Ok DU'er's I got a question for you all. Its about SS and SSDI payments.

[mrcheerful]

I'm not sure How many of you out there that have either retired parents or handi capped family members. But how many of you are aware of what SS expects most of them to live off a month? The majority of the retirees are living off $1,600 to $1,800 a month and have no other incomes coming in. With The new drug prescription plans they will have to pay at least $250 for the plans. This year the government gave them a whooping $20 to $40 cost of living increase, based on the supposedly inflation rate. Then you have the handi capped, those who were lucky enough to be able to get on their parents SS, get around $800 a month, if the handi capped person is on his on SS, they get a whopping $599 a month, with the $20 increase starting after the new year their income is now $623 a month. Just how are these people able to live? BTW, the handi capped are cut off SS if they marry, their spouse is supposed to support them. Anyhow, as you well know gas prices have gone up as well as heating costs, yet they are expected to live on that amount. Why isn't that reflected in the cost of living? We are talking about people unable to work and theres no way for them to have a quality life, they are just one step from losing everything and becoming homeless, which means they loose all SSDI benefits. How can we the people allow this to happen and not think about them? Its sickening how they are forgotten by we the people.

[acmejack]

1. Don't forget the Medicare payment they deduct!

Without my family I wouldn't have made it. Don't get sick, unless you are prepared to forfeit everything you earned. It takes an extremely long time to get the assistance, during which one can lose their home, their credit, etc.

It appears to be de rigeur that they turn you down twice and make you appeal to a judge.

[mrcheerful]

3. Yeah i know, my gf applied for SSI

due to a degenerative disc disease and she has an 18 month waiting period before she see's a judge. Work first and the Rehabilitation services refused to send her out for jobs. She is having lots of problems with her legs, arms and hands going numb, so she looses her balance and drops things a lot. Both agencies said they couldn't recommend her for work because she was a health risk and no employer will hire her.

[LunaC]

8. 75 - 80% of first-time SS disability applicants are rejected

and are forced to appeal to a Judge. It's criminal the way the people who need help the most are summarily dismissed!

[mopaul]

9. i had to prove that i was disabled, it was quite humiliating

i had an ss woman tell me years ago that i wasn't legally disabled although i had polio and spent many years in children's hospitals, and i had to be seen by a doctor who said the same thing. i had to raise hell and go through all kinds of bullshit to get money that's put aside for just this purpose, but they don't tell you that you have to beg for it and be humiliated as well.

[LunaC]

11. And even when you finally qualify

they withhold several months' funds. It's as though they hope you shrivel up and die so they never have to disburse any money at all.

[hyphenate]

Yes

I was turned down twice, and the next stop was the administrative law judge, but I guess the judge was reviewing my case, and ruled in my favor without that appearance. I had hired a lawfirm in the disability case--they took over $5000 from the final sum for their work, which really wasn't much work on their part. Nevertheless, I wouldn't have gotten anything without them, so I suppose it was worth it.

[TahitiNut]

2. $1,600 to $1,800? Horsehockey.

[mrcheerful]

4. I was going by people I know who's getting SS and SSDI.

Sorry, I should have checked it out first. My mistake, but as your chart shows, $1,100 a month is where the majority is at. How the heck can they expect people to live on that plus pay out for health care and perscription plans?

[papau]

5. Again I am late - but well done - excellent graph - not sure the ave

is even over $1000.

Guess I could look that up! :-)

http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/index.html

$962 primary, 470 spouse

that was easy.

[mopaul]

6. got SSI briefly, but wife made too much, now i owe THEM.

i became unable to make a living several years ago, and my body's not cooperating, and i signed up for ssi and got it for a few months, not much, but it did help, then they said that because my wife got a raise, i was no longer qualified to receive help, and actually owed them thousands of dollars which it has taken us years to pay back.

the system is made to be difficult to use, and embarrassing as well. if i didn't have my wife, i'd be literally homeless and lost, bless her.

