# Social Security Beneficiary to get $5 raise in2017



## Gemma (Oct 18, 2016)

> The nation’s 65 million Social Security beneficiaries will receive a paltry 0.3% cost-of-living adjustment to their monthly checks in 2017, the government announced Tuesday. In dollars and cents, it means the average retired beneficiary’s check will rise about $5 to $1,360 per month in 2017.
> 
> The even more bitter pill: Many current Medicare beneficiaries won’t be able to spend any of that extra money. Instead, they’ll likely have to send their COLA straight back to Uncle Sam to cover higher Medicare Part B premiums.
> 
> Almost a third of Medicare's 56 million beneficiaries could see their premiums jump 22% next year, according to the Medicare Trustees Report, putting the cost at an estimated $149 per month. Those unlucky 30% of beneficiaries include people enrolling in Part B for the first time in 2017, people who are on Medicare but who aren't currently taking Social Security benefits and current enrollees who pay an income-related higher premium.



http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...la-medicare-premiums-cost-of-living/92051378/


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## Don M. (Oct 18, 2016)

Yup, SS, Medicare, and Medicaid are all going to be "trimming" their benefits in coming years.  Congress will probably wait until these programs are nearly in Crisis Mode, before they do anything to keep these valuable benefits solvent for future generations.  "Raising the Caps" would be the most obvious and sensible approach....but few people would use the words Government and Sensible in the same sentence.


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## Pappy (Oct 18, 2016)

Yes sir. That will be gone after going up the first aisle in the grocery store.


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## Carla (Oct 18, 2016)

I think in the past, this is fairly normal. Why not skip the middleman (us) and pay themselves directly. Surely, that will save some paperwork or as in today, less time and money spent on the computer.


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## Butterfly (Oct 18, 2016)

Interesting to me that while the government has enough money bring over and settle 250,000 middle eastern refugees, assist with housing, food, etc., the govt cannot afford to give a decent COLA to its retirees who have spent the majority of their lives being productive citizens and paying taxes, and also cannot afford to take decent care of its veterans, not even the service-connected disabled ones.


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## Knight (Oct 18, 2016)

Butterfly said:


> Interesting to me that while the government has enough money bring over and settle 250,000 middle eastern refugees, assist with housing, food, etc., the govt cannot afford to give a decent COLA to its retirees who have spent the majority of their lives being productive citizens and paying taxes, and also cannot afford to take decent care of its veterans, not even the service-connected disabled ones.



That $5.00 will be used for gas to get to and back from the grocery store in probably two round trips.

Then there is the hate of refugees. The more the merrier according to Hillary.[h=2]Politifact, the left-of-center mainstream media “fact-checker,” has some bad news for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.[/h] Donald Trump was RIGHT when he said Hillary Clinton wants “a 500 percent increase in Syrians refugees” in his Manchester, New Hampshire speech. 

When it comes to hate shouldn't Trump be the one hated for wanting to stop the entry of illegals and refugees that haven't been properly vetted? 



Understandable that civil service people would want Hillary over Trump. Firing incompetent civil service employees like the last 10 Administrators of the Arizona VA hospital isn't a popular idea with civil service employees.


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## maggiemae (Oct 18, 2016)

I saw that report and laughed.  After Medicare Part B increases, we will all be getting less in our monthly checks.  Now tell me again, where did all that Social Security and Medicare money that was taken from my pay for 50+ years go?


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## Butterfly (Oct 18, 2016)

That difference in the Medicare premium will be enough to create real hardship for many retirees who depend on their SS for most or all of their retirement income.  My sister, for instance, lives very close to the edge and without my help she would be a bit over the edge.  That increase is going to be a hardship for her....    BUT, better we spend the money on refugees than on people like her.  Clinton has said she wants to bring in at least 65,000 refugees a year over the next four years -- how are we going to pay for that?  We'll take it from our own poor and aged, that's how.  My sister can't get housing help or food stamps, but the refugees will get much more than that.  She's been a good, contributing citizen all her life, but she can't get the help third world refugees will.

