Social Security.........this really pisses me off!!

Social Security

I had to go over to the Social Security Office this morning to modify some things concerning my Medicare.

Ok. There are about 100 people in there waiting to talk to a administrator about something.

I think I was the only person on there who was actually old enough to "draw Social Security".

What the heck is going on?

Jackie,
I've had good luck just calling the medicare number on your card.
 
I had to go over to the Social Security Office this morning to modify some things concerning my Medicare.

Ok. There are about 100 people in there waiting to talk to a administrator about something.

I think I was the only person on there who was actually old enough to "draw Social Security".

What the heck is going on?

They also handle survivors, SSDI (AKA 'disability'), etc.

I had a problem with medicare vs. existing insurance and who was "primary."

Over $80,000 for a triple bypass kept bouncing claims back and forth.

The 800 number on the Medicare card had it fixed in about ten minutes.
 
SS woes

When you turn 65 and are enrolled in Medicare, it becomes your primary carrier. Any insurance you have besides that is classed as a supliment.

I have excellent coverage through my shop. The best. But my Insurance Company suggested I get Plan B. By suggesting, I mean they insisted.

This was all before I found out that Plan B would cost me an extra $4800 a year. We finally got our Shop's insurance Carrier to drop their insistence, which caused me to visit the SS office and get on just Plan A.

To James Mock. My Wife is in the same boat as you. Since she is in the Texas State Teacher's Retirement Fund, she only can draw a fraction of what she would have if she was not on the SS she earned before becoming a Teacher at 34. But it's a great retirement plan, she gets about $49,000 a year.


Of course, since we file a joint return, she is giving a lot back, as I am in a rather high tax bracket. But it's the same with the $3700 I draw each month from my Social Security. It gets thrown into the same pot with my personal income, and taxed at the same rate.

The Government gets you coming, and going.

I can't believe they suggested you sign up for Part B while still working.
 
I can't believe they suggested you sign up for Part B while still working.

You get caught between two entities.

My insurance carrier through my shop has us over a barrel. We have very good insurance, which we also furnish for our employees. They want to collect as much in premiums as possible, and pay out as little as possible. Myself and my older brother are the only two who are in the Medicare program.

They "suggested" I sign up for Plan B, which would limit their liabilities. What they failed to realize is how much more I would be forced to pay because of my income. Social Security flat out told me that if I did not sign up for plan B, I would be penalized at a future date..

By that "suggestion", I mean they would just up my rates, making plan B. More attractive offer.

I have written a letter to the Region SS office asking i for I could recoup the extra money I was forced to pay in, ( and never used), for five years.

I'm pretty sure they will tell me "no way". But at least they will know what I think of them..
 
The reason I am here is to drop Plan B.

Back when I turned 65, they told me I should sign up for Plan B, even though I have great Health Insurance through my shop. The big kicker is because of my income bracket, I have to shell out an EXTRA $1200 a quarter. That's another $4800 a year on top of the regular monthly payment.

My insurance carrier has told me I am just throwing money away, as all I need is Plan A, (just to satisfy the government requirements), since I am not "retired" and have insurance.

I thought that when you turn 65 that you only needed to register for Medicare, but not actually enroll and receive benefits until a later date of your choosing. It would certainly be to the SSA's benefit to allow that. I have a cousin who gets his medical needs me through the VA and the VA isn't considered to be adequate "other" coverage. Go figure.
 
You get caught between two entities.

My insurance carrier through my shop has us over a barrel. We have very good insurance, which we also furnish for our employees. They want to collect as much in premiums as possible, and pay out as little as possible. Myself and my older brother are the only two who are in the Medicare program.

They "suggested" I sign up for Plan B, which would limit their liabilities. What they failed to realize is how much more I would be forced to pay because of my income. Social Security flat out told me that if I did not sign up for plan B, I would be penalized at a future date..

By that "suggestion", I mean they would just up my rates, making plan B. More attractive offer.

