The federal government is legally responsible to the citizens for the following, Social Security and Medicare. Social Security, a legislative product of the New Deal, following the Great Depression, has at its heart, providing supplemental income to the citizens that may not have not prepared appropriately. Under today’s economic climate, employers and employees collaborate equally in providing and providing for individual employee’s retirement. However, this relationship has suffered tremendously over the past 10 to 15 years with the collapse of such notable companies as Enron, WorldCom, Delphi Cable and Lehmann Brothers demonstrate how greed at the top results in a devastating lost of capital at the bottom. The collapse of these companies crippled middle and lower level employee’s retirement investments and basic savings. Consequently, their reliance on Social Security, the federal program will be intensified.
This was experienced again in late 2008 and 2009 with the near financial collapse of the Wall Street and the Banking industry. Unfortunately, many small and local banks and saving banks were taken over by the FDIC to prevent a total collapse of these individual institutions. While the individual saving accounts were insured, those invested in Wall Street were not and the lost of capital was a real consequence.
Medicare, a federal program developed in the sixty’s under President Lyndon Johnson, was a federal program designed to provide medical insurance coverage for the under or uninsured. Later developments, divided the program into two components named, Medicare and Medicaid.
Medicare developed into a plan to provide medical coverage for the individuals that have reached the federal age for retirement; 62 or 65 years. The plan coverage covers, inpatient (Medicare Part A) and outpatient (Medicare Part B) medical expenses. The employer medical coverage terminates at 65 years. The plan also provides coverage for individuals that are...