What the hell is wrong with this country?


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## Kadee (Oct 19, 2016)

I'm Australian we received a huge pay raise in our aged pension last week $1.50 EACH a fortnight :eek1::eek1:


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## Butterfly (Oct 19, 2016)

Butterfly said:


> That difference in the Medicare premium will be enough to create real hardship for many retirees who depend on their SS for most or all of their retirement income.  My sister, for instance, lives very close to the edge and without my help she would be a bit over the edge.  That increase is going to be a hardship for her....    BUT, better we spend the money on refugees than on people like her.  Clinton has said she wants to bring in at least 65,000 refugees a year over the next four years -- how are we going to pay for that?  We'll take it from our own poor and aged, that's how.  My sister can't get housing help or food stamps, but the refugees will get much more than that.  She's been a good, contributing citizen all her life, but she can't get the help third world refugees will.
> 
> What the hell is wrong with this country?



*WAIT* -- I did some reading around on the internet and found that the premium increase will not affect my sister, or me, for that matter, because neither of us fit into the "high wage earner" category.  So we won't fit into the group whose premiums go way up.

STILL -- I think the COLA increase is pitiful.  Internet sources say it is because there's no inflation, but whoever came up with that idea apparently hasn't been grocery shopping where I do, because food prices have been going steadily up and it looks like they will continue to do so.  My sister's rent has gone up, utilities have gone up, everything else is going up -- how is that no inflation??


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## Warrigal (Oct 19, 2016)

Kadee46 said:


> I'm Australian we received a huge pay raise in our aged pension last week $1.50 EACH a fortnight :eek1::eek1:


Wait till next year. You could lose that windfall and more.


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## bluebreezes (Oct 19, 2016)

One of the important things in that announcement is that the taxable maximum has increased from $118,500 to $127,200. I'd like to see that max increase every year as a part of a plan to keep SS viable.


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## Ken N Tx (Oct 19, 2016)

bluebreezes said:


> One of the important things in that announcement is that the taxable maximum has increased from $118,500 to $127,200. I'd like to see that max increase every year as a part of a plan to keep SS viable.



I would like to see the Politicians pay into and receive SS....


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## Aunt Bea (Oct 19, 2016)

bluebreezes said:


> One of the important things in that announcement is that the taxable maximum has increased from $118,500 to $127,200. I'd like to see that max increase every year as a part of a plan to keep SS viable.



I would like to see them remove the wage cap altogether.

Removing the wage cap can help the average person that has some very high income years and then hits a period of low wage years "bank" some extra credit.  Under the current system, with the caps, those high wage years are of no benefit when the SS is calculated.


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## Knight (Oct 19, 2016)

maggiemae said:


> I saw that report and laughed.  After Medicare Part B increases, we will all be getting less in our monthly checks.  Now tell me again, where did all that Social Security and Medicare money that was taken from my pay for 50+ years go?


This web site might provide an answer to your question.

http://www.fedsmith.com/2013/05/23/government-owes-2-7-trillion-to-social-security/

At some point politicians will have to bite the bullet and do something that could affect their re-election. Maybe with term limits that wouldn't be the kind of looming problem it is now.


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## jujube (Oct 19, 2016)

Oh, whoopee!  Now I can afford to heat up the dog food on Tuesdays and Thursdays.


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## mathjak107 (Oct 19, 2016)

to be honest if the difference of a cola increase  or so in your ss check really makes that big of a difference than you have a  severely underfunded retirement and you 
 better give some thought to the situation your are in  and how you are going to deal with it . perhaps you need a part time job ..

if you think it is hard working early on in your older years or finding a job try it at 80 .


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## mathjak107 (Oct 19, 2016)

maggiemae said:


> I saw that report and laughed.  After Medicare Part B increases, we will all be getting less in our monthly checks.  Now tell me again, where did all that Social Security and Medicare money that was taken from my pay for 50+ years go?



the medicare increase can not be more than the cola adjustment .  quite frankly that is a better deal than i had working . if i got a raise the health insurance premiums saw increases that were more .


