The alternative to no social security, medicare, etc is the kind of human experience you see in a country like India which also doesn't have those sorts of programs. The disabled or old and poor end up either having to depend on their children, if they have any, or living on the streets begging and hoping for charity NGOs to help them.

And so, many areas become rife with poverty and disease. They're not safe, clean places to live let alone raise your kids. India ended up full of little gated communities because of this problem.

That's what America would become without social safety nets.