I paid into Social Security for more than 40 years and figured I'd catch some OK bucks if I lived long enough to collect it. And so I did. And then I didn't. MY SS is taxed as "income" when the dollars I contributed were already a mandatory tax. I catch full-boat medical coverage from the VA for my Marine Corps service but the VA Hospital is 33 miles away and I can't be treated with VA coverage at a civilian hospital. So I have to get into Medicare Part B. And that horseshit coverage is predicated, in my case, upon total income from both the husband and spouse. I collect SS and a small pension when I'm not collecting nickel empties but the great good government of the U.S. of A. took $5,882.40 out of my SS benefit in 2018 for the medical coverage I have no intention of ever using. I carry Medicare Part B just in case I drop on the street and can't get to a VA medical facility. I don't want the wife to go broke while I'm on tubes and machines away from the VA.

SS is a pip indeed. And the monster pissoff is that illegal aliens get treated for free anywhere in the sanctuary state of New York.