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## jujube (Oct 19, 2016)

mathjak107 said:


> to be honest if the difference of a cola increase  or so in your ss check really makes that big of a difference than you have a  severely underfunded retirement and you
> better give some thought to the situation your are in  and how you are going to deal with it . perhaps you need a part time job ..
> 
> if you think it is hard working early on in your older years or finding a job try it at 80 .



If you are referring to my post, you obviously don't know that I'm the class clown.  I don't _really_ have to eat dog food, heated or otherwise.....  Although, it would probably be healthier than some of the people food I enjoy.


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## Butterfly (Oct 19, 2016)

mathjak107 said:


> to be honest if the difference of a cola increase  or so in your ss check really makes that big of a difference than you have a  severely underfunded retirement and you
> better give some thought to the situation your are in  and how you are going to deal with it . perhaps you need a part time job ..
> 
> if you think it is hard working early on in your older years or finding a job try it at 80 .




 "Let 'em eat cake," eh?  I think you need to remember that not everyone has been fortunate enough to be in a situation to be able to save a pile for retirement.


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## jnos (Oct 19, 2016)

My husband and I are still working while collecting SS. Our increase, (based on taxes on current wages) has only increased a few dollars. Seriously not worth working, but we both enjoy our jobs, so what're you gonna do, kwim?


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## mathjak107 (Oct 20, 2016)

no , not referring to any post in particular. just a general comment that if that tiny cola adjustment range matters that much then that is a red flag . you have an under funded retirement  and need to give serious thought to that fact .

no matter what the cpi -w shows it is not reflective of anyones actual personal inflation rate . it is only a price change index  on a basket of goods , most of which you may have no use for or use .

this country consists of 1500 mini economy's all not reflecting what you see .

take the example that here in nyc 1/2 the housing stock , which effects millions of people has no rent increase for the 2nd year in a row and our 2nd biggest cost is energy . that is lower than last year .

my sister is in arizona and refinanced . her monthly expenses are less than they were 5 years ago .

on the other hand we rent so our expenses are higher than 5 years ago .

all of us are different and for much of the country  life has actually gone up very little over last year .  our medical insurance costs are way more than they were because i am on cobra , but next year i go on medicare and they drop by half .

so the point is you need slack in your plan dollar wise to allow for your own personal rate of inflation .

if you are that close to the bone that 5 or 10 bucks a month matters then  that is bells and alarms going off you need to look at your situation because odds are you are going to run out of money before you run out of time at that rate.

keep in mind the cpi-w index tends to overstate inflation . it uses no substitutions like the other cpi indexes . i know we use a ton of strawberry's and blue berries and every week we either buy them or buy something else depending on price . the other index's allow for that fact . so the index used for ss actually runs a bit higher .

keep in mind too that seniors are effected a lot less inflation wise than someone raising a family . study after study shows seniors spend in a smile shape .

we spend more early on in retirement , then spending falls off a cliff as we no longer do or buy a lot of things , then it ramps up again because of health care spending in our 80's .

all those things we tend not to do or buy as we age helps pay for the increases in the things we continue to buy .

yeah , not everyone will conform to that because of personal issues ,i get that . but as a group that is exactly what happens .

but the bottom line is if your cash flow is that close that 12 bucks a month matter you need to seriously review your budget and your  plan because you are in pretty good danger of ending being one of those casulaty's in the failed retirement graveyard .

hoping a cola adjustment was more is not a plan . hope is never a strategy in life . take the fact that you are  aggravated and stressing over less than 10 bucks a month as a red flag and review your plan..


