People will argue about most anything. First of all you do not have the option to opt out of social security. Secondly if you are working for someone other than self employed, many don't realize your employer has to match what you pay to social security-essentially tax free income to you. I was self employed and unlike most who pay 7% to social security, I paid 13%.

Social Security is yet another progressive tax. When you earn more you pay more. The increase of benefit you receive is far less than the more you are forced to pay.

If, serious, my reply is until it hits you or yours.
If, trying to be humorous as posted it does not work..

Few people understand math. Our CPI consumer price index has hit 6.2%. You pay that with after tax dollars. I need to make over 9% just to be even.

If you invest 10,000 and make 10% the first year, you have 11,000 if you lose 10% the next year-YOU ARE NOT EVEN. 11000-10%=9900. All the stuff I/WE read never mentions this.

Reality is soooooo simple. No one would pay me to write simple reality.

Inflation, you need roughly 6 dollars to buy what one dollar bought in 1974 except for electronic stuff and that is due to dropping cost and more powerful computer chips.

All in the eyes of the beholder. Since I do NOT pay for Medicare B, I no longer contribute to the Medicare fund. However, I am sure that my private insurance will double the savings from what I don't pay Medicare in an increase in premiums. My copays have already gone up. I doubt I will ever need to use the Medicare A that I paid for most of my life, you're welcome.

I do not fear Covid since almost all my children and grandchildren had it before the vaccinations and shrugged it off. The new version of it is almost harmless according to supposed "experts." Of course, the MSM and D.C. will hype it since it gives them more power. I've done my due by getting the vaccination but right now have no intention of getting subscription to quarterly boosters. I would rather get my antibodies naturally. Not trying to convince anyone, and do not care whether or not anyone else gets the vaccination or boosters.

Covid has taken it's toll on the weakest and SS will benefit from that, whether that sounds harsh or not. SS has been distorted out of the original design anyway, so if it disappears or not, it is nothing the rest of us can do about it. If they would have invested my money rather than borrowed from it, mine would be much higher in value.

I have read similar information before, but that type of analysis does not make much sense because they are not comparing the dollars you paid in with what those dollars would be if invested an compounded values. Would like to see someone do that. It would be more accurate.

Re: 62 for social security and 65 for medicare.
You no longer have the option to at 65 chose to pay back what you have collected and then take the higher 65 amount. You can, if you can afford to do so retire at 62 but not collect social security at 65. I regularly tease, all you need to know is when you will die, what will kill you, the rate of inflation and return on your savings and you can decide what makes the most sense to do. Only problem we know none of them.

Re: Medicare
It is spooky what private healthcare costs. If, you do not have coverage from employment a guess is for three years 25,000 a year or 75,000 that has to come from savings. OUCH.

If your in that premium bracket your making way more than most people. Just sayin....

My wife and I just received our Social Security Statements. Because of the increase in Medicare, both of us will see a decrease in take home to the tune of $30 and $40 per month.

I have no intention of "paying back" at 65. I retired at age 59, because bursitis made it impossible for me to do my job, it was part time anyway, no pension, no 401k, and the health insurance they offered would have cost me more than I earned in my weekly paycheck. Thankfully, that qualified us for ACA subsidies so our premiums are significantly reduced.

Hubby's already been getting SS, plus his pension, and that's what we live on. We have some savings, but can't really add to it until my SS kicks in. So we're definitely needing to do that sooner rather than later.

Some of us worked in jobs that didn't offer pensions. Some of us had jobs like that for a few years, but the rest of our working life was spent in places that weren't.

I think some folks here talk about investments and values as if they believed everyone in the country is in the position where they could just put a percentage of their income in a mutual fund on their own. There are millions of Americans working 1-3 part time jobs to make sure their families have what they need. Most of those part time jobs don't offer pensions or 401ks. And most investment firms aren't interested in taking deposits of $10 per week.

Social Security and Medicare Increase
 

Be aware when supplementing your income. IRA / 401K withdrawals, profits from selling stock, part time job, capital gains, dividends and Interest. When your income increases your Medicare monthly payment will increase. Social Security income will be less. Look at the income schedule for Medicare payments. That went up too.

