Payments for Medicare

Both public and private sector employees in Massachusetts have 1.45% of their pay deducted for the Medicare portion of Social Security.

Factoids

Private sector funds Social Security

Most private sector employees – about 55 million nationwide – rely on defined contribution retirement plans, in which they are responsible for managing their money and there is no guaranteed benefit, to supplement Social Security.

10-year guarantee

Massachusetts has a defined benefit retirement program for its municipal, county and state workers. Public employees who work 10 years or more are guaranteed a retirement allowance consisting of a pension and at least a portion of what they paid into the system over the years plus interest, the annuity. They also get lifetime health benefits.

$13,500 on Social Security

The average annual benefit to people collecting disability through Social Security was about $13,500 in 2008.

Pensions rise $360 per year

Public employee pensions in Massachusetts increase by a maximum of 3 percent on the first $12,000 of a retirement allowance each year. That’s $360 per year.

Social Security differs in Mass.

Massachusetts is one of the 15 states in which public employees don’t pay into Social Security and don’t collect it. People who contributed to Social Security while working in the private sector then went into the public sector, lose as much as 55 percent of their Social Security benefit if they are also collecting a public pension.

Hypertension a major factor

About 75 percent of U.S. police, firefighters and EMTs prehypertension or hypertension, according to a 2008 study published in the American Journal of Hypertension. The study attributed the numbers to several factors including the physical and emotional stresses of the job and obesity rates.

Disability Pensions