Social Security/Medicare rip off

[youbet]

Looks like a move to Canada is in order. They're eager to have you and will treat you right!

 

[MichaelB]

I am in the process of applying for SS and Medicare. Just got off the phone with them after completing the online application. The issue: SS checks are with held one month so you are delayed getting the check. However Medicare has to be paid one month in advance. So the first check you receive which is delayed one month after the SS start date will have two months of Medicare payments removed. So what you get is delayed a month, what you have to pay has to be paid a month in advance.

My congressman is getting a letter, what a rip off.

Blame your parents.

Social Security disability, survivor, and retirement benefits are paid in the month after they are due. The benefit payment day is determined by the beneficiaries' birth date.
Benefit payment dates for Social Security

 

[l2ridehd]

OK, I understand, no sympathy here. Guess I will just grin and accept it. Be a lemming and follow the crowd. Probably should worry more about getting paid at all then when I get paid. Better to get something from them then nothing.

 

[MichaelB]

OK, I understand, no sympathy here. Guess I will just grin and accept it. Be a lemming and follow the crowd. Probably should worry more about getting paid at all then when I get paid. Better to get something from them then nothing.

Better yet, next time try to be born in the first 10 days of the month.

 

[REWahoo]

I discovered this "next month is not really next month until another month has passed" game when I signed up for SS benefits in 2008. I did some calculations at the time and determined the genius who came up with the idea for the one month delayed start was saving SS a little more than $2B per year.

 

[Rustward]

Just tell them it sucks and you don't need no stinkin' money!

 

[GregLee]

Better yet, next time try to be born in the first 10 days of the month.

I was! And tomorrow is the second Wednesday!

 

[justplainbll]

What does this have to do with SS and Medicare?

I think you are assessed a penalty for not paying sufficient estimated tax and charged interest for not being timely.

What's good for the goose should be good for the gander. SS, Medicare and the IRS are all part of the same beast. The IRS performs some collection services for SS. Timeliness seems to be a one way street.

 

[Telly]

Not only do you get paid for each month in the following month but the payment received in the month of your death (for the month you were alive) goes back to the SS admin.QUOTE]


Beat SS at their own game. Don't die.

Now THAT is dastardly! Then SS really will crash. And I predict that Doctors will cease taking ALL Medicare patients...

Doctor to office staff: No Medicare patients! None! Don't even let them into the waiting room! They'll be dropping body parts and worn-out fluids all over our furniture and magazines!!!

 

[Bikerdude]

Make a protest sign. Whine. Get emotional in front of a reporter. It's somewhat popular these days.

-ERD50

+1

Waaa, Waaa!

 

[justplainbll]

Now THAT is dastardly! Then SS really will crash. And I predict that Doctors will cease taking ALL Medicare patients...

Doctor to office staff: No Medicare patients! None! Don't even let them into the waiting room! They'll be dropping body parts and worn-out fluids all over our furniture and magazines!!!

Most doctors accept patients by appointment. They act like they're doing you a favor to fit you into their busy schedules and for medicare patients, if they have not opted out, usually limit their time spent per patient to around 5 minutes.
Perhaps you would not have such a cavalier attitude if
-you paid the medicare tax since its inception
-made FICA contributions for some 40 years
-deferred collection of SS retirement benefits until 53 years after first year of contribution.
-had to pay income tax on SS retirement benefits
-had to pay income based surcharges on medicare part B
-had to pay medicare part D surcharges even though you have an employer sponsored drug plan
-had to pay hefty income taxes while others get tax 'refunds' in excess of any income taxes they have paid.
Things change and not necessarily for the better for those who started out following the rules. Some call that progress.

 

[REWahoo]

Bll, you are a real ray of sunshine...

 

[justplainbll]

Bll, you are a real ray of sunshine...

Perhaps because my deceased DDS buddy's nickname was sunshine.
He was one of those people who got an annual flu shot because it was 'free'.
Telling it like I've seen it is. My dad went to his MD regularly every 3 months. He had many of the symptoms of non-hodgkins lymphoma but was not diagnosed until he was stage 3. My mother died from a pulmonary embolism 3 days after an alpha-hotel radically increased her dosage of procrit (the tamoxifen didn't help either).
The longevity of my parents fell quite short of my grandparents despite the fact that my grandparents lived the bulk of their lives without most of the 'benefits' of our nanny government and my parents' lifestyle was similar to that of their parents.

 

[teejayevans]

Medicare starts the first of the month that you turn 65, regardless of the date of the month.

So I was born at the end of the month, its like getting free health care for a month...I love this system!!
TJ

 

[justplainbll]

In my area, an alarming number of DOs and MDs are giving up their private practices and migrating to salaried positions.

 

[Dawg52]

Most doctors accept patients by appointment. They act like they're doing you a favor to fit you into their busy schedules and for medicare patients, if they have not opted out, usually limit their time spent per patient to around 5 minutes.

I won't notice any difference then when I become a medicare patient, that's all I have ever got with my primary doc.

 

[sheehs1]

Absolutely shocking news.

Funny....

 

[justplainbll]

That's when the annual SS benefit statement is sent out, along with any increases due to COLA adjustments.

Often this information is not available till late in the year, and the proper program changes are made.

Until you receive this statement of benefits, any "guesstimate" is just that.

Yes, been there - done that.

There has been no COLA for the past two years.

 

[rescueme]

There has been no COLA for the past two years.

The only folks receiving the annual statement of benefits are those that claimed SS in the last two years.

Those that were already on SS did not receive a statement, since the SS benefit amout remained the same, including the Part B Medicare charge.

With the expected COLA increase (regardless of what it is), everybody on SS will receive a statement of notification of benefits (along with the increase of Medicare) just prior to January 1, since the first new/adjusted payment will be on January 11th.

Don't confuse this form with your annual SS statement (which is no longer sent, anyway). It has a diffferent use.

 

[JOHN CARRIGAN]

You may not be so pleased if you find out that some of your doctors will not accept medicare patients.

Now that's a fact

 

[JOHN CARRIGAN]

That's when the annual SS benefit statement is sent out, along with any increases due to COLA adjustments.

Often this information is not available till late in the year, and the proper program changes are made.

Until you receive this statement of benefits, any "guesstimate" is just that.

Yes, been there - done that.

What COLA adjustments? I've not seen one in several years!

 

[rescueme]

What COLA adjustments? I've not seen one in several years!

The last two (not several).

There will be one effective Jan 1, 2012 (this has been under discussion on this board, with a guesstimate of around +3.5%).

However, if you have being paying for Medicare Part B over the last two years (without the COLA), be prepared to have an increase in that deduction from your SS.

 

[JOHN CARRIGAN]

Thanks for the update. Great to hear some good news from social security.

 

[GregLee]

However, if you have being paying for Medicare Part B over the last two years (without the COLA), be prepared to have an increase in that deduction from your SS.

A substantial rise in Medicare Part B premiums will affect Hawaii state finances, because it pays those premiums for its approximately 37,000 retirees. The fund to cover health insurance for state employees and retirees is already $14 billion in the hole (Honolulu Civil Beat - Hawaii Budget Chief: Tax Hikes Likely to Cover Cost of Retirees' Health Care - Article).

 

[mickeyd]

My congressman is getting a letter, what a rip off.

Aww don't waste your time. SS and Medicare will be bankrupt before you know it and you will not have to make any more payments to MC.