Bud Light to be consumed by singles in bars, the senior citizen's life span is getting longer and longer. And when the election comes up in 2004 they will be mad as hell and won't take it anymore. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
