# Social security for terminally ill folk **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 2, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-for-terminally-ill-folk/761571 "2016-08-02T18:32:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-for-terminally-ill-folk/761571/21 "2016-08-03T23:53:58Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > So lets say there is a 20 year old person who has been diagnosed with X disease and has 5 years to live. Why should that person be forced to pay into the social security retirement trust fund when they know they’ll never be able to draw any benefits from it? Because social security is a tax. It’s not an insurance premium, or a pension plan, or a retirement account. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-for-terminally-ill-folk/761571/22 "2016-08-04T02:22:17Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Some schoolteachers do not pay into Social Security either; they pay instead into a pension plan. This is one reason why so many teachers moonlight - so they can get SS quarters from their other job. It’s not just teachers. People employed by state and local governments in various jobs \*may \*be exempt from social security. It depends on the state/local government- for example NYC employees can be exempt from SS if they don’t join a pension plan and contribute at least 7.5% of their pay into a deferred compensation account but NYS full-time employees must join the pension system and pay into SS. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-security-for-terminally-ill-folk/761571.md?page=1)