![]() Fortunately, I know a lot about Social Security and a bit about Medicare and Medicaid. So, if these programs entitle people to special privileges, then they should be reformed. These are big programs they account for about 45 percent of total federal budget outlays. Reformers claim that the special stuff comes from three main government programs: Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. But what special stuff? And where are they getting it? ![]() A fix would be particularly important given the nation’s long-run fiscal challenges. Merriam Webster’s online dictionary offers a definition: “belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges.” Well, if greedy people out there are getting special stuff, we should fix it. So-called serious people are talking about “entitlement reform.” I know “reform” is a good thing. It also lends some concrete sense of what these programs are – and that often helps defuse the sense of their being 'politically charged.'Īnd, by the way, 'entitlement reform' is another one of those euphemisms we should avoid because it conveys the subtle judgment that entitlements need reforming (which not everyone agrees they do).Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid do not provide greedy people with special privileges. That lets people know what people are talking about in the actualities they hear. I don't think there is a universally agreed upon set of parameters.įrom a daily journalistic standpoint, it is best to say 'entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare' when discussing federal spending. And of course, tens of millions feel especially 'entitled' to these payments because they have paid into the funds throughout their working lives.īut people with a claim on pensions from the federal government (retired workers, military personnel) also consider themselves entitled to their checks, and these payments are also sometimes called entitlements. When people refer in passing to 'reforming entitlements' they are usually talking about these two programs. Thus Social Security and Medicare are called entitlements, and they are the largest programs in the category. ![]() 'Entitlements' are government checks people receive because they are 'entitled' to them by law. It's a little misleading because it suggests Congress has no control over it all, which of course it ultimately does. The basic difference is in the breadth of application.īasically, it's another way of referring to what budget folks call 'mandatory spending' to distinguish it from 'discretionary spending.' The term entitlements is used in somewhat different ways by different people, with overlapping meanings. There is never any mention of the 'entitlements' given to corporations due to corporate welfare." "I have paid into for over 60 years and think I am 'entitled' to my measly $1,027 a month - I have also paid into medicare for as long as it has existed and probably deserve the 'entitlement' of a yearly physical and the occasional x-ray. "Isn't it time for NPR to stop referring to medicare and social security as 'entitlements'?" asked Dorothy Slater, from Denver, CO. But it is prejudicial to the argument when the larger programs are referred to as something that sounds undeserved." Medicaid could be fairly called an entitlement. "The same applies to insurance policies, which include Medicare. "A pension is not something you are entitled to, it is something that belongs to you," Wright wrote. Thomas Wright of Chicago, IL, thought Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid should not be grouped under the label "entitlement." One listener's response shows the complicated feelings and meanings associated with entitlements. Isn't it time for NPR to stop referring to medicare and social security as 'entitlements'?
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