Surprise — according to the New York Times, immigrants have paid more into Medicare than they’ve received in return while the naturalized population is running a deficit.
The study, led by researchers at Harvard Medical School, measured immigrants’ contributions to the part of Medicare that pays for hospital care, a trust fund that accounts for nearly half of the federal program’s revenue. It found that immigrants generated surpluses totaling $115 billion from 2002 to 2009. In comparison, the American-born population incurred a deficit of $28 billion over the same period. [...]
Individual immigrant contributions were roughly the same as those of American citizens, the study found, but immigrants as a group received less than they paid in, largely because they were younger on average than the American-born population and fewer of them were old enough to be eligible for benefits. The median age of Hispanics, whose foreign-born contingent is by far the largest immigrant group, is 27, according to the Brookings Institution. The median age of whites in the United States is 42.
It’s ironic that many fiscally-conservative hawks complain about younger citizens shouldering the financial burden of older citizens while also decrying immigration, because in this case young immigrants are keeping the system afloat.
Naturalized, white Real Americans are going to need immigrants to sustain us in the future. I find that to be hilarious given the current dynamics of our political discourse.