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## mathjak107 (Oct 20, 2016)

Butterfly said:


> "Let 'em eat cake," eh? I think you need to remember that not everyone has been fortunate enough to be in a situation to be able to save a pile for retirement.




which is why i am saying what i am . if their cash flow is so impacted by 10 or 12 bucks a month difference and they have no control over those cola's ,they have to seriously take this as a wake up call and review their plan or they are likely to fail financially  .  10 or 12 bucks should have zero effect if your plan is viable and healthy . it does not matter if you have smaller amounts of resources . what matters is you are spending more than you can comfortably spend and have no slack in your plan for future bumps in the road and you are getting a warning that you are living hand to mouth and that never ends well .

it is like complaining about the weather .complaining about it does no good . preparing for  what weather  you get is the plan .


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## Aunt Bea (Oct 20, 2016)

When you hit 90 and inflation has eroded the value of your pension, investments and SS you can't do much to revise your plan.  

The steady drip, drip, drip, adds up over the years and in some cases COLA is not enough to keep these people from abject poverty during the last few years of life.  A time IMO that should be worry free.


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## mathjak107 (Oct 20, 2016)

the cola's will never make a difference . they are not ever going to match anyone's personal cost of living . in fact they are based on a price change index not a cost of living index .

they are correct in what they are supposed to reflect which is price changes in 1500 mini economy's , not your cost of living .

if you counted on every time your electric goes up or your rent that there would be a matching increase in income to keep you solvent than your plan was not very good .

the truth is , and none of us want to hear it , but retirement is a privilege for those who can afford to stop working .it is not a right and not everyone may have that choice .

when you do it , for whatever reason , whether because you can't or don't want to work anymore here in america the burden is on you  to stay solvent through retirement .  living hand to mouth is never going to work out well and when you count on cola's to match your personal cost of living it will never work out well for you .

i would love a bigger cola adjustment but based on the basket of goods and services this is just what it equates to .


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## Butterfly (Oct 20, 2016)

For some of us, living hand to mouth is the ONLY option -- and telling them their plan was not good at this point in time doesn't help anyone. Some of us didn't actually get to HAVE a plan, some were felled by disability or other misfortunes and just did the best they could.  I think just telling disabled seniors that it is all their fault is a tad bit insensitive.  What would you suggest that a disabled elder senior who is living hand to mouth, DO about their situation?  Get a job?  That's a laugh.  Get a cheaper apartment?  Many are living in the cheapest relatively safe place they can find.  Should they move into a dumpster with their walker?  Or maybe just quit eating?


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## mathjak107 (Oct 20, 2016)

well then i hate to be the messenger of bad news but sticking their heads in the sand and pretending that everything is okay when 12 bucks a month vs 5 bucks  means everything to them is what it is .

they aren't getting anymore so take this info for what it is worth but they are headed for some serious issues then . you can't pretend they are better then they are . things will only grow worse when you are down to the difference between 5 and 12 bucks starts to matter.you can wish it was more all you want but it is not going to be anymore so the ball is in their court .

they need to develop slack some how or risk failure . if things are that close then i would call that crisis mode .


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## Don M. (Oct 20, 2016)

Social Security funding, etc., is just One of many major problems that will face Seniors in the future.  ONE item that seems to get little attention is Public Employees Pension funding.  Several Cities, and States...especially places like California, New York, and Illinois are quickly approaching a crisis in their obligations to their public employees.  CALPERS, the California fund, is well over 2.5 Trillion dollars in debt, and that number is increasing by almost 100 billion a year.  City and State governments cannot just "print more money", like the Federal government, and they will soon have to start raising sales taxes, and property taxes, etc., to make up their massive shortfalls.  Seniors living in such locations are going to see their costs of living rising at an unmanageable pace.


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## Butterfly (Oct 21, 2016)

mathjak107 said:


> well then i hate to be the messenger of bad news but sticking their heads in the sand and pretending that everything is okay when 12 bucks a month vs 5 bucks  means everything to them is what it is .
> 
> they aren't getting anymore so take this info for what it is worth but they are headed for some serious issues then . you can't pretend they are better then they are . things will only grow worse when you are down to the difference between 5 and 12 bucks starts to matter.you can wish it was more all you want but it is not going to be anymore so the ball is in their court .
> 
> they need to develop slack some how or risk failure . if things are that close then i would call that crisis mode .



