Some anonymous web site called Entitled to Know has put out a post called "10 things to love about Social Security and Medicare," written by some anonymous author. (Why are these people afraid to say who they are?) Dig in five levels and you find that it's part of the "scare the hell out of seniors" campaign being orchestrated by politicians afraid of losing power, helped by a bunch of academic goo goos you've never heard of. The politicians claim:
1. Social Security benefits are guaranteed. Actually they are not. Congress can change them at any time. That's why these bozos get all worked up in a later over proposals to solidify their financing. If the programs go bust -- as is likely if nothing is changed -- these guys will be out of their beautiful K-Stree offices
2. Social Security benefits are protected from inflation. Except that per number 1 above, Congress can change this rule anytime it wants and in fact that is what President Obama has sproposed.
3. Social Security is a valuable life insurance policy. This is a bizarre argument that survivor benefits are a life insurance policy, clearly written by an idelogue who doesn't understand how life insurance works. Please, Dr. Goo Goo, PhD, send me my dividends and tell me what my cash-out value is for the hundreds of thousands in Social Security taxes I've paid.
4. Social Security provides disability insurance. Same stupid argument.
5. Medicare provides comprehensive health care coverage for seniors. This is the biggest lie of the Medicare lobby. This is true only if you think health-care insurance with no catastrophic coverage, annual OOP limits, no vision/dental/annual-physical/drug coverage and geographic limitations is "comprehensive."
6. Medicare provides free preventive health screenings. "Free" if you don't count the tens of thousands in Medicare taxes you've paid.
7. Social Security has a $2.7 trillion surplus. Yep, Social Security has $2.7 trillion in the same useless paper the Chinese have been buying.
8. Medicare’s costs rise slower than private insurance. Because the prices are fixed.
9. Social Security’s administrative costs are low. And the system is corrupt and full of fraud.
10. Social Security and Medicare are social insurance programs. But they are not. The authors do not know how insurance works.
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