Yesterday’s feature on the problem of financing pensions and health care for seniors helped to humanise what can often seem to be an esoteric and academic subject.It is anything but. As the comments from the senior citizens soon-to-be retirees show, many are entering what are supposed to be “their golden years” with fear and worry.To be sure, people need to take responsibility for their own lives and retirement needs. But the baby boomers who will start reaching retirement in their hundreds per year have not entirely had control over their own lives.Of most immediate concern is the current recession, which has ravaged savings and investments for many. As one family noted, they have a mortgage and depended on a tenant to help to meet it. Now there’s no tenant and they are “on their knees”.In other cases, the heavy cost of health insurance and health care is the major worry. Government’s Future Care programme was designed to solve this problem, but the lack of planning and funding means that few people have confidence in its viability, leaving aside the fact that what you pay depends on when you were able to join. Still, it’s a start.In essence, these are the major problems. Over the next 20 years, more and more people will retire while the working population, who to a great extent will subsidise pensions, will remain roughly the same.In the meantime, pensioners will probably live longer and will require more health support over time, driving up the cost of health insurance.So what are the answers? The first is to raise the retirement age. The retirement age of 65 (and in some cases 60 or even 55) was set at a time when people were ageing faster. It makes no sense today for people who are healthy and mentally fit to be forced into retirement. If they wish to continue to work, they should be able to; with the caveat that they should not collect their pensions while engaged in full-time employment.It will be difficult to force people to stay in work past 65 if they have contracted to retire then and wish to do so. But an increase in the retirement age to, say, 67 should be introduced now.The second way of ensuring that people have a viable pension and affordable health care is to increase contributions and premiums. Many people in the current economic environment will say this is impossible. But the reality is that if it does not start now, it will be too late. The current Contributory Pension Fund deduction is around $30 a week. It should be increased in phases to $40 or $50 over the next two years. Employers are now obliged to offer private pension plans to their employees with the employee paying five percent of their wage and the employer matching it. Setting aside ten percent of a wage may not be enough to provide a reasonable pension. This should be increased to 12 percent or more.Many employees also need better advice on how their pension money should be invested. The stock market collapse of 2009 shattered many pension plans and destroyed the pensions of people who were in too high risk profiles for their ages.In health insurance, the same problem arises. Younger people need to be contributing more to their health insurance now in order to reduce the cost to senior citizens. This newspaper is not convinced that the National Health Plan notion that health insurance premiums should be means tested is the right idea. But people should pay more for health insurance now so that they can pay lower premiums later. That is the only realistic way to ensure the viability of the system.None of the above will be popular, and for politicians, it will therefore be unpalatable. But this is where leadership matters. When David Saul introduced mandatory private pensions, many people opposed them. They don’t now.