No healthcare for you!

Plot twist: I have healthcare because I work and retirees have healthcare also because I work.

Retirees have healthcare not because of you, but because they had a Medicare payroll tax deducted from every paycheck they ever got.

That's not correct: All workers are taxed to pay for the retirees of their time, that means workers today are being taxed to pay for retirees today. The money from workers' paychecks today go right to beneficiaries of today.

Do my Medicare payroll taxes go to pay for my Medicare at retirement?

AI Overview
Yes, your Medicare payroll taxes (part of FICA) fund the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which pays for Part A (hospital insurance) for retirees. By paying these taxes for at least 10 years, you earn premium-free Part A at 65.

Retirees pay for their own Part-B and Part-D, not you!

Same question.

AI overview
No. Your Medicare payroll taxes (the 1.45% you pay, matched by your employer, or the full 2.9% if self-employed) do not go into a personal account or get saved specifically to pay for your own Medicare benefits when you retire.
Medicare operates as a pay-as-you-go system. The taxes collected today primarily fund benefits for current Medicare beneficiaries (today’s retirees and eligible individuals). When you retire, your benefits will be paid mainly from the payroll taxes and other revenues collected from the working population at that future time, plus general federal revenues, premiums, and interest.

AI just gave conflicting responses. So which answer do we listen to? The one that backs up your beliefs or the one that backs up mine?

But whichever answer AI gave is correct, the Medicare payroll tax that people pay funds Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance).

Retirees have to pay separate premiums for doctor visits (Part B) and drugs (Part D). The Part B monthly premium of $202.90 is automatically deducted from someone's monthly Social Security check.

Exactly, it's about who's correct, not what biased AI answers render for us that we want to hear. And the correct answer is that All workers are taxed to pay for the retirees of their time, that means workers today are being taxed to pay for retirees today. The money from workers' paychecks today go right to beneficiaries of today. This is the way it's been since the Great Depression.

If you have other ideas for how you'd like your $600 spent, maybe write to:
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500.