USA Today reports that on December 1st, the first of 77 million Baby Boomers starts to turn 65 and therefore, becomes eligible for Medicare.  Once it starts, every 8 seconds one baby boomer will be turning 65… talk about increasing the pressure on Medicare.

Raised in affluent times and imbued with high expectations, the first Boomers now face the ironic prospect of longer yet crimped lives. Their homes and savings are worth less than a few years ago, and health care and energy cost more.  Given the unfortunate confluence of recession and retirement, have the Boomers’ fortunes and expectations, once so high, ever been so low?

About two-thirds of Baby Boomers say they’re less optimistic about the future of the USA than when they turned 21, and less optimistic about retirement than they were 10 years ago, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken this month.

According to USA Today, the biggest question raised by the Boomers’ senior moment is how it will affect the politics of Social Security and Medicare, and the nature of retirement.  Many feel that Boomers’ political clout will protect the entitlement status quo, even if it means passing on the bill to later generations.

Read more at the link below.

Senior boom begins amid economic bust