SS and Medicare are simply federal programs like myriad others created by Congress. It controls those purse strings just like NYC controls the purse strings of public housing.
If NYC has such authority, then Congress also has authority to impose conditions on beneficiaries of its programs.
Your reasoning smacks of more government intrusion into people’s lives. You call yourself a conservative? If so, then I suggest you do some critical thinking before trying to impose more rules and regulations on people. If this is your stance, then you might be better off at DU or Huffington Post with those who want to rule over others and tell them how to live.
How a person spends his SS money isn’t really your or anyone else’s business, now is it? People are just getting a crappy return on monies paid into this ponzi scheme.