Quote:
Originally Posted by LoisR
Since this topic is current, my oldest son asked if Social Security and Medicare are important to us.
We responded YES in they both provide financial security. We explained the obvious and also said without Soc. Security we could not have purchased the house we did in TV.
But that's us. Have others used Soc. Sec. for other needs or wants?
How about Medicare? Did it have a big impact on you when you joined?
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My entire Social Security check goes to pay for my mortgage on my home in The Villages, the amenities fee, electricity, gardening, mowing, spraying, pool cleaning. If it ended, I could sell it all and move back to my modest paid-for house in Pennsylvania and get by on the growth of my investments, but things would be tight. Most people aren’t so fortunate.
As for the person who says some of us are paying four times as much for Medicare Part B as others, you must be bringing in at least half a million per year, and I assume you can afford it. Maintaining an income level similar to what I earned before retirement (with Social Security now making up about 40% of my total income), my Part B went up from the $144 a month everyone who is single pays to $204 a month. I can afford that. I know a lot of people can’t manage $144. I feel blessed to live in America.
I do think that those paying the most in Social Security (several times more than I ever paid) should receive much larger payments. Isn’t the maximum now around $3,070 a month? That’s about twice the average, yes, but people pay Social Security taxes while working on up to $137,500. (If you were earning, say, $75,000 a year before retirement, your Social Security check would be about 80% that high.) When they retire, they will end up paying taxes on much or most of their income. People who paid at the top level get a monthly Social Security payment equal to about 25% of their previous income. Those at the bottom, about 60%. I don’t think those at the bottom should receive less, and I’m willing to have those with larger incomes pay on more than $137,500, but they should also get larger benefits when they retire. So if they pay the tax on their half a million a year instead of on $137,500, at least double their monthly check. It’s only fair.
The Social Security Administration says that without Social Security checks, 38% of retired people would be living under the poverty line. With it as it is, only 10% of retirees are under the poverty line, and most of those were In poverty before they retired, too.
Policy Basics: Top Ten Facts about Social Security | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities