Government forcing the people to take care of their own business is such an expensive cluster f**k!
“The same hypothetical couple retiring in 2011 will have paid $614,000 in Social Security taxes...”
I wanna see the math on that.
What you individually pay never covers what you receive when you have a major illness in any insurance plan, private or not. Collectively, however, it would - that is, if your insurer invests it and doesn’t throw it away.
Think about it. A national mandatory insurance plan where you pay a certain percentage of your income every year - for benefits that you may or may not receive and which in many cases people with pension programs that provide insurance won’t ever receive or use (since Medicare asks you about your alternate insurance) - why shouldn’t you get more than you paid in if you need it? Because chances are you won’t need it, and that’s what insurance is all about.
A person who pays into any non-goverment program and has a catastrophic medical event (or even an average surgery-required medical incident, such as a mastectomy) is going to receive more than he or she has paid in. But most people will never use it or not need to use it for very much.
That’s the whole principal of the thing. Most people won’t have something catastrophic or chronic, the company invests the money you’re contributing when you’re healthy and is making big bucks (or should be), and the odds are on the side of the company.
This would be the case with Social Security and Medicare, had not our government been stealing the money for decades now.
Any analysis over 10 or more years that ignores the time value of money is a joke.
$100 per month for 30 years at 6% = a total payment of $36,000 but has a future value of over $100,000. Comparing anything to that total of $36,000 is meaningless. The value of that payment stream is AT LEAST $100,000.
Or is everyone going to assume that they should get out exactly what they put in without considering that the government made use of the moneies paid to them and a reasonable rate of return should be expected?
And I am going to bring up the number of people who pay into Medicare and never get anything out of it.
This government has taxed the hell out of the working man to the point he’s damn lucky to have any savings at all.Never mind saving for medical care when you retire.
Where the hell do they think we’ll get the money?Governments at all levels confiscate close to 50% of your income and then they complain that your not investing enough to provide for your retirement.
Please dear Lord....
THEY FORGOT TO MENTION THE EMPLOYER MATCH!!!!!!!!!
For every penny deducted from a paycheck, an employer somewhere matches it.
Such a very important concept.
Get the math straight then present the analysis.
That mythical $114,000 contributed to Medicare is REALLY $228,000!!!!!
This really matters, you think?
It burns me up when some lib talking heads start talking about the Tea Party and how we want to cut government but not in our own entitlement programs. That’s right. We feel like we have more to gripe about when our entitlements are cut because At LEAST WE PAID SOMETHING into the system. It isn’t fair to weigh welfare and Medicaid equally with Social Security and Medicare. The first group pays nothing and takes all. At least the last group pays state and federal taxes, property taxes, capital gains taxes, SS and Medicare taxes, ad infinitum. The payments may not cover 100% of expenses, but at least we have diligently paid what we owed.
I know that at 5% per anum, compound interest will double your money in 14 years. And double it again in 28 years. Am I right? So Medicare has actually made off like bandits with a lot more than that bare naked $114,000.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
They’re using a certain number. My daughter and hubby each make that. They’re paying through the nose for someone NOW....their contribution for their future use....simply doesn’t exist FOR THEM.
Don’t retire, just die. That’s the message of the article.
Consider an average-wage, two-earner couple together earning $89,000 a year. Upon retiring in 2011, they would have paid $114,000 in Medicare payroll taxes during their careers.
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When these so-called journalists write this clap-trap they ought to have a smidgeon of financial training.
I am assuming the $114,000 paid in is correct. If those contributions had been invested at a modest rate of interest over 30 years or more, the $114,000 would be worth something like $500,000 or more today.,
After reading the comments I would add that the authors of this analysis are writing to those Americans who believe they are getting money from Uncle Sam when they get a refund check from the IRS.
Our biggest problem is the increasing number of Americans who are brain dead.
Yes, this is less then many pay for their insurance - but factor in that these people paid in advance for 50 years before they could use it.
Then factor that not EVERYONE is going to be using those figures for medical treatment...tho’ everyone paid and pays in...and many died before reaching retirement or soon after - and they pre-paid 50 yrs.
It isn't retirees that are breaking the system. It's the embezzled funds - stolen and given to the druggie, alcoholics and ‘bi-polars and other young, perfectly healthy leaches who get a monthly check with NO deduction for medical on medicaid - and their coverage is FULL. No deductible, no co-pay, office visits and counseling totally covered. The vast majority of these mooches are perfectly able to work.
they choose not too - and no one is doing anything to weed out the able bodied slackers.
How about doing some cutting in these ranks before you come after those that worked and paid for 50 years ahead and now still paying a share?