I HAVE BEEN WORKING AND PAYING INTO Social Security since 1957, and Medicare since its inception.
Each month, Social Security deducts an ever-increasing amount from my stipend for Medicare.
Why?
Didn’t I pay into Medicare enough from 1965 until I signed up for Medicare in 2008?
Is the government such a bad steward of my money that at almost 77 years old I STILL must pay into Medicare?
Social Security and Medicare were supposed to be inviolate; untouchable.
It is — “sort of.”
Medicare and Social Security funds were put up as collateral by U.S. governments to cover loans from China.
In other words, China owns the Social Security and Medicare I paid into for decades.
The government will tell me the funds are still here and that the money is safe.
I fear I have no faith in the government; not with Democrats in control and not with Republicans in control.
Since the politicians in the House, the Senate, and the White House have special plans for things Medicare supposedly covers and their own retirement plan separate from Social Security, why should “our” elected representatives care about these two funds.
Sometimes I feel like Diogenes of Sinope, looking for a politician who cares.
I know not all politicians are self-centered, but given how hard they campaign to stay in office — and complain about the cost of living in the capital, be it D.C. or Montpelier (VT) — there must be some benefit to the job beside “prestige” and a desire to perform a public service. Color me a skeptic.
I won’t say that each year my monthly Medicare contribution has increased, but it seems to have gone up every year recently.
(I have a Medicare Advantage plan, a money-maker or the insurance companies but one that provides better benefits that “original Medicare.” I live in an area heavily populated by “geezers” and, because of competition, I get more benefits than someone who lives in the tulies or boonies — six of one, half dozen of the other. People who live one county south get more benefits; people who live one county north get less. It's all about competition for the shrinking dollar.)
I understand having to pay tax on my Social Security benefit. It was “pre-tax” income. I don’t LIKE pay tax on my Social Security stipend, but I understand why.
- As I understand it, Social Security never was intended to replace retirement savings, and the Social Security number was never supposed to be a national ID to be shared with just about everyone.
When I joined the Air Force in 1960, I got a unique Air Force ID number (that I can recite to this day); sometime later, the military decided to make ever soldier, sailor, and airman’s ID the person’s Social Security number. Some states, e.g., Virginia, used a person’s Social Security number as the person’s driver’s license unless the person complained. So much for making identity theft easy.
I’m glad I HAVE Medicare, but in my heart I resent having to continue paying into a fund to which I have been contributing since its inception.
Pay me now AND pay me later.
Somehow that doesn’t seem fair.
Sources
1. Medicare law: https://tinyurl.com/y3mq74x7
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