Reasons NOT to worry about political risk to SS

[scrabbler1]

I'm fine with "breaking the tenuous link" - it's already, well, pretty tenuous.

Medicare benefits don't vary based on the taxes each of us paid. I don't see any reason to continue varying SS benefits by past income, either.

You may be fine with turning SS into a welfare program, but not everyone else is. And that major change to the underlying structure of the program would need a pretty big national debate.

And Medicare benefits were never intended to vary based on taxes paid into the program. They are based on how sick someone gets and how much covered treatment that person receives. SS is a wage income replacement program, so what someone receives in benefits is based, albeit loosely sometimes, upon what someone paid into the program. I stopped paying SS taxes 3 years ago (after I ERed), so my projected benefit will be lower than it would have been had I kept working (which is perfercly reasonable and fine with me) . But my Medicare benefits, once I become eligible for them, will not be tied to my prior wage earnings. I may remain healthy (hopefully) and never collect a dime from Medicare. Or I may become ill (hopefully not) after I reach Medicare eligibility age and make many Medicare claims.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Social Security as pension, or SS as welfare. Define that and you are almost home in solving the problem.

Original intentions for SS and Medicare don't seem very important when the payments go through the roof and you can't borrow or tax to get additional money. What we need (really) is a plan for what we should do now and into the future.

 

[MichaelB]

Thanks for the lively discussion