[Deagle]

Time for all you elderly who think that you’ve paid for Medicare and Social Security to speak up and declare that you deserve your benefits!

Come on folks, don’t you think that you deserve your protections regardless of the condition of the country?

Awaiting your reasonable responses.

[muawiyah]

Some of us are covered by a special provision in the Postal Reorganization Act that states that we will never be denied "benefits" of less value than full benefits provided to other federal employees.

Now roughly what that means is that in exchange for riding out the period of dislocation from the Post Office Department to the USPS I've got FEHB forever.

What happens to most all federales when they retire is that as soon as they get to be 65 the FEHB stuffs them over into Medicare (for all practical purposes). You even get a medical care card that denotes your Medicare status.

What happens to those of us covered by that special provision is that we continue to get the same sort of insured coverage that regular federal employees get ~ not just the watered down stuff they'll get from Medicare later on.

I know, it sounds unfair ~ but a contract is a contract, and the law is the law.

[sodpoodle]

Medicare is insurance: i.e. seniors pay monthly premiums, deductibles & co-pays for Parts B & D (physicians & drugs) and high deductibles for Part A (hospital in-patient).

Working seniors are saving Medicare $$billions by having primary group health insurance.

There are chronically ill persons under 65 who are filing claims for, and receiving Medicare benefits far in excess of healthy seniors.

http://ssa.custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/400/~/how-to-qualify-for-medicare

Yes - I have worked for 40+ years, paid income taxes, SS taxes, gasoline taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, medical premiums, raised children, sent one to Iraq and never asked the Government for rent, food or medicine. Now my children are doing the same on my behalf.

[nascarnation]

Hey it’s only underfunded to the tune of $72 trillion or so.

Won’t the huge tax $$ influx resulting from the Baraqqi Boom of 2011 / Recover Summer #2 pay for this several times over?

[small business owner]

I am 65, self employed. I pay approximately 3% of my income for Medicare and $391.oo monthly for Medicare so yes I am paying for my benefits I receive.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Time for all you elderly who think that you’ve paid for Medicare and Social Security to speak up and declare that you deserve your benefits!

They did pay for them. The government spent it as fast as it came in or Medicare and SS would not only be solvent but have a major surplus.

If they had invested it then they could pay all current claims off the income without touching the principle.

However... they didn't.

Is this the retiree's fault? Partly. After all they were the ones who elected the crooks that drained the account.

However it can be argued that the government must pay back everything they borrowed before it would be just to ask the retirees to give up any part of their claim.