Most affluent seniors are getting much more in benefits than they ever paid into Social Security and Medicare. But congress doesn't have the courage to take on the senior lobbies and stop the endless flow of wealth to seniors from people under age 50. My parents were very affluent in the last ten years of their lives, although they wouldn't have qualified as "rich" by most definitions. They had their mortgage paid off and health care provided by a state workers' retirement plan. They had much more discretionary income than I had, but I was paying taxes to them to fund my dad's social security checks, which were twice the amount he really needed. The whole situation was ludicrous and yet this continues unabated today because politicians will not tell the truth to affluent seniors that they are getting a free ride from young people and getting much more from entitlement programs than they ever paid into them.
At some point, this has to stop or these programs will certainly go bankrupt. People cannot keep receiving much more than they pay into programs--that's a Ponzi scheme and eventually all Ponzi schemes fall apart. Listen up you folks in Washingon, because of crazy stuff like this and the dishonesty of politicians, America is losing all faith and trust in Washington. If all this madness continues, more fiscal conservatives like Rand Paul will be elected until we solve these problems.
That sounds a lot like "each according to their needs".
Point is, they paid for the service. If you want to change it, it better be changed for all - otherwise you are giving the government the power to dictate who is more important that others, violating some of our most cherished principles (like: 'all men are created equal').
Most affluent seniors are getting much more in benefits than they ever paid into Social Security and Medicare. But congress doesn't have the courage to take on the senior lobbies and stop the endless flow of wealth to seniors from people under age 50. My parents were very affluent in the last ten years of their lives, although they wouldn't have qualified as "rich" by most definitions. They had their mortgage paid off and health care provided by a state workers' retirement plan. They had much more discretionary income than I had, but I was paying taxes to them to fund my dad's social security checks, which were twice the amount he really needed.
That smacks of jealousy and greed. (IE: I deserve it more than they do) Which is one of the core foundations of communism. Combined with your first assertion, having the government reduce their agreed apone pay-outs without refunding the pay-in... really smacks like the ideas of the Russian Revolution. (Those dirty kulaks! Take their money and give it to the proletariat.)
At some point, this has to stop or these programs will certainly go bankrupt. People cannot keep receiving much more than they pay into programs--that's a Ponzi scheme and eventually all Ponzi schemes fall apart.
Finally, some sense. Social Security *IS* going broke, so is Medicare/Medicaid. So here's some ideas that most seem to ignore.
1. No payouts to anyone that has never paid in... for both Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. (That eliminates all illegal immigrants.)
2. Increase the retirement age. (ie: 2 more years until collection is 2 years of payouts not paid out.)
3. Make Social Security a fee for service investment program. (we can argue whether there should be a minimum floor in benefits or not, though)
4. Make Medicare/Medicaid more like an HMO with access to doctors outside of hospital visits, but have strict rules that must be followed - where payment will be withheld if procedures aren't followed. (ie: If some kid has the flu, the parents will have to take the kid to a pediatrician for care, if warranted. If they show up at the hospital emergency room, they get to pay the bill. The hospital can work out an installment plan.) Don't like it? Then get yer own dang insurance.
Though, personally, I don't think we ought to even have Medicare or Medicaid. But my post about cost-cutting these programs, so the program has to exist to cut costs on it. True, though, eliminating the program would be the biggest cost-cut of them all...
Piggy-backing on Medicare/Medicaid...
4a. Standardize medical insurance regulations nationwide. There is no reason why Blue-Cross/Blue-Shield or Humana should have to be 50 different incorporated entities, one for each state. That adds a *LOT* of overhead to insurance, which we as the customer have to pay.
4b. There should be standardized policies nationwide. Which would be up to individual insurance companies to come up with. No more a la carte insurance... where EVERYTHING is a la carte. Nationwide standards with nationwide companies means that we could then compare policies nationwide, like we can do with auto insurance. And the pressure of a 300-million people market will bring lowers costs.
4c. Massive tort reform for medical malpractice. A big part of the high cost of medical care is that doctors prescribe every test under the sun to cover their @ss for any potential lawsuit. In other words, doctors aren't treating you for your illness, they are treating you for your potential lawsuit. Reduce/end that problem and doctors can get back to being doctors.
All that will reduce medical costs, which will reduce the costs of Medicare/Medicaid.
5. Contract out to the private sector to run these programs. Government is highly inefficient at doing anything except destroying things and killing people. Plus, once you hire a bureaucrat, you usually can't get rid of 'em. So contract out to a financial company (or a consortium of companies, whatever) to run the revamped Social Security... and to the insurance industry to run Medicare/Medicaid.
As for all the unfireable bureaucrats whose jobs are made redundant? Offer early retirement to those within 1-2 years of eligibility. Move them to the DoD and give them work as cook's aids/janitors/garbagemen/whatever. Don't dock their pay, for that'd cause a lawsuit. Plus, as military tend to be of a conservative bent and foul-mouthed... all the lily-livered liberal bureaucrats would be in a work-culture they hate, bombarded with highly non-politically correct language and all not in a position to do anything about it. So most would quit.
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That would solve the problem with Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid... without resorting to a jealousy-fueled dip into the redistributive attitudes of 'they don't *DESERVE* it' so we ought to take it away from them!