Dear Liz: How is it that elderly people who have never contributed to Social Security can collect a check? My wife’s grandmother was getting more than $1,000 a month.
Answer: Spousal and survivor benefits are nearly as old as the Social Security program itself.
Social Security was signed into law in 1935. Initially, benefits were only for retired workers. In 1939, benefits were added for wives, widows and dependent children. Later changes added spousal and survivor benefits for men as well as disability benefits.
The miser who wrote you might consider that there are more ways to contribute to society, to the commons we all share, than just financial. Keeping seniors stable and housed and solvent costs less in every metric than cutting them loose to live in abject poverty.
Do a little reading on what life was like for the elderly before the Social Security Act was signed in 1935. 80% lived in severe poverty, and Social Security cut that number in half.