At some point, young voters "broke bad" and turned on older voters. Maybe they didn't mean to hurt us. But, they did.

[PeaceWave]

Last edited Thu Jul 3, 2025, 04:34 AM - Edit history (1)

The travesty of a piece of legislation that passed through the U.S. Senate today will have ramifications for all of us who live in this country. However, among the gravest ramifications will be those that fall upon people in need of basic healthcare - People who have, until this point, had access to such care under Medicaid. Expanded under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid had grown to be a literal lifeline for tens of millions of Americans - An imperfect sort of crown jewel (not quite Britain's NHS, but impressive nonetheless) of a new American healthcare network envisioned by Barack Obama and enacted by a bold group of Democrats who dared to dream BIG. The biggest beneficiaries of this expanded Medicaid network? Older Americans who have begun to suffer the ailments that appear and multiply with age.

For people in their 20s and 30s, healthcare isn't typically a top priority. People in their 20s and 30s suffer from fewer ailments, visit medical providers less often and spend less money on medical services. A fact made clear when we observe healthcare spending across various demographic groups. People 55 and over accounted for 55% of total health spending in 2021, despite making up only 31% of the population. In contrast, people under age 35 made up 44% of the population but were responsible for only 21% of health spending. The obvious upshot of such data is this - Funding cuts to Medicaid will fall disproportionately harder on those of us in our 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. For those of us in these age brackets, health services IS a priority, if not our very top priority.

Somewhere along the way, this schism in priorities "broke bad." What young voters wanted and what older voters needed diverged, with foreseeable disastrous implications for older Americans. Dreams of student loan forgiveness and peace in the Middle East knocked aside expectations of treatment when the diagnosis is something like cancer. A generation that, quite literally, raised another generation was de-prioritized, told in no uncertain terms that it was time for "out with the old and in with the new." Out with the old (seemingly anyone over 50) politicians. Out with one of the greatest Speakers of the House in this Nation's history. Out with the President. Divided by those who would have us divide ourselves by age, we were all bound to be hurt - Some much more so than others.

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