http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/T...r08summary.pdf

http://www.ssa.gov/legislation/testimony_011608.htm

Paying for Medicare is expensive. Medicare is expected to be insolvent long before Social Security is expected to be insolvent.

The first link talks about anticipated dates of insolvency for Hospital Insurance (HI Part A) and Supplemental Medical Insurance (SMI Part B). The second link includes a paragraph about proposals to remove the 24 month wating period in some or all cases. For ESRD or MLS, there is no 24 month waiting period already, but those are pretty bad diseases.

I tried to find the original rationale for including or excluding disability, but the history lesson got too long and boring. It started with Roosevelt, got heated with Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy tried to make it work and then Johnson got Medicare passed in 1965. But cost is always a factor.

Remember basic economics. There is no free lunch.