Letters - The Explorer: Voices   Letters to the editor published
in the December 1, 2010, edition of The Explorer.  Font Size:
Default font size Larger font size  Posted: Wednesday, December
1, 2010 12:00 am | Updated: 8:12 am, Thu Mar 24, 2011.  It’s
insurance policy, not an entitlement  I am tired of hearing that
Social Security is an entitlement.  Social Security and Medicare
are insurance policies. The insurance company, the Federal
Government Insurance Company, collects premiums, sets premiums
and has no legal obligation to pay any benefits. It determines
benefits. The policy holder must pay the premiums and can’t
negotiate the premiums or choose another company.  Consider that
every job in the private sector that pays $5,000 per month has a
current Medicare premium of 2.9 percent and Social Security
premium of 12.4 percent of the $5,000. I say “current,” because
our FGIC can change these premiums at will. As wages have gone
up over the decades, the amount taken in by the FGIC has gone up
with them. This