I have written a letter to the Region SS office asking i for I could recoup the extra money I was forced to pay in, ( and never used), for five years.

I'm pretty sure they will tell me "no way". But at least they will know what I think of them..

When my MIL passed away before being entitled to receive her last payment they clawed it back in jig time.
 
This buggs me also

When my MIL passed away before being entitled to receive her last payment they clawed it back in jig time.

If I remember correctly, I received my first check one month after I enrolled ( in SS ). I also remember having to send my mother's last SS check amount back to them. What happened to the first month's check?

The other thing that bugs me is Our Representatives calling SS and Medicare an Entitlement! We, me and my employers, payed faithfully and dearly all those years. If the money had been handled by good money managers, there would be plenty and a more robust program. I have read that the Canada Pension is great and actually managed well. Perhaps we can learn something there???

It's difficult to feel good about anything our government does simply because of the slimy folks we elect to run things for us.

Pete
 
If the money had been handled by good money managers, there would be plenty and a more robust program.

It is a "pay as you go scheme".

The money YOU (and I) paid is used to pay PRESENT beneficiaries for all those years.

There is no ' money' to "manage."
It is NOT 'invested' in anything except special Treasury Bonds issued to SS when a surplus is received.
SS can redeem the bonds when benefits are above income (from the present people working and paying).

The government having already spent the money represented by the bonds must pull from General Revenue (read that as income and other taxes).

The management consists of taking in money and immediately sending it out to pay present benefits.

There is no "account" holding money.
There is no "lock box" holding money.

Any private company that did this would be prosecuted for operating a 'pyramid scheme.'

New 'investor' funds are used to pay of older debts.
 
If I remember correctly, I received my first check one month after I enrolled ( in SS ). I also remember having to send my mother's last SS check amount back to them. What happened to the first month's check?

The other thing that bugs me is Our Representatives calling SS and Medicare an Entitlement! We, me and my employers, payed faithfully and dearly all those years. If the money had been handled by good money managers, there would be plenty and a more robust program. I have read that the Canada Pension is great and actually managed well. Perhaps we can learn something there???

It's difficult to feel good about anything our government does simply because of the slimy folks we elect to run things for us.

Pete


They are a month behind in their payment system.

Agree on the entitlement comments. Most people who collect have paid in. Most of the ones who collect off of someone else's contributions are freeloaders. Time to let Paul Ryan know that he is full of chit.
 
Wonderful SS Office Experience

Allow me to share this Mcare SS experience
When I was of age to apply for Mcare I tried online multiple times with no success.
I went to the SS office in a horrible neighborhood, took a number and sat for 2 hours.
I was then ushered in to a room with a clerk. I had my passport,, DL, original SS card,and their records indicated my birthdate was incorrect.
Since I was born on July 4 (as was my mother, mother in law, and grandmother) I was pretty sure of my birthdate.
Birth date was 7/4 not 4/7 as their records indicated.
Then they explained that when the wonderfully efficient govt. switched over to computers someone must/possiblyh have made a transposition error which was my responsibility to correct. I had to mail off 70 $ for certified birth certificate with formal seal to the town where I was born in another state, and for proof of ID I had to .....ready??? send my DL copy. 2 Mo later had the information.
Took it again to the office sat half a day, and they said they would let me know.
Didn't hear for about 8 weeks and then after two certified letters RRR and a threat to involve my useless congressman...I had my Mcare card...

What really burned me...the entire time I sat in the waiting room at the SS office...no one around me spoke English only Spanish...so why where they there???
 
Trust Fund

It is a "pay as you go scheme".

The money YOU (and I) paid is used to pay PRESENT beneficiaries for all those years.

There is no ' money' to "manage."
It is NOT 'invested' in anything except special Treasury Bonds issued to SS when a surplus is received.
SS can redeem the bonds when benefits are above income (from the present people working and paying).

