I stand by what I said. Medicare was unheard of when social security was established.

In 2015, Social Security turned 80 years old. The original Social Security Act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. At that time, the U.S. was just beginning to recover from the Great Depression.

Millions of people were still out of work, and there was alarming concern for the elderly and retired Americans who had lost everything. The Social Security program was intended to be—and still is today—a social insurance program. It's a government-run program providing economic security to U.S. citizens.

The 1935 Act provided for "old age," or retirement, benefits, aid to dependent children, disability insurance, and unemployment insurance. Payments were made in lump sums until 1940 when a monthly payment system was put into place. And, it was paid for by workers. Workers made contributions to a "trust fund" from their paychecks to pay for the retirement and other benefits they'd need in the future.

The Social Security Board (SSB) was created when the President signed the Act in 1935. It remained that way until 1946 when it was renamed the Social Security Administration (SSA).