Your compassion and empathy for your fellow man is overwhelming.

Precisely what would you suggest a disabled (or non-disabled, for that matter) elder senior being forced into abject poverty can or should do about his/her situation at this point?  Yes, I'd call it crisis mode that many are facing -- you've identified it, now what do you, in your wisdom, suggest they do about it?


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## Butterfly (Oct 21, 2016)

Aunt Bea said:


> I would like to see them remove the wage cap altogether.
> 
> Removing the wage cap can help the average person that has some very high income years and then hits a period of low wage years "bank" some extra credit.  Under the current system, with the caps, those high wage years are of no benefit when the SS is calculated.



I absolutely agree the wage cap should be lifted.  I don't know why high wage earners are not required to pay SS on ALL their wages in the first place.


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## mathjak107 (Oct 21, 2016)

why not remove the cap ? because then those higher wage earners should get more . both they and their spouse's would get even higher payments as well as ex wives . there has to be a balance .  social security is already means tested .  those who pay in little get out a whole lot more than those who pay in more and that is with the caps  .

it is also double taxed for those who are in higher incomes . taxes are collected on the money going in to ss and taxed a 2nd time if your income is high enough . your medicare premium is linked to income as well . we had a 300% increase in medicare premium , an additional 600 a month for the 2 of us , because we sold an asset 2 years before being medicare age .

so there should be no more money going in unless all that money put in by higher earners gets bigger benefits coming out.

the problem for ss is it is no longer actuarially neutral as far as delaying . we are living longer and couples today who are 65 have a 74% chance one of them will see 85 . the 50% point is not until almost 90 today .

so more and more folks were realizing the benefits of delaying and manipulating  spousal benefits  so social security had to do away with some of the perks .

so far they have eliminated file and suspend and paying back ss at any point for a bigger benefit and likely will make more changes , perhaps cutting back on ex wives benefits or forcing you to pay in more if you have to support an ex wife with your benefit.

so basically as more and more folks realized the benefits of delaying it was putting more pressure on ss to make bigger payments . it was not as much a problem when the view of most folks was i better take it early ,what if i die . but more and more the thinking is what if i live ?  it is then survivorbenefits and spousal benefits begain to be highlighted . do ss has to go in to protection mode and start to cut back on some of those perks .

we have 1/2 as many workers paying in as the baby boomers  now . but social security can easily be funded .  we have no problem coming up with billions for anything when it is crunch time .


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## mathjak107 (Oct 21, 2016)

social security uses the cpi-w , pensions tend to use cpi-u


cpi-w tends io run higher then cpi-u because cpi-w assumes no substitutions


The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was introduced in 1978. It includes all urban households within an area that have inhabitants of 2,500 or more. It does not include rural consumers and those that are in military and other institutions. It represents the buying habits of more than 80 percent of the population of the United States including those that are self employed, retired workers, professional workers, clerical, and part-time workers, and even those who are unemployed. It is more of a general index and traces how retail prices affect urban consumers of goods.




The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), , includes sales, craft, service or labor, and clerical workers who must have been employed for 37 weeks or more. It represents 32 per cent of the United States population and is a subset of the CPI-U. It traces how retail prices affect workers who are paid hourly and those that do clerical work. The Social Security Administration uses data from the CPI-U to decide its annual rate of increase.


The CPI-U represents more than 80 per cent of the population of the United States while the CPI-W represents 37 per cent.
3.While both are concerned with how changes in prices affect urban consumers, CPI-U includes a broader and more diverse group of people in the population while the CPI-W is considered as a subset of the CPI-U.


4.The CPI-W includes only the clerical, sales, craft, service workers, and laborers while the CPI-U includes those that are self-employed, retired workers, professional workers, clerical and part-time workers, and even those who are unemployed.