[sandnsea]

16. I don't understand

My mother got SSD, it wasn't dependant on my father's income at all. When she finally needed Medicaid it was, and they got a divorce in order for her to keep it. Her medication alone was over $1000 a month and he just didn't make enough to pay for that and all her medical bills. But his income never had anything to do with her Medicare or disability. Did they change the rules or are you talking about a different program?

[mrcheerful]

17. Reagan changed the rules.

He also made it almost impossible for disabled to marry. Even if you marry a disabled person, once you say I do they take away income. Now if you remain unmarried you can live together and keep your income. If you marry someone thats working, depending on their income you can lose part or all of your benefits.

[sandnsea]

19. This was ten years ago

Long after Reagan. So I still don't understand.

[mrcheerful]

20. It took awhile for them to get around your mom. Remember they review each

case and decide who and when they get cut.

[WePurrsevere]

26. I'm sorry but this is simply not true in all cases.. it wasn't in mine or

others I know.

It sounds like you're talking about SSI perhaps... or if their SS was based on that of a previous spouse. Regular Social Security (disabilty and I believe retirement as well), which is earned on and received for your own work record, is not lost because you marry.

[mrcheerful]

27. Yes SSI or if your on a spouse or parents SS benefits

sorry, I just get frustrated on how those that became disabiled at birth or before they had a job gets treated. If those getting SSDI from spouse or parent, then marriage effects their benefits. SSI also is effected by marriage. Those who have there own SS, aren't effected, unless they are also getting SSI.

[mopaul]

18. i was always self employed & didn't pay into the system

like most folks, big mistake. ssi is for those who are disabled but didn't pay into the system. those who did get bigger benefits. plus this was 20 yrs. ago in oklahoma, i'm in mo. now, but they refuse to even speak to me cause my wife makes so much money, which came as a surprise to her.

[sandnsea]

22. Hmm,

Okay, so I thought you were talking about the other program for people who never paid into the system. My mom was working for about 10 years before she got sick. Maybe she was getting her own disability? I always thought she was claiming off my dad's income. Guess not. I do know she got the minimum, something like $300 a month.

Yeah, I'm self-employed too. My earned income credit is just enough to offset my FICA. But it's going to be alot tougher now that my youngest is grown. And I hate to even think about living on it. We can barely get by on $2500 a month, let alone trying to stretch $1000 or less. I just don't even like to think about it.

[converted_democrat]

7. My Grandma belongs to a "widows group." It's just a group of

widows that have gone to church together for many years. Not one in the group gets more than $750.00 a month. The majority of the group gets less than $700.00 a month. My Grandma was really lucky because my Grandpa was good with a dollar when he was alive, so she is sitting okay right now. However, none of her friends are "okay." Everyone of them with the exception of my Grams has to get their food from the church food pantry, and they have to rely on family handouts. (If the family has any money to spare.) At one point, all of these women owned a home, and many of them owned a business. (or their husbands did when they were alive.) Now they have nothing. They worked all of their lives, and they have nothing. My Grandma, being the "wealthiest" of the group, takes the "girls" to the "country club" (Wendy's value menu for a .99) and "treats" them to .99 hamburger. They worked hard all of their lives, and their "luxury" in life is going to Wendy's once a week to eat. These are their golden years... I hate what my country has become.

[mrcheerful]

13. Yeah I know how these people feel, been through the whole thing

myself, took 10 years to get on, then 5 years after I was on I had to prove that I was still disabiled. I been disabiled since I was 5 years old, and Have been going down hill every since, yet every 5 years I got to go down and prove it to SSDI doctors.

[hyphenate]

10. I'm on disability

and get $1100 a month. I don't qualify for SSI because I am not paying any rent--they consider the fact that a friend is allowing me to live in his second floor apartment without rent as an "allowance" of $600 a month--yes, it counts as "income."

In addition, I supposedly owed the IRS money from 9 years ago--less than $900--and they are currently taking THAT out of my monthly amounts. Thankfully, they are only allowed to take 15% out, so it's a little over $150 a month, and it's not for long, but shit--they go after someone like me for the pittance they claim I owe, and won't go after some big moneymaker and true tax evader? I suppose they feel powerful to be going after someone who can't fight back.

