By Raleigh Perry
BUFORD, Ga. | Many, if not most, of the Republicans in the House and Senate really want to eliminate Social Security and Medicare. I think anything that they do will end up in the Supreme Court and if they eliminate, or lessen, Social Security and Medicare, their move will be overturned.
Perry
They call these programs “entitlements.” I am not quite sure that is the right word. I have paid into Social Security since 1956 until I retired in 1994. Insofar as Medicare is concerned, I see it basically as a Group Insurance Policy. It is paid for monthly and deducted from your Social Security check.
The Group Insurance policies of your employer generally require some donation on your part to keep it active. I do not see either one of them as entitlements, I see Social Security as nothing more than a return on your investment. Medicare is nothing more than a Group Policy for which you pay.
Many people live solely on their Social Security checks. Similarly, this would be true with Medicare. Many of those on these two programs are Republicans and there are more old Republicans than there are young ones. Pew Research states that “Overall, the electorate is getting older, and this is seen more among Republican voters than among Democrats.”
What seems like will happen, if the circumstances are right, is that there will be an attempted cut in Social Security and Medicare. Whatever they try to do, if they do anything, however the changes will affect more Republicans than Democrats. That does not bode well for the GOP for the 2024 election.
In 2023, your Social Security check will increase by 8.7 percent. That is the largest increase in the cost of living adjustment in years. That sounds good to most, but it may raise your taxes. Don’t expect the Medicare payment that you make monthly to remain the same.
Those on military pensions or disability will see the same amount of increase. The Department of Defense basically uses the Social Security System’s percentages.
I have heard statements people made questioning about why we are taxed on Social Security anyway. The supposition that those who ask that question is that your Social Security money is taken from your paychecks and is taxed twice. That is not the case, your Social Security contribution was and is pre-tax.
I have heard comments about when the tax was placed on your Social Security checks and who did it.
You may be surprised at the answer. The law was passed in 1987 and signed by none other than former president Ronald Reagan. Republicans simply do not like the Social Security System and will attack it whenever they can.
Future similar cuts could be on the way if the Republicans get control of both houses of government. Now you are forewarned!
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