5.The CPI-U gives weight on all goods and services that consumers need while the CPI-W gives more weight on food, clothing, and transportation.
6.Both the CPI-U and the CPI-W do not include rural consumers and those in the military and other institutions.


Read more: Difference Between CPI-U and CPI-W | Difference Between http://www.differencebetween.net/business/difference-between-cpi-u-and-cpi-w/#ixzz4Ni8QRlb7


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## OneEyedDiva (Nov 16, 2016)

Knight: That $5 will not be used for gas because most of it will be eaten up by the increase in medicare, which I read is supposed to go up to $108. So you'll have $2 for gas, unless of course you get much more than average and you've deducted that Medicare raise already.


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## Manatee (Dec 8, 2016)

Our annual info updates from SS came in today's mail.  Zero increase, no decrease.


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## Lynk (Dec 10, 2016)

Same here.


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## Ken N Tx (Dec 11, 2016)

Manatee said:


> Our annual info updates from SS came in today's mail.  Zero increase, no decrease.



MIL got hers..Medicare went up..Drug Plan went up..$9.00 less per month!!!


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## Don M. (Dec 12, 2016)

Our statements came today.  The amount will stay the same for 2017...and here I was getting ready to go shopping for a new Cadillac with the expected raise....Oh, Well....


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## spot (Dec 12, 2016)

I'm not getting SS yet , but got the letter from medicare part b $134 . Quess I better start drawing SS before long????


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## Ken N Tx (Dec 13, 2016)

Ken N Tx said:


> MIL got hers..Medicare went up..Drug Plan went up..$9.00 less per month!!! View attachment 33971





Don M. said:


> Our statements came today.  The amount will stay the same for 2017...and here I was getting ready to go shopping for a new Cadillac with the expected raise....Oh, Well....



-$5.00 a month for the wife and I due to Drug Plan increase!!


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## Lethe200 (Dec 15, 2016)

>>_where did all that Social Security and Medicare money that was taken from my pay for 50+ years go?>>
_
There seems to be some misunderstanding/misinformation in this thread. 

Social Security was NEVER a system where a fund was created in your name from your contributions. It is a "pay as you go" system, where contributions from payroll taxes were used to pay the monthly benefits for retired or disabled elderly over the years. When SS began in August 1935 it paid benefits to those who had never contributed. 

Thus, when I worked and paid SocSec taxes, I knew that money was going to my disabled father and others like him. It was not "mine".

The intent of SocSec is to provide one-third of retirement income. It is only to provide the most basic necessities. Retirement savings and those now-disappearing pensions were to supply the other two-thirds of retirement income.

SocSec and Medicare are already in crisis mode. The Republicans - see Paul Ryan's announcement right after the Trump election - have already started floating plans to lower the COLA raises even further, delay and reduce SocSec for future generations. Medicare "reform" will probably introduce a voucher system and more block grants to states to cede regulatory control to local governments. 

If you live in a state that has a history of poor safety enforcement and inadequate financial support for eldercare/disabled/convalescent facilities, you will probably see quality and service reduced further under Medicaid.


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## Aunt Bea (Dec 15, 2016)

Lethe200 said:


> Medicare "reform" will probably introduce a voucher system and more block grants to states to cede regulatory control to local governments.
> 
> If you live in a state that has a history of poor safety enforcement and inadequate financial support for eldercare/disabled/convalescent facilities, you will probably see quality and service reduced further under Medicaid.



I think we are going to see several attempts to push programs back to the states.  The Federal budget will go down and the State budgets will increase, sort of like the old game of finding the pea under the walnut shell.  This trend can be good or awful depending on which state you live in.


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## wasserball (Dec 22, 2016)

SS will always be federal not states' responsibility since people moved around not only in the job but where they want to live.  States should not be burden without just cause.  Personally, I have no problem with SS.  I received a high salary when I worked and I paid into the system.  I can said I have benefited from collecting from SS at 62.  It was a good financial decision from my part.


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