I waited a full year and a half before my case was finished. I pretty much lived on $600 a month for that year and a half--my mom was giving me $300 and the state was giving me $300 and food stamps. Now, since I am supposedly "solvent" my food stamps are down to $49 a month.

Ask me how I manage to "live" and I will tell you this: I try to eat as cheaply as I can, which means very little meat, fish or poultry, canned and processed foods, I make my own bread, and I have to weigh the importance of something I want sometimes, and see if it is worth it to me to purchase it. As far as clothes, I do have a lot, mostly tee-shirts and jeans, which I often purchase from a secondhand store. Luxuries? Very little. When I got the lump sum "backpay" I did buy myself a camera and a secondhand laptop, and got caught up on bills, and put some away in a CD that I can't touch. Other than that amount that is safely tucked away, I am broke long before the end of the month, and make due with leftovers and cans and boxes of food. My mom isn't sending me any money anymore, though she will help with perhaps $100 if I'm desperate, and I often am.

Welcome to the reality of the poor.

[mopaul]

12. right there with ya

same here, unable to work, unable to even leave the house except for necessities. haven't gone to movies in years, (although i did go see kong!), and pinching every damn penny. it messes with your head real, real bad too, as you know.

here's to better times!

[madokie]

15. I guess so much for the we're all in this together shit

No one in America should have to go to bed hungry or be homeless. I just count my lucky stars that I have the VA for my health care.

[madokie]

14. I became disabled in Jan. of this year

peripheral arterial disease. At some point down the road the doc's tell me I'll loose my left foot. maybe I'm one of the lucky ones but it only took 3 months for my ss to be approved. I get a 40 dollar raise starting on Janurary's check to $920. I'm just lucky to have a wife who works, I don't know what we'll do when she retires, I keep reading that dog food is pretty good, sure hope I don't find that to be true.

[Batgirl]

21. I didn't know these things

It's completely outrageous and unacceptable that elderly and disabled citizens are treated this way. What kind of country won't offer a reasonable safety net for those who are unable to work? It's monstrous, even murderous. If ever there were an issue that all halfway decent people should agree on, it's this, because it's universal: Everyone gets old and eventually loses their independence. And that's only if we're lucky, since many of us will be robbed of our capabilities much earlier through accident or illness.

I can't believe people exist that could hear these things and tell themselves they don't have to be concerned because they're such rugged individualists and they'll never find themselves in a position to need assistance. For most of us, all it would take would be one fall down the front steps and then finding out the hard way what it's like to have to ask for help, to not be employable, to be at the mercy of a system that's set up to fail at it's alleged mission.

[mopaul]

23. it can happen to anyone

it happened to me, literally anyone, from any spectrum can become disabled and forgotten.

[MountainLaurel]

28. In answer to your question

What kind of country won't offer a reasonable safety net for those who are unable to work? It's monstrous, even murderous.

A country that was founded by religious extremists who believed that poverty was a punishment from God and that God would provide all needs for the righteous. A country that since its founding has seen "other" people who didn't look like or worship like them -- whether African slaves, Slovak coal miners, or Irish maids -- as resources for their businesses and not human beings. A country where free-market capitalism replaced the old God among the people who held the power, making profit the ultimate goal. Social goods such as health care, education, and housing also fall to the profit motive.

[WePurrsevere]

24. Important Corrections to your info from an SSD recipient but I agree it's

not easy to live off of SS and certainly more help is needed for many. For those with low enough incomes there's Social Services to help a bit such as HEAP (heating assistance), Food Stamps, Medicaid and Housing Assistance. Many SSD recipients are just over the line to receive any of that help however or they own their own house or a newer car which some programs consider an asset so you won't qualify.

