Will Social Security Withhold Part B Premiums Even If I've Already Paid Them Out Of Pocket?
Hi Larry,
I am currently enrolled in Medicare Easy Pay and paying my Part B premium monthly. The bill I receive in mid September is for October coverage. Easy Pay will deduct from my checking account on September 20. I will start SS in December and get my first SS check in January. My question is will SS deduct for Medicare premium from January's check even though I already paid for January coverage on December 20th with Easy Pay? If so, will Easy Pay automatically stop withdrawals from my checking and will they refund any duplicate payments. Or, will SS credit me by not . . . Read More
Category: Medicare
Posted: Sep 9 2021 - 9:34am
Can You Please Clarify Whether Or Not I Should Get An Additional Part B Medicare Premium Refund?
Hello. I was paid my first Social Security payment in September of this year for August with no Medicare Part B payment reduction. Per my Social Security letter, I will receive payment going forward with the Part B deductions made. However, I have already paid in full to Medicare for the Part B payments for August, Sept., Oct., and November and have already received a check for a two month part b refund. I have read that refunds are made for month of social security payment rather than the month that you are paid for. However it still seems that I paid for Aug. Sept Oct Nov., . . . Read More
Category: Medicare
Posted: Sep 8 2021 - 6:19pm
Where On Social Security's Website Can I Apply To Switch To My Own Benefits?
Where on SS website do I apply to switch from ex-spouse benefit to mine at age 70 thank you.
Hi. Here is a link to the page on Social Security's website that you'd use to apply for retirement benefits: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/.
Best, Jerry
Category: Filing For Benefits
Posted: Sep 8 2021 - 5:27pm
Is There Any Way That I Could Receive My Part B Premiums Back?
Hi Larry. I am a dual enrolled individual under the age of 65 and receiving Social Security Disabilty benefits. My part A and part B premiums were being paid at one time both by Medicare as my primary and Medicaid as my secondary until the program I was enrolled into was considered incompatible for some reason. Since then, I have been paying for my Part B premium from my benefit for over 12 months primarily because I had no knowledge of other programs, my eligibility or the steps I would have needed to take next. My question is, would the time frame I've been paying for my Part . . . Read More
Category: Medicare
Posted: Sep 8 2021 - 4:04pm
Will Social Security Allow Me To File For Early Retirement And Suspend My Benefits Until Age 70?
I am 61 retired physician. My younger wife is 43 and my twins are 8 years old.
My wife has no/negligible earnings contribution to social security.
I have enough savings not to tap into Social security until age 70.
However, I am considering applying for early retirement benefit and then suspend till age 70, and applying for my minor children, and spouse under childcare benefits. Will social security allow this or will it deem that I take early retirement benefit as well? Thank you
Hi. No, they won't. If you apply for early retirement . . . Read More
Category: Filing Strategies
Posted: Sep 8 2021 - 12:07pm
Did Social Security Do Away With Spousal Benefits For People Born After 1954?
Did the fed do away with spousal SS benefits for folks born after 1954?
Hi. No. Spousal benefits can still be paid to people who people who meet the requirements for those benefits regardless of when they were born.
What changed for people born after January 1 1954 is that they are not allowed to file just for spousal benefits without also being required to claim their own Social Security retirement benefits at the same time (https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/ . . . Read More
Category: Spousal Benefits
Posted: Sep 7 2021 - 9:58pm
Should I File An Appeal Or A New Claim?
Dear Larry,
Should I file an appeal or a new claim for survivor benefits?
Over the last seven years Social Security has told me so much wrong information. First they told me that if I filed for my own benefits early, that it would reduce not only my retirement benefit, but also the survivor benefit from my late husband. And so I missed a year’s worth of retirement benefits from age 62-63. Your site showed me that they were wrong, and I filed for my benefits at 63; I tried to have my application back dated to age 62, based on the incorrect information they told me, . . . Read More
Category: Miscellaneous
Posted: Sep 7 2021 - 9:48pm
If My Wife Takes Her Benefits At Age 62 Will She Be Forced To Take A Reduced Survivor Benefit If I Die Before She Reaches FRA?
My spouse just turned 62, is 8 years younger than I, and is requesting her benefit now. Her benefit will be deemed. If I die before my wife reaches FRA, will she be forced to take the survivor benefit based on her age, since she already is receiving a benefit? Or can she wait until her FRA to get the survivor benefits?
Hi. As long as your wife is eligible for Social Security retirement benefits based on her own work record, she could choose to wait until full retirement age (FRA) to collect survivor benefits if you die before she reaches FRA. The only way . . . Read More
Category: Survivor Benefits
Posted: Sep 7 2021 - 4:23pm
Do You Know Of Any Information I'm Missing?
I am 64 and have a FRA of 66 and 6 months. I spent a number of years out of the market due to raising children and caring for parents. My marriage of 30 years ended in 2015. I understand that I can take 1/2 of former spouses amount.
I am in the lower margin of income so 1/2 of spouses will be about $1200 a month. So do you know of any info I am missing? File and suspend does not apply to my situation.
Thanks for the advice
Hi. Not really. It sounds like your only real option comes down to when to apply for Social Security benefits. Since you . . . Read More
Category: Filing Options
Posted: Sep 7 2021 - 2:50pm
How Do I Know If My Ex-Husband Has Passed Away?
Hello! Not to be indelicate, but how do I know if my ex-husband has passed away? I assumed Social Security would tell ME. (I can supply his full name, DOB, and SS#.)
But in Get What’s Yours (p. 240, revised edition) Larry writes that SS doesn’t know whether your ex-spouse died. “You must tell the agency.”
I am 67, my ex is 65, and we were married for 13 years. We’ve been divorced 20+ years and I never remarried. We have no children together and no mutual friends, and live in different parts of the country—in other words, no contact.
Knowing whether I have . . . Read More
Category: Miscellaneous
Posted: Sep 7 2021 - 2:28pm
