I expect to get a lot more out of my 401K than I put in too. That you get more out of a savings plan than you put in is the way it's supposed to work. There is a question of whether 3X is reasonable or it should be 2X, but the way you put it is overkill. LOL. Medicare is not an investment portfolio. It is a pay as you go system where today's workers pay for today's retirees.
This graph shows that the average man and woman (average defined in the study as average income over their working lives and living to the average life expectancy) who start receiving benefits in 2010 get over 3 times more in benefits than they pay in to the system! Of importance, the study accounts for inflation by calculating all past taxes and future payments in 2010 dollars to provide an accurate comparison.
If the notion that Medicare recipients are simply "getting back what they paid in" is false then where is the money coming from? Simply, the excess received is being borrowed from younger generations and the cost is more than we can bear.
Did you know that, by law, the Medicare Part B premiums only cover 25% of the costs? The remaining 75% comes from the General Fund. It is the reason why Medicare will consume the entire federal budget if it is not reformed.
I didn't say it was an investment scheme, just that you are using a lesser argument against it. The pay-as-you go bit makes it clearly a Ponzi scheme. However, it was presented as an investment scheme, and the numbers of in and out are in balance if it really were an investment scheme.
Comparing 55,000 in against 161,000 out is an apples to oranges comparison unless you include the time cost of money.
Assuming an interest rate for 30 year treasuries of 6%, putting in 2000 a year for 25 years ($50,000 in) leaves you with almost $110,000. Assuming you spend $12,000 a year after 65, you get to spend $150,000 before the pot is empty.
Granted, the 6% rate assumption isn't true anymore, but that is because of yet another financial rape of the common man, this time by the Federal Reserve and it's not-quite-zero interest rate program.
So your chart is bogus. The numbers are as they should be if the system was honest. Your chart implies that it is the common man that is cheating, getting more than they should. The problem is that the system is totally dishonest, a complete Ponzi scheme.
The question isn't whether or not Medicare (and Social Security) are busted and were crooked schemes to begin with, but what argument is the one to present that points the finger at the right crooks.