For a single male earning average wages every year and retiring in 2020 at age 65, lifetime Social Security and Medicare benefits would equal about $570,000. For a couple with average and low wages, benefits would be about $1,113,000 in 2020 dollars.
About 64 million people received just over $1 trillion in benefits from the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program in 2019. Social Security and Medicare, after all, operate primarily as pay-as-you-go systems. If fewer workers are around to support each retiree, then the tax rate from Social Security or other sources on those children and grandchildren must rise relative to what beneficiaries had to pay. The two programs have an enormous social and economic impact, particularly in keeping millions of people out of poverty.
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