Hello,
My wife took her retirement benefit in July, 2022, which made me eligible for a spousal child-in-care benefit at the same time (I thought). After a very long application saga, which formally began in October, 2022, I finally received my benefit letter which makes it look like my benefit is retroactive to October of 2022, not July (although it's not 100% clear). Is there some reason for the 3-month delay, or did they just get it wrong? During my application process I thought I had confirmed several times that this would be retroactive to July.
Additionally, they are withholding Medicare premiums from the back payments. Since turning 65 in October, I have been paying these out of pocket. Are these out-of-pocket payments going to be refunded to me somehow or am I going to have to argue with them about this too?
Thanks for all your help.

Hi. If your wife's initial month of entitlement to Social Security retirement benefits was July 2022 and if you applied in October 2022, then as long as you met the requirements for child in care spousal benefits in July 2022 then first month of entitlement should have been retroactive to July 2022 (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.03/handbook-0305.html). No retroactivity from the application month is allowed for reduced spousal benefits, but since child in care spousal benefits are not reduced for age those benefits can be retroactive for up to 6 months (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0200204030). In your case, though, only 3 months of retroactivity is possible since you can't qualify for spousal benefits for any month(s) prior to your wife's initial month of benefit entitlement.

Any Medicare premiums that are withheld for months that you've already paid out of pocket should be automatically refunded to you. You'll probably need to be patient, though, because it takes awhile for Social Security to coordinate with the Medicare people.

By the way, you may want to strongly consider using our software (https://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/purchase) to fully compare and analyze all of your filing options so that you can determine your best strategy for maximizing your benefits.

Best, Jerry