From the time medicare was instituted, many my age never thought the program would be able to cover all costs. It was then, always has been, and continues to be today a Ponzi scheme. I refuse to believe congress was so ignorant as to think the program was ever anything else. Congratulations career politicians, again you have perpetuated your time at the public trough by ignoring basic economics, passing the pain to future generations. I wish there were a way to make you pay, even retroactively, for your malfeasance.

Medicare should fund benefits as if those deductions had been invested. Otherwise, it is just theft.

Very am sorry Mr. RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR but you article is inaccurate. If the $114,000 the couple paid in was in trust, as you seem to imply and correctly so, there would also be the interest the money earned. The resulting funds should be more than sufficient to cover their costs, assuming you managed to get that correct. DO THE MATH!

All sounds credible, but writer does not indicate whether the time value of money was taken into account in coming up with the total amount of money paid into Medicare and SS.  The dollars paid in 1965 for example are actually worth 6.92 times that in 2010. So if I paid in $100 in 1965, that would equate to $692 in 2010. 1966 dollars equate to $6.79 in 2010, etc. So if the writer is using actual dollars, the numbers used are incorrect.

It'll fail in the future, but who cares? It works now as a vote getting scam.

Who'd ever speak against what we know is immoral theft, but sounds so sophistically enticing that we vote for the best promises over and over and over again with a 98% incumbent reelection rate.

This is a phony analysis and a scare tactic. It is estimated that many of us will not be around that long, and so will not have these medical expenses. This leaves a much larger amount for those of us who may be blessed with living longer.

Bush's unpaid for 'advantage' didn't help anything.

Should well-off retired folks be subsidized while they can sit on a large nest egg? Why shouldn't they pay their own way until they cannot anymore, like most people? Reform is needed. Is there a need to pay someone that is sitting on a couple of million? They were wise enough to invest and save properly to ensure they have enough in their retirement years, so they should be using it.

I am a boomer, and if I didn't have enough to retire that would be my own fault. At the same time, I have used my money wisely, and because I take full responsibility for myself, (I don't expect the government to hold my wrinkled hands) I plan on using my OWN money in retirement. If I have money in the bank I should be using that first before suckling on the government teat. Should I get paid to preserve my kids inheritance or should I use it on myself?

All the money put into Medicaid for the last 40 years is not building equity, it is being used to fund the CURRENT crop of retirees. It is not collecting interest waiting for you to retire.

Putting away $50 per pay for 40 years will leave a nice sum waiting for you in retirement. Think ahead folks, and teach your kids to do that too because there will be no social program left by the time they retire.