[Harmless Teddy Bear]

You are conflating Social Security with Social Security Insurance.

They are two different programs.

Sort of like Medicare (A program that you have to pay 3.9% of your total wages into for as long as you are working and then pay for additional insurance as they force you off your private insurance at 65) and Medicaid (a program that you need pay nothing into) are often deliberately conflated.

[TropicanaRose]

I recently saw a headline “households collecting Social Security eligible for low-cost high-speed internet” & got all excited, but only SSI recipients are eligible - not Social Security.

https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/

[Terabitten]

You are conflating Social Security with Social Security Insurance.

The substance of your statement is correct, but SSI actually stands for Supplemental Security Income.

[Svartalfiar]

You are conflating Social Security with Social Security Insurance.

It's still run by the Social Security program.

And SS itself is still partially welfare, for some people. Do you know the return for the first person to receive SS? As people live longer nowadays, they end up getting paid more than they put in, even accounting for interest/inflation. A proper entitlement turns into welfare.

[Vermont Lt]

Medicare is Federal. Medicaid is state.

Anyone who has ever had to fill out a Medicaid application knows this…and has many grey hairs to prove it. My mom’s was literally six inches thick.