Deficit Hysteria: Washington's War on the Young

The Republican Party's voucher plan would make Medicare (as opposed to "Medicare" vouchers) unavailable to anyone who becomes eligible after 2021. That means it affects anybody born after 1956, a date that eliminates a large chunk of the Baby Boom. The vouchers will cover less and less of health insurance's real cost with each passing year. That means the younger you are, the worse this plan will be for you.

If the Ryan plan becomes law, 90% of your Social Security retirement income will be eaten up by out-of-pocket health care costs by 2037. And that's a conservative estimate. Without the Medicare system's built-in controls on pricing and utilization, actual health care costs could be even greater.