I applied for my Social Security
benefits when I was 62, and have received a monthly check for the past five
years, (and am thankful to have it). Along with my Medicare benefits, I am
fortunate to have earned a military retirement and subscribe to Tricare, a
military health insurance program.
Speaking of my previous application
for Social Security benefits, I recall making the initial application by phone
with a Civil Service worker who worked in a government phone bank in Alabama.
During our interaction, I made her aware that the Social Security program came
into being during the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt; my 6th
cousin. We bantered this bit of trivia about, and she seemed to think it rather
novel.
I just read a byline on a social media
site which claimed President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget would include cuts to
Social Security and Medicaid, and what was described as the extreme “fat cat”
benefits which some federal employees and Civil Service retirees are receiving.
Following is an original response I
left below the post, and a subsequent exchange with someone who responded to my
initial response.
Cuts to Medicaid and Social Security benefits for the
disabled? Shame on anyone who contemplates such a travesty.
Social Security was never meant to be the only means of
retirement and was a Ponzi scheme from the beginning. The tax paid is a general
payroll tax like any other tax and not an insurance premium. Medicaid is an
unearned benefit and transfer of wealth program.
If you say so, Kris. I
happen to be glad my 6th cousin, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt, had the foresight to
bring the Social Security program into fruition. It's easy to philosophize
about unearned benefits until you need such benefits. I, for one, paid into Social
Security for multiplied decades.
And speaking of needing
it, I have a grown disabled daughter who receives Medicaid and S.S. benefits,
and I'm darn glad she does. If not, by now her medical and monetary benefits
would have exceeded my ability to supplement, and I would be living under a
tree in a tent.
Oh, and speaking of
needing it, prior to her passing my very ill mother spent 2 years in a nursing
home, to the tune of $100,000 a year; the vast majority of which Medicaid paid.
And, I expect, that if
you are not already receiving your S.S. check and Medicare benefits, as I am,
there will come a day when you're glad these benefits are available for you;
rather than the possibility of having to work, if only to keep medical
benefits, until the day you die.
And to return to an
earlier theme, unless your mother was in need of extraordinarily expensive
specialized care for an extended period of time, and unless you have witnessed
your daughter in the throes of psychosis, contended with her monetary, housing
and health care needs for a quarter of a century, and enjoyed the benefits of
socialized medicine in this regard, I'm not sure you're properly qualified to
comment on such an issue.
Oh, and if you really
feel the way you claim to feel, please save us all the financial burden which
we share with you, and avoid applying for Social Security and old age medical
benefits. We wouldn't want to jeopardize the philosophy you claim to embrace.
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