Are Social Security and Medicare doomed? Someone wants you to think so.

Less than 15% of baby boomers now say they are “very confident” that Social Security will maintain benefits at current levels or better in the future, according to a new survey.

The numbers are even lower among the younger generation: Less than 14% of millennials are very confident that the program will continue the benefits, and less than 11% of Generation X. These numbers are filled in each group, by factors of two, three or four to one, of those who are “not confident” at all.

The sentiment is similar about Medicare: At this stage more than half of Generation X — those born between 1965 and 1980 — “don’t trust” Medicare will continue to offer the same benefits it does today.

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The numbers appear in a new report by the Employee Benefits and Retirement Institute, a well-regarded nonpartisan research organization focused on private retirement preparedness and the social safety net.

This is another sign that marketing trumps substance, time and time again. There are really no good reasons why Social Security or Medicare should cut benefits. If this happens, it is a deliberate policy choice. But the best way to convince people that it will happen is to convince them that it is inevitable. Resistance is futile.

Somewhat surprisingly, the numbers appear buried in a report about the devastating private costs borne by unpaid informal caregivers — costs that will rise if the Social Security and Medicare safety nets are cut.

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One in five Americans already provides unpaid care to a family member, friend or neighbor.

And among them, a full two-thirds say it harms their mental and emotional health, and nearly three-fifths say it harms their physical health.

Many give money as well as time and energy. One way to measure costs is to look at where caregivers leave in relation to their own lives.

Those who provide this type of unpaid, informal care are 60% more likely than the rest of the population to have less than $1,000 in savings, and 60% more likely to say debt is a major problem. They are 40% more likely to struggle with nonmortgage debt. More than a quarter had to borrow money from family or friends themselves to keep going, even when supporting a vulnerable person without pay.

And retired caregivers are 50% more likely than others to say their retirement lifestyle is worse than they expected.

One of the worst aspects of this informal, unpaid care is that it is invisible in the public debate. Those who talk about cutting the social safety net for the middle class, supposedly “those who can afford it,” are simply planning to shift more costs to middle-class taxpayers.

All of which means: Bad times ahead for many if the Resistance Is Futile campaign gains more traction.