The government having already spent the money represented by the bonds must pull from General Revenue (read that as income and other taxes).

The management consists of taking in money and immediately sending it out to pay present benefits.

There is no "account" holding money.
There is no "lock box" holding money.

Any private company that did this would be prosecuted for operating a 'pyramid scheme.'

New 'investor' funds are used to pay of older debts.

I thought they claim the money we sent in was in a Trust Fund. Yes......No ? Tongue in cheek.
 
It is in a "trust fund"

I thought they claim the money we sent in was in a Trust Fund. Yes......No ? Tongue in cheek.

One where you know its spent as fast as it comes in on whatever our learned representatives desire, and replaced with "trust us" to make good on future payments...somehow. It sort of has to be since from the beginning benefits were paid from inflows, Roosevelt never funded it up front for the then benefits to be paid so inflows could go to a true pension system. The government will not allow private corporations to run a pension like they do SS. --Greg
 
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I thought they claim the money we sent in was in a Trust Fund. Yes......No ? Tongue in cheek.

As noted above not from the very start.

Jut as with any pyramid scheme you eventually run out of 'investors' to pay off the previous ones.

As it grows it becomes a mathematical certainty it must fail since their are never an infinite number of participants.
 
Was not the Trust Fund raided by LBJ for the Great Society Program and then left with a buncha' IOU's?
 
PENSIONs

One where you know its spent as fast as it comes in on whatever our learned representatives desire, and replaced with "trust us" to make good on future payments...somehow. It sort of has to be since from the beginning benefits were paid from inflows, Roosevelt never funded it up front for the then benefits to be paid so inflows could go to a true pension system. The government will not allow private corporations to run a pension like they do SS. --Greg

Many private corporations have 401 K's. The state of IOWA has a 401 K renamed RIC. Retirement Income Club. It's a dandy.
 
Many private corporations have 401 K's. The state of IOWA has a 401 K renamed RIC. Retirement Income Club. It's a dandy.

401Ks do not opera like SS at all.

They really are separate accounts in your name containing your money.
Some governments make generous contributions to them for their employees though.
 
Was not the Trust Fund raided by LBJ for the Great Society Program and then left with a buncha' IOU's?

The Highway Beautification Act of 1968, produced by Mrs LBJ (Ladybird Johnson), was the first SS Trust Fund raid that carried any fanfare by our SUBVERSIVE Anti-American news "media"!!

That Fake News conglomerate is now off being the savior of ILLEGALS, and blasting working Americans.

The SS Trust Fund now holds some 3 TRILLION in IOU's. But we got a $12 raise for 2018.....Nancy POLLUSKI's crumbs I guess.


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in answer to your lbj question , yes, and it has been sucked on ever since. i just got a statement that says i recieved x amount- i must have lost the ability to add subtract and multiply- as their # is apx 1.5 what my bank account shows even adding back in what they took out for what ever. This not going to be fun. and of course there was that certain highly placed individual that said it would never by taxed.
 
401Ks do not opera like SS at all.

They really are separate accounts in your name containing your money.
Some governments make generous contributions to them for their employees though.

I suggest you read the original Social Security Act of 1935. It provided for a pension payment to state employees. It also excluded others that were covered the same way as state government employees . Keep in mind a private business has to make a profit and compete. A government only has to raise the tax.I'll bet you have know idea how much of your taxes you pay for Public Pensions in your state. If you find out please post it. IOWA garnishes over 1 billion $$$$$$$ a year for Iowa Public Empolyees Retirement System {IPERS} The budget for the state is approximately 7 billion $$$$ .

Your Social Security will show your contributions by year, employer is name excluded.
Do you work a a taxpayer funded employer ?

You might also want to read the tax and spend clause, general welfare clause and involuntary servitude of the U S Constitution.

Many politicians think the General Welfare clause covers anything. If it did ,we wouldn't need the Constitution /Bill of Rights.
 
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