@LeoH117108 wrote:
I never said SS or Medicare were savings accounts, for if they were you could will them to your family (they can in Australia). To us are just a deal. You pay in to get your share (legal sense) out when you met the requirements of living past a certain age. When you die its gone. It is an entitlement, a contract with the government .
I'm not sure who you are responding to in this thread but as to your above comment - You are forgetting that there are survivor benefits connected to Social Security. So, in essence, "when you die, it may live on, and on, and on . . . . . paid to the surviving spouse - sometimes even paid to surviving parents or to dependents until they are 18 or to a dependent for the longterm if they are disabled.
The same is true of Medicare, in a way, a spouse who has never worked and nor paid into Medicare on their own record is applicable for Medicare at 65 based on the record of the working spouse or even deceased spouse if they were vested in Medicare before their death - think they have to be married for a certain number of years before applicable.
It's Always Something . . . . Roseanna Roseannadanna