Social security, Medicare, and Medic aid

Social security, Medicare, and Medic aid

 Abstract

Social security, Medicare, and Medic aid are suitable for medical insurance of the people they should be sustained and get well funded for them to be sustainable. Proper financing mechanisms should be encouraged for them to continue being in operation, which has not to be a piece of baggage for the population funding it. Spending should be done to avoid wastages and fraud of the resources that run them.

1. Are Social Security taxes a good investment?

Social security is the capability to tax future social workers. Social security fund is used to finance other projects of people with social security disability or others who would not have meaningful employment. According to actuaries’ reports, they estimated that the contributors could reap benefits from their money contributed by their employers or themselves. One of the positivity of social security tax is that one is not entitled to returns at retirement. The money paid to monthly income amounts that are paid upon death, disability, or withdrawal. The price can be paid to you or other beneficiaries. After inflation, the real rate of return is calculated and captured after maturity. The calculation is done by actuaries in social security, who credit the profits to the taxes contributed by the worker over the working career. The amount pays for the valued benefits accrued by the worker and receives in the working years of the worker. Social security meets the social goals where it gives a higher rate of return to the elderly retirees who have fewer sources of income compared to the current generation of workers who are employed. Social security favors low-income earners who are given more benefits compared to those in well-earning jobs.

2. Evaluate the ongoing funding process for Social Security and Medicare

There are various ways in which social fund is funded. The best and most effective way it is funded is by the use of payroll taxes evaluated on wages. The employer pays 6.2% of the earnings while the employee chips another 6.2% the whole pay totalling12.4% of the total amount. Another way social security funded is by the use of trust funds that support medical insurance and cater to the aging population. Trust funds have reserves that allow for future full benefits, but they are not impending. The treasury tracks its financial flows. General fund reimbursements fund social security by the government, and the funds are to cater for the aged and the employed.  Money comes from the taxes that the government collects, and they channel some of the funds to the course. Social security fund is funded by taxation of benefits and also net interest income. The funding program evaluates how long benefits payment can be sustained

3. In looking through the National budget, entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid represent the biggest threat to the U.S. budget deficit. What reforms do you suggest to help avoid an unsustainable increase to the debt?

One of the threats is the trust fund outgo exceeding the trust fund income. It is where the project shows the unfavorable effect of correcting more funds while the fund income is less. Medicare and Medicaid do add to the federal deficit. They account for 40% of the federal budget and, therefore, need to be secured from various threats to sustaining them efficiently. One of the risks is the high net interest rates that bring about debt levels going up. Another danger is where the entitlement programs grow, and the plans cover more individuals, and there are no new initiatives that are formulated to capacitate this. Generally, this brings the cost of health to sky-rocket to levels that are not favorable for many people. To correct this, a mixture of spending cuts and tax increases should be enhanced to increase the financial base to help with the healthcare systems. Raising more revenue would be crucial in correcting debt levels. Diversifying the tax base would be necessary rather than increasing the taxes, which would bring long-term undesirable consequences. Reforms should be done to prevent wastage, fraud, and abuse of resources meant for health care.

4. Do you think the federal government should increase spending on Social Security and Medicare for the elderly? If not, should the elderly fund retirement and medical costs?

As a portion of the economy in the coming decades, federal expenses will have to rise considerably, and this is because of the health care costs. Most importantly, as medical care continues to progress, aging population, security threats, and emerging domestic challenges. To at least thwart debt-to-GDP ratio from increasing revenues will need to rise. Currently, Medicare covers medical treatment for older adults but only limited long-term services and supports. Therefore there is the need to increase resources into long-term services and support for the frail elders and personal care services. The elderly are more eligible for social security, which will rise in costs of GDP when mixed with rising health care costs; it will drive up health spending as a share of GDP. The elderly population of 85 years and older is growing rapidly and not surprisingly.                                                                                                                      Direct finances for the more aged people are provided by social security as it is playing a vital role, including Medicare. Medicare provides most senior citizens with insurance coverage making it possible to finance most of the senior citizens` health care. Simply it means that an older population means that the federal government will have to increase its funds on social security and Medicare.

5. Do you believe government efforts to manage Social Security and Medicaid have made things worse or better? Provide research support for your position (in the summary of the paper).

Government efforts to manage the systems have become worse and worse over time. People’s taxation to the program has grown steadily and has continued like that, and in the long-term, it will be unsustainable. The young population funding the systems will bear the cost unless the Congress cuts the spending of the above policies. Their spending has been much high compared to the revenue got, and these bring about unsustainable debts that require an increase in taxation to service them. The government expands goods and services that only increases the spending levels that cannot be well funded, thereby increasing the costs. Some products are overpriced than the market systems, and this only pushes the prices up, and the burden passed to the taxpayers

6. Discuss your recommendations to deal with the rising costs of Social Security and Medicare, as well as the Welfare Reform Act of 1996.

One of the recommendations is to end the fund called Aid to Families with dependent children (AFDC) as an entitlement category and should be replaced by a time-limited program that is tied to a work obligation. The new plan should have temporal aid to needy families like Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF). The act suspended benefits to the prisoners who get confined throughout the month or crime found to be not guilty because of insanity. Obesity report requirements repealed where proper monitoring and DAA beneficiaries were to be adequately reviewed. It came with a recommendation that only the state Disability Determination Services are the only ones who can determine who is disabled and qualifies for the social security funds and Medicare and Medicaid. The Commissioner of Social Security or the judicial system is at liberty to determine who is disabled and not. Not anybody can establish this, not even the government or the tribunal.

Conclusion.

Social health care should be encouraged. However, proper mechanisms should be recommended to help it be sustainable and making it affordable for everybody who is contributing to it. The funds should undergo appropriate regulation so that they can benefit everyone contributing to it. The steady increase in taxation year after year should be discouraged because, in the long run, they will be unsustainable, leading to the collapse of the systems.