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40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS
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Government & Elections
40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS
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40 years of PREPAID Medicare payfoll tax deductions are not entitlements.
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Cat:d51398b3-89f9-463d-bf1b-4b885f02c9eeForum:af978875-5bc6-4b07-a6fb-b18062132f95Discussion:6c69ee6f-9c3d-4d19-a78a-4391470d5233

Forums » Politics & Society » Government & Elections » 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS

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Forums  »  Politics & Society  »  Government & Elections  »  40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS

Re: 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS

posted at October 6, 2012 1:38 PM EDT
Posts: 49
First: July 12, 2012
Last: May 16, 2013
Yes. We paid for out SS and Medicare. The government give free money for all other programs that include legal and illegal immigrant's benefit,  and try to cut our pre-paid benefit, it is not fire.

Re: 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS

posted at October 7, 2012 12:31 PM EDT
Posts: 9
First: December 19, 2011
Last: April 23, 2013
In Response to Re: 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS:
Personally the word "entitlement" turns me off. It causes imagery of things such as "I am entitled to welfare." Social Security benefits and Medicare benefits are "earned" income based on what a person has paid into each program over their lifetime. To me this is an "ownership" program rather than an "entitlement" program. Each person who has paid into these programs has a share in the "ownership."
Posted by Jodine20


Well said. Congress wants their entitlements to continue and increase. SS and Medicare are earned. 

Re: 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS

posted at October 7, 2012 5:54 PM EDT
Posts: 1923
First: November 27, 2011
Last: May 18, 2013
In Response to Re: 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS:
Personally the word "entitlement" turns me off. It causes imagery of things such as "I am entitled to welfare." Social Security benefits and Medicare benefits are "earned" income based on what a person has paid into each program over their lifetime. To me this is an "ownership" program rather than an "entitlement" program. Each person who has paid into these programs has a share in the "ownership."
Posted by Jodine20


Jodine,
You can call them anything that you want but when the government, candidates, legislatures are talking about "emtitlements" just remember they are taking about programs that are legislated by law and that covers just about all social programs no matter where the money that pays for them originated.

By the way, you do know that you only "pay" for Medicare Part A (hospital insurance portion) via payroll deduction.
Medicare Part B is paid for by (1) 75% out of the General Fund and (2) 25% by premiums paid monthly by Medicare Beneficiaries and those seniors of higher income ( over $ 85,000) actualy pay much more for their Part B premiums.

Re: 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS

posted at October 8, 2012 8:07 PM EDT
Posts: 1
First: October 8, 2012
Last: October 8, 2012
I retired on 31December1993 at the age of 63. I went back to work part time as a self-employed consultant. During the next 18 tax years, I paid $53,539 in SS/MED tax on my self-employment earnings. In addition, I paid $38,100 in Federal income tax on those earnings and on part of my SS benefit.

I wonder why the $53,539 paid in SS/MED tax did not 'entitle' me to a higher SS benefit. It did not, and in fact the government reduced my benefit the first 5 of those 18 years. I am 82 now, and it will be 4 more years before I get those reductions back. How's that for an 'entitlement'?

Re: 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS

posted at October 9, 2012 1:14 AM EDT
Posts: 3023
First: March 2, 2008
Last: May 19, 2013
In Response to 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS:

I understand that Medicare is running out of money, but what is the solution? I just got on Medicare and pay $99 for Medicare Part B, have an AARP policy for supplemental, and pay about $38 a month for Medicare Part D. Fortunately, I can afford this right now, but there's no way that I could afford Medicare if a voucher system replaced it. 

The problem has been that we've been relying on insurance companies to manage our health care system. I know it's all about making profits, but there's an increasing number of people who just can't afford insurance premiums any more. No one that I know can afford to pay out of pocket for health care if it involves hospitalization and expensive surgeries. The entire health care system will collapse when only a few can pay as we're seeing hospitals closing because of lack of payment. 

I think we need to look to other countries to see how they manage their health care which, by our standards, is called "socialist". We need universal health care for all those who can't afford private insurance. It could come from raising taxes so that everyone pays, in some way, into the system. People wil continue to access health care whether they can afford it or not. Unless we want to start turning people away who can't pay, this seems to be the end result of a profit driven system. 

