[manaboutown]

Both are insurance as I see it. Once a person gets sufficient QCs, in the unfortunate event one becomes disabled both Social Security and Medicare kick in; at least they did for my daughter. If we pay SS until we reach full retirement age we collect a certain amount based largely on our earning history. Of course we have from age 62 to 70 to start collecting SS. Some do not live long enough to collect a dime, but they pay based on their earned income until they die.

Medicare started for me at age 65 and was I ever happy about that! I was paying over $10,000/year for a Blue Cross policy which was not all that great. I buy a United Healthcare supplement as well. So far I have been fortunate medically but one never knows and the most medical costs statistically usually occur during the last three years of life. I am not happy about paying far more for my medicare policy than I would if I had less income. That is essentially additional income tax IMHO. I am also not happy that SS and Medicare funds have been gutted by politicians.

My parents both needed and benefitted from SS and Medicare. I would have had to help them financially had they not had it. I believe both programs are conceptually wonderful but they have been mismanaged and abused.