I'm on SS and will be on Medicare this fall and I'm not upset about proposed changes to SS.

[Kaleva]

I'm 52 and not at all thrilled with being on SS at such a relatively young age. I tried for years to keep working even just enough to pay the bills but finally last October, I just had to concede I couldn't do it anymore.

So now I get $1100.00 a month when I made over three times and sometimes 4 or 5 times that much (I was self employed). But while the money is very tight, my doctor tells me my chances of making it to old age are much better. The alternative was to keep trying to work and die on the job in my early to mid 50's.

Given that, I feel a debt of gratitude to all of you who are working to support me and my wife (she's on disability from the Post Office) and I'm more then willing to make some sacrifices so that when you all get to retirement or become disabled, you'll have something.

I'd much prefer that Bush tax cuts on the wealthy be done away with and the cap on SS payroll tax be removed but there is a political reality to deal with. I trust President Obama and our Dem leaders in Congress to come up with the best deal possible with the Repub controlled House and if that means I take a hit, I'll accept it.

[Bluenorthwest]

1. If you get Social Security benefit of that amount you get Medicare

not Medicaid. There is a vast difference between the two.

[Kaleva]

2. You're right. I keep mixing up the two. Edited to correct.

[Cannikin]

17. I'm in the same spot and I tend to mix the two terms up all the time.

They really try to make it as confusing for us as possible.

[RebelOne]

3. Medicare does not kick in until a person is 65. n/t

[Bluenorthwest]

5. That is not the case with disability.

See, this is part of the problem. People don't know the basics.

[Kaleva]

6. No, Mine will start this October.

I have to be on disability for a full year before it kicks in. I'll have a little over a $100.00 deducted automatically if I want Part B. Part A alone costs nothing.

[Cannikin]

18. I had to wait 24 months and mine will be 115 starting in October.

[Kaleva]

24. They could only go back 12 months from when I applied.

So, technically, this October will be 2 years. I could have been on disability starting in Jan. of 2007 but I kept trying to work.

[loyalsister]

7. It depends on a number of variables

In MO, a person whose income is higher than poverty level must pay a sort of premium (spend-down) for Medicaide which covers things like attendant services, and picks up the fees for Medicare D coverage. The idea is to "spend-down" to poverty level in order to justify some services.
I think that each state has considerable of latitude in how to deal with Medicaide.

[CreekDog]

4. why you see it as politically necessary is beyond me

you realize your opening position is this point now.

so any compromise will be to the right of what you think you're opening with.

[grahamhgreen]

8. If you still want it 10 years from now, you need to listen to us. Obama is going after it.

[EFerrari]

9. There is no political necessity to steal from American seniors. n/t

[Historic NY]

10. One change would be in Medicade...

I'm collecting SS disability and I have a lifetime medical plan which I pay for from when I retired by turning in my sick time. I now only use 20% of this and the rest from Medicade. They should have allowed me the choice but I was saddled with it. The costly plan will still have money when I'm gone. So now the governments pay 80%....and my employer pays me back for the money they take out for Medicade.

[stockholmer]

11. not to be quarrelsome, but if you 'trust' any political leaders in the present US system, then you

are just asking to sheared as a sheep. If your attitude of passivity is truly indicative of the majority of Americans, then to be even more blunt, the USA is fucked.

sorry, I call it like I see it.

[Kaleva]

14. I don't see the point in voting then if one can't put trust in your candidate.

[stockholmer]

15. thus the need to break up the false 2-party left/right paradigm that is US politics

"The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party, which will be none of these things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies."

Carroll Quigley, (Tragedy and Hope-1966)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It may well take a 'kamikaze' election or 2, but that is the only to slay the beast. Failure to act guarantees, without a doubt, further entrenchment of the corporate fascists and their systemic control. The destruction of the average American's way of life will be done (as it has and is being done now) in a grinding, brutal, relentless slide downwards into an abyss of neo-feudalism, all with a scientific-enabled banker/monetary scheme dictatorship overlaid to ensure compliance. There will be no relief form the chattel yoke of debt peonage, and infrastructural collapse. The death will come from 1000's of cuts, and may well come slower than many predict, but come it will.

[mmonk]

12. But for someone else, it might mean life or death.

Once you put these things on the table, they are seldom taken off again. For example, Obama struck a deal on expanding and extending tax cuts and here we are again.

[whatchamacallit]

13. Ