SBU Study: We Pay Less in Social Security than We Think We Do

A new poll conducted by has found that the majority of Americans believe they are paying much more into Medicare and Social Security than they actually do pay.

The poll, conducted along with Left Right Research, surveyed 7,000 people. It found that 81 percent thought they had already paid enough into the Social Security system either to support themselves in retirement or that they would receive back in their lifetime. With Medicare, the result was similar: 80 percent.

However, more than 2 out of 5 people surveyed were off the mark by 50 percent or more when asked how much they had contributed to Social Security during the year in which they made the most money in their careers. When it came to Medicare, more than half of the respodents were wrong. Many later indicated they were just guessing.

Duffy Mich of Left Right Research called the findings "astonishing."

"U.S. taxpayers do not know what they are contributing to Social Security and Medicare," he said, "but they are convinced they’re paying enough into these two systems … despite all the publicity regarding the impending insolvency of both programs.”

The poll was a web-based survey of 6,988 people nationwide conducted in December of 2010.