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This article is from the Conservatism FAQ, by Jim Kalb kalb@aya.yale.edu with numerous contributions by others.

What about welfare for the middle classes, like social security, medicare, the home mortgage interest deduction, and so on?

The most consistent conservatives want to get rid of them. Social
security and medicare, they say, are financially unsound, and are
socially harmful because they lead people capable of saving for their
own retirement and supporting their own parents to rely on the
government instead. They could better be replaced by private savings,
prefunded medical insurance, greater emphasis on intergenerational
obligations within families, and other arrangements that would evolve
if the government presence were reduced or eliminated.

Other conservatives distinguish these middle-class benefits from
welfare by the element of reciprocity. People get social security and
medicare only if they have already given a great deal to society, and
the mortgage interest deduction encourages people to become
homeowners, and so aquire a definite concrete stake in the local
society, and in any event the benefit consists only in the right to
keep more of one's earnings. Still others try to split the difference
somehow. As a practical matter, the reluctance of many conservatives
to disturb these arrangements is likely motivated in part by the
electoral power of their supporters.