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John Spratt is working to make sure both Social Security and Medicare remain structurally sound and financially solvent for generations to come. John is against any effort to privatize either program.
Social Security
For 60 years, Social Security has never been a day late or a dollar short, and John Spratt wants to keep it that way.
Social Security is the rock on which millions of Americans rely, and not just for their retirement. Social Security benefits go to your survivors if you die before retirement and to you and your family if you become disabled. They provide, in addition, medical insurance under Medicare if you are disabled for more than two years.
Those pushing privatization of Social Security would have you believe that you can invest all of your payroll taxes in a mutual fund; but to be assured of the disability and survivorship benefits that Social Security provides, you would first have to buy life, disability, and health insurance, and invest only the balance for retirement benefits in stocks or a mutual fund. Some of those investing in the stock market would come out better than they come out under Social Security, but others would not.
The purpose of Social Security is to ensure that everyone has a foundation of basic benefits on which to retire. John favors tax incentives that make retirement saving more attractive, but he does not support radical changes like privatization or opting out, because these changes would alter the universality of Social Security and take away the financial foundation that it now ensures.
Medicare
Medicare is a lifeline for 40 million Americans. John Spratt wants to strengthen it and rein in high premiums. John also believes the federal government should be allowed to use its clout to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices, and he does not favor cutting Medicare payments to physicians.
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