Re: 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS

posted at October 9, 2012 9:55 AM EDT
Posts: 1923
First: November 27, 2011
Last: May 18, 2013
In Response to Re: 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS:
In Response to 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS : I understand that Medicare is running out of money, but what is the solution? I just got on Medicare and pay $99 for Medicare Part B, have an AARP policy for supplemental, and pay about $38 a month for Medicare Part D. Fortunately, I can afford this right now, but there's no way that I could afford Medicare if a voucher system replaced it.  The problem has been that we've been relying on insurance companies to manage our health care system. I know it's all about making profits, but there's an increasing number of people who just can't afford insurance premiums any more. No one that I know can afford to pay out of pocket for health care if it involves hospitalization and expensive surgeries. The entire health care system will collapse when only a few can pay as we're seeing hospitals closing because of lack of payment.  I think we need to look to other countries to see how they manage their health care which, by our standards, is called "socialist". We need universal health care for all those who can't afford private insurance. It could come from raising taxes so that everyone pays, in some way, into the system. People wil continue to access health care whether they can afford it or not. Unless we want to start turning people away who can't pay, this seems to be the end result of a profit driven system. 
Posted by intersan


Personally I don't want my doctor, hospital or any other health care provider actually employed by the government.
I want the freedom to determine my own health care services with my doctor..

What would be the measure of "affordability"?  Sure the poor and they already have Medicaid.
But pass the poor, tax returns will be the only way to determine who can and who cannot afford premiums, deductibles, co-pays, out-of-pocket expenses related to health care insurance.

So if you have a single person making $ 50,000 in NYC - you think they could afford premiums, deductibles, co-pays, out of pocket.  Or a family of (4) making $ 90,000 a year, sometimes living in a low cost of living state and other times not -   Or a family that has a lots of debt which does not come into play on a tax return.

Why did you pick a PRIVATE health insurance company as your Medicare provider instead of Traditional Medicare?

The only way this whole mess is gonna work out for our benefit is if States regulate their health care insurance program for their citizen.  Even now, as the PPACA health insurance exchanges are being developed by the VARIOUS STATES - some will have better legislated coverage than other but will also be more expensive for the citizens.  The law only provides for a list of essential benefits - anything above that will be under the command of the state legislatures.

If you don't understand how the PPACA will work - all of it and how it will affect you on Medicare, I think you need to do a lot of reading cause 2013 & 2014 is FAST approaching.  Sure, it has some good qualities that needed to be make but thus far we have only experienced the "goody" part of the legislation. 

What do you think is gonna happen when those 17 million are added to the MEDICAID EXPANSION and the doctors that will be treating them are the same as the ones you use for Medicare with both programs using what they pay to doctors as the main way of keeping down medical cost - get ready to wait.

Re: 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS

posted at October 9, 2012 5:45 PM EDT
Posts: 1923
First: November 27, 2011
Last: May 18, 2013
In Response to Re: 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS:
I retired on 31December1993 at the age of 63. I went back to work part time as a self-employed consultant. During the next 18 tax years, I paid $53,539 in SS/MED tax on my self-employment earnings. In addition, I paid $38,100 in Federal income tax on those earnings and on part of my SS benefit. I wonder why the $53,539 paid in SS/MED tax did not 'entitle' me to a higher SS benefit. It did not, and in fact the government reduced my benefit the first 5 of those 18 years. I am 82 now, and it will be 4 more years before I get those reductions back. How's that for an 'entitlement'?
Posted by Jsimonitch


Your post is hard to understand but it sounds like you had to give back some of those benefits in the early years because you were making over the limit of earnings.

Here is a page from Social Security that may explain it to you. 
 How Work Affects Your Benefits SSA Publication No. 05-10069, ICN 467005, March 2012

Remember you were drawing as you were working so that makes a difference - but I would also check to make sure SSA got a reporting for those years - as a self-employed person, you would have filed your earnings and self-employment taxes on from SE for every year that you worked this way.
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Forums » Politics & Society » Government & Elections » 40 years of PREPAID Medicare payroll tax deductions are not ENTITLEMENTS