Anyone on Social Security keep getting less?

That's sad to hear about people that get SS disability when they may not deserve/need it, especially in light of people I know DO need/deserve it and haven't yet gotten it (and will spend TONS of money they don't have to hire a lawyer to try to get it).

My Mom did not want to collect SS because they would do fine without it and figured it should go to only those that really need it eventhough she paid into the system. Well guess what apparently she has to take it! Mom is frustrated with the fact that some she knows are complaining when they can no longer afford their summer homes and there primary home on the amount they are paid on SS. Well...........SS was intended for basic living costs, not high living!
Those of us still working are not always better off. DH finally got a raise this year after 6 or 7 years without and yet every year they have devalued the stock in the ESOP program and raised the health insurance costs. Can't win.

Bev

yeah my grandmother worked hard her entire life. paid taxs etc. she was smart enough to have some savings when she got older. lucky for her. she received a letter last year from ssi saying they felt they had overpaid her for several years. during this time the highest her ssi ever got was 450 a month. so they are taking 200 a month out of the 450 to pay back the so called "overpayment" for the next TEN years if it werent for her savings she would be destitute.

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What we have here...is a failure to communicate.

My husband (70) and I (61) live off his Social Security check of $637 a month. He got encephalitis 3 years ago and is unable to do anything anymore, even walk or eat. So I had to quit my job and become a 24/7 caregiver. Now my job is to take care of him and try to manage our finances, pay the bills and live off nothing after the bills are paid each month. Even after medicare pays his hospital and doctor bills from his 5 month hospitalization, we still are stuck with the 20% that they don't pay. Only getting $637 a month doesn't pay for a supplemental policy. The first of the year everything is going up MUCH more than the check will increase. And since I'm not going to be 65 until 2010, some nut in the government decided that people MY age should not be able to get Medicare until we're 66 instead of 65. So that's a whole extra year that I'm not able to "afford" to get sick. The whole deal sucks. And if I think about it, if my husband were to die befor I'm old enough to qualify, I would have to live on NO MONEY -0- and go out and get a JOB at 61 years of age. Who is going to hire a 61 year old secretary?

Nine years ago when my Dr. told me to apply for SS disability I went thru all the hoops. In the end they said no. I would still be alive in 12 mo. Told them that I should have fried my brain on drugs and alcohol then I would get it . They agreed. I am surviving now on ss with extra from an anuity and an IRA.

A friend of mine years ago did a caculation based of what I was paying into SS.along with my employers. If I could have put that money into US Savings Bonds that payed interest I would of had close to $1,000,000. The interest over 50 yrs sure adds up. That would $25,000 a yr for 40 yrs. I could live on that.

I raise a great deal of my own food and heat with wood and am debt free. I think it would be hard to live on SS if that were not the case.

Tunicamom, I believe that when you turn 60 you will be eligible to get SS on your husband's record(or yours if more $) if he should die. You might want to check on this. And my dad worked for SS so he told me you should always pursue to the next level to get disability you are due;they will always turn you down the first time unless major illness like brain injury or something. Sucks you have to hire a lawyer most times to get what you are due for all your years of work. DEE

Heck, no, Dee, why should anyone flame you-- thars what SS is for--the elderly--and the legitimately disabled. and, my hubby got his disability only because he was already almost 62 when he had the accident--now he has brain cancer and alzenheimers. so, we cant possibly do without supplemental insurance. what gripes me is the people , like neighbors kid on drugs, that draw SS, and he works, occasionaly, under the table--literally, making and selling.and i know how hard it is to save, my son works 10 hour days, works for the state-and still dont make enough--they'd qualify for food stamps, if they'd get them. something is wrong with this picture, dont you think? (and i, personally canned over 500 jars of garden produce this summer--have to)

SS and SSd come from how much you put in when you worked.

This is how it was explained to me, I am on SSd.The amount per month that
one gets is based on the economy of the state that one lives in. Some
people at SS figure out an average amount, round down and then base that
amount on the county you live in.

SS is given out in an amount so that it may last till you die.

Depending on the SSd that one gets, it can run out. Some people have to go
into reviews to see if they still can get it.

SSd is based on the disability and whether or not the person can work.

SSi is based on all the stuff you own; car, house, land, money in bank,and
material things, and they round the amount up. SSi has their own criteria
and how they base the amount one may get. If your ss or ssd amount is below
their cut off number they will help, if above it they won't help.

Medicare is federal and depends on the kind of medical needs you have, but
it does not pay for everything. Example, my disability is mental ones and
medicare will pay some of it, but if I get sick, say strep throat and visit
the doctor, my medicare does not cover that.

SSd is taxable. It is income.

Medicaid is state medical insurance. Some people can get both, state and
federal.

Every January the amount one gets increases a little bit, but it doesn't
help when the costs of living increases alot. That part sucks. It makes it
hard to save money. I am always looking on the ground for change.

Read up on the history of SS and you will discover that it was a scam since day one. FDR was one of the biggest criminals of his time - compared with Al Capone, Al looks like a kid who pulled the wings off flies by comparison.

my thought on revising SS is to give it only to retirees who had poor income all their lives. People who couldnt make enough to put retirement money away. SS is a comunistic idea. The whole idea is distribution of wealth. As an extreme conservative, this is one liberal program I really dont have a problem with. My problem is the way it is distributed. The people who earn the most during their working years, and have the ability to save for retirement are the ones who get the most SS payments. They arent the ones who need it for pete's sake. The people who earn the least are the ones who need it the most, but get the least out of it.

My thought is everyone should pay into it, but only the lower middle class, and poorer get it during retirement.

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In a perfect world everyone would be putting aside money for their old age--or we'd all be like the Waltons in one big rambling house working together. But face it, it isn't like that anymore. I'd say half the residents in my nursing home could leave if they had family that took one speck of interest in them. When you are in your twenties with a young family you are doing your best to get by these days...old age,retirement,disability is the farthest from your mind. If SS was restructured to ge the fakers off...druggies,learning disabled kids,etc. that would be a good thing. But having to hire an expensive lawyer what is rightfully yours from your working years is wrong. My DH has been reviewed several times and that is a good thing. But we'd never have applied for SS if we could have made it on our own. And trust me, I know poor and how to survive. These people who deserve SS and don't get it just fall back to become burdens on state welfare rolls which are being vigorously cut,at least here in MO. It's a sad situation all around. What to do? Disband the whole system? Cut you off if born after a certain date and let you figure out how to survive in your dottage? Soylent green when you hit 60? DEE

The medicaid or medicare...in Texas, if you don't have much income, the state will pay your insurance...then you'll get $90 back in your monthly check. Kansas apparently does too but their insurance really is bad. Texas' is a bit better.

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Ted H

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
-Davy Crockett