You sure you didn’t leave out a zero on your SS benefits? If that’s accurate I sure hope you get pension or have a nest egg

No need to guess---FL blue, single coverage, nothing rated up---1332.30/mo=15,987.60/yr----and that's with a 7,000 deductible----OUCH

The daily sun always wears rose colored glasses in their analysis

This is nothing new, anytime SS increases Medicare does the same. Lucky my Medicare advantage plan gives it back to me.

Guest
 

Social Security was from the start and has always been a Ponzi Scheme.

Maybe you should have gotten married.

That's just one of the plans - probably a bronze plan that's really lousy (or directly through Florida Blue without using the marketplace). For BlueCare 1443, it's $18something or $19something (I just say $1867 because that's what it was when I signed up for it 2 years ago).

The good news is that MOST people who aren't offered insurance through their employer, qualify for some kind of subsidies through the healthcare marketplace.

So MOST people won't pay that much, as long as they apply for the subsidies. Some people pay nothing at all. Some pay a couple hundred dollars. Some still pay a hefty chunk, but less than what they'd have to pay without the marketplace.

And yes some won't qualify for subsidies - but MOST of those people can afford private health insurance and don't need subsidies. There is a very small set of families who are stuck making too much for ACA subsidies, and not enough for full premium costs.

Thankfully for THEM - there are also clinics and urgent care centers, where they can select a doctor who will monitor the health of their family, give vaccines, handle non-emergency health needs (like an x-ray and setting for a broken bone) and charge a nominal amount often based on a sliding scale.

correct
 

Correct!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!

There’s a lot more truth to your statement than anyone cares to believe. There’s a great reset coming not sure how many of us will be alive to witness it. Hopefully I’m not one of them. We don’t have any children or grand children but I pray for those who do.

To quote Steve Jobs…….”and more thing.” Denial is not a river in Egypt!!

AND MEDICARE is NOT allowed to negotiate drug prices , unlike TRICARE etc ...

Please help me. If you are affected by IRMMA you have an adjusted (after deductions) income of either $88000 as an individual or $170000 married filing jointly. Again as I previously posted only 7% of all seniors collecting SS fall into that category. I know a whole lot of seniors that would like to have your financial problem.

My point is it is an unjust penalty for years of hard work, deferred gratification, prudent savings and investment success. It is like having to pay $15 for a $5 Big Mac.

Especially if it takes the high school kid with no experience 1 hour of his time to make it:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

January 1, 2006, is when Medicare Plan D went into effect.

Before that, there was no drug coverage under Medicare.

Although I was not yet to Medicare age, I knew how health insurance worked — or didn’t — because for years I had been part of a contract negotiations team. Health insurance coverage was always a big part of those negotiations.

I was at that negotiations table for most of the 1990s, and well into this century, whenever contract time rolled around. I witnessed a lot of changes during those years.

(When the drug card came in, I thought it could turn out to be a Trojan Horse. But everybody wanted one — and damn, I was right.

Those drug cards contributed to skyrocketing drug costs because the card made it so nobody paid much attention to cost as long as the coverage was there.

Before the drug cards, we paid upfront for our prescriptions, kept the receipts, and sent them in for reimbursement. I cannot imagine doing that now. The chunk of money it would cost before reimbursement would trash a lot of budgets. But ooooooh — those drug cards sure were welcomed in to be “celebrated” — just like that Trojan Horse.)

When Plan D was implemented for Medicare in 2006, although I was not there yet, I remember when it happened and I remember what I thought at the time.

Thought 1: I thought — and think — Plan D is a good thing because before that, there was no drug coverage for those on Medicare and there were people going without needed prescriptions or splitting what they could afford into smaller dosages — not as prescribed — to make the pills “last longer.”

Thought 2: At the time it happened, I remember saying, “Ya know, although it’s a good thing to have drug coverage for those on Medicare — that sure seemed to get through into law — FAST. Somebody is in bed with the drug companies. And now drug companies hold all the cards and costs are insane. And please spare me the pipeline mantra. Sure, it’s there and it is important, but that’s not where all of it goes. Profit is OK, of course, but c’mon. Geez.

Cassandra Boomer

"The horrifying source of the increase relates to Aduhelm, the new Alzheimer’s drug estimated to cost $56,000 a year. While the process is still under way to determine whether and how Medicare will cover Aduhelm, CMS decided to increase “contingency reserves” to cover possible significantly higher expenditures in the future.

As an aside, the reason that Aduhelm falls under Part B instead of Part D is that it is administered in physicians’ offices rather than purchased at a pharmacy. One implication of being under Part B is that traditional enrollees have to pick up 20% of the cost of most Part B medications, which would translate into about $11,200 in out-of-pocket costs for those prescribed Aduhelm.

So where does this enormous increase in premiums leave Social Security beneficiaries after they pay the higher premium? An individual currently receiving $1,600 a month (the approximate average retiree benefit) will see benefits go up by $94 from the COLA, but pay $22 more in Medicare premiums, resulting in a net increase of $72 or 4.5% of the original benefit amount. Thus, while the Part B increase does not eliminate the COLA, it seriously erodes its inflation protection."

From: Opinion: Government announces surprising hike in Medicare Part B premiums - MarketWatch

EXCEPT-------It takes over $800 million from first idea to manufacture to bring a new drug to market, and the largest cost is FEDERAL RED TAPE and the resulting hoops to jump through. Safer, probably, but way more expensive. The part I object to is the drug companies spreading that $ 800M only over the domestic market, and then selling the same pills abroad at a substantially lower price. We are subsidizing the rest of the world, when in all fairness, the rest of the world should be paying us for our research and innovation

Excellent article on Medicare hikes.

Opinion: Government announces surprising hike in Medicare Part B premiums - MarketWatch

I heard about this the other day. It's outrageous! With the government, one hand gives, the other takes away. But I'm miffed because they purposely misled us because at first there was no mention of an increase in Medicare costs, only about the big SS benefits increase. However, how you're affected for both increases depends on what your SS benefit is, as not everyone gets the same, and also what your supplemental Part B insurance coverage is, as that isn't the same for everyone either.

Originally Posted by rmd2 View Post
I just got my new Social Security statement for 2022. My monthly Social Security decreased $10 from $121 to $111 and my monthly Medicare payment increased from $208 to $238 for a total loss this coming year of $40 a month. And EVERYTHING has gone up in price!

You sure you didn’t leave out a zero on your SS benefits? If that’s accurate I sure hope you get pension or have a nest egg

I do have a pension but those numbers are correct for SS because at that time I was a low earner for my 40 quarters of work. On top of that Congress cut our SS by 60% so I will NEVER recoup what I put into SS. If I could have taken the SS payments I made and invested them in the S&P index I would have been WAY ahead.

YES!! :thumbup:

3 card monte
 

government $ promises etc.
A wise man once said.
" figures dont lie
but
liars know how to figure.
If at our ages we don't know it's been a con game all along,
we never will.
The president said " afghanistan cost us 300 million per day"
and that money went to who? For over 20 years.

For most drugs a big percentage of the 800 mil (or whatever it is for a particular drug) is funded by the government (us!) so don't cry for the poor pharmaceutical companies just yet. Often the biggest expense they foot is for marketing costs.
Here is a link since some insist on one - Taxpayers — not Big Pharma — have funded the research behind every new drug since 2010 | Other98

Yes, unfortunately we pay for the R&D, and pay the high price for the drugs. Then ,for example, our “friend” Canada, told us a number of years ago, that if we didn’t charge them the same price that “poor” countries were paying, like Mexico, that they would make the drugs themselves. It didn’t make sense to me that they could circumvent Intellectual Property agreements, but apparently they could, and that’s why you can get drugs from Canada cheaper than here.

Much of the rest of the world is riding on our benevolent backs. For poor countries I have no problem with that. It’s the countries that should share in the benevolence that is troubling.

Only if you have been on social security disability for 24 months.

Not Middle Class
 

Unfortunately, if you are living off of Social Security only you MAY barely be at the very low end of Middle Class.

“The Pew Research Center defines the middle class as households that earn between two-thirds and double the median U.S. household income, which was $61,372 in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 21 Using Pew's yardstick, middle income is made up of people who make between $42,000 and $126,000.”

The Windfall Elimination Provision affects Social Security for a lot of people.

Click the link for a better understanding of the increase.

Opinion: Government announces surprising hike in Medicare Part B premiums - MarketWatch

Click the link for a better understanding of the increase.

Opinion: Government announces surprising hike in Medicare Part B premiums - MarketWatch

Well sounds like you know how to work the system if you’re paying so little for health care to begin with. That is a big increase for those that rely in SS given the disastrous rise in cost for everything thanks to those in power.