Please understand that not all SS recipients are the same as your friends. :-) There are different types of Social Security benefits. There is that which is for seniors, that which is for those born with a disabilty and those who become disabled later in life after having worked. To my knowledge the benefit a person loses when they marry is a previous spouses or SSI which is income based. I have a friend who was born blind and has received SS all of her life. When she married I don't know how but she continued to receive benefits from SS but her husband may have also have had a low income.

As a divorced mother of 2 in '89 I became disabled with MS at the age of 29... I was lucky enough to have the top neurologist write up my info for SS and won my case the first time through. Since I had chose to stay home much of the time when my children while I was married and had not earned very many "work credits" my benefits were very low (I also received SSI, a part of SS, to help a bit but that was low as well). As the chart shown shows lower benefits then men are common for women and I believe our staying home with the kids influences this factor quite a bit although not souly. In '93 I remarried to a man with a healthy income and yet I still received MY SS benefits (as well as the SS benefits for my under 18 yr old daughters) although I did lose my SSI benefits since that is household income based. After a few years my husband was badly injured at work and this combined with having degenerative bone disease and chronic and severe pain incapacitetd him from working. After years of fighting he finally won SSD so we are BOTH on it and receiving benefits under our own work history. Although he made a healthy income and worked for 20+ yrs his benefits the only way we make $1800. a month from SSD is by combining my pitance with his (and that will be as of the Cost of living 4% increase and with the higher medicare cost taken out) which takes place as of Jan. '06. My husband and I are not opting in for the prescription plan for a number of reasons so that is not taken out of our monthly benefit.

According to the SSA site the COLA is based on Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of one year to the third quarter of the next. From the gov's DOL site HERE is what is included in the CPI (bolding mine):
7. What goods and services does the CPI cover?

The CPI represents all goods and services purchased for consumption by the reference population (U or W) BLS has classified all expenditure items into more than 200 categories, arranged into eight major groups. Major groups and examples of categories in each are as follows:

* FOOD AND BEVERAGES (breakfast cereal, milk, coffee, chicken, wine, service meals and snacks)
* HOUSING (rent of primary residence, owners' equivalent rent, fuel oil, bedroom furniture)
* APPAREL (men's shirts and sweaters, women's dresses, jewelry)
* TRANSPORTATION (new vehicles, airline fares, gasoline, motor vehicle insurance)
* MEDICAL CARE (prescription drugs and medical supplies, physicians' services, eyeglasses and eye care, hospital services)
* RECREATION (televisions, pets and pet products, sports equipment, admissions);
* EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION (college tuition, postage, telephone services, computer software and accessories);
* OTHER GOODS AND SERVICES (tobacco and smoking products, haircuts and other personal services, funeral expenses).

Also included within these major groups are various government-charged user fees, such as water and sewerage charges, auto registration fees, and vehicle tolls. In addition, the CPI includes taxes (such as sales and excise taxes) that are directly associated with the prices of specific goods and services. However, the CPI excludes taxes (such as income and Social Security taxes) not directly associated with the purchase of consumer goods and services.

Personally I'd like to see the COLA increases done more then just once a year. It would be more helpful if it were reviewed quarterly so we're not stuck struggling to just get by at hte end of the year. This year with the home heating prices/gasoline/food costs having zoomed up so much it's been much more difficult then usual.

[carolinalady]

25. I too am disabled and married and still receive benefits. Also

opting out of perscription plan at this time as meds are not as expensive as plan-when I was put on Medicare-it totally wiped out increases equal to two years plus.

[bleedingheart]

29. My mom was very financially saavy and so she does well in spite

of the fact that her social security is $740 a month. She gets an additional $500 a month in pension and interest income.

But....her house is paid for and she has no debt.

Many women let their husbands control their finances and many of them were widowed and found out too late that homes were not paid for, there was a lot of debt and no savings....

In my area there are women whose husbands elected to take full pensions while they lived rather than take 3/4 of the pension in order to allow their wives to continue to receive it......so when their husbands died...they got nothing...

[bleedingheart]

30. by the way...my dad was a notch baby....so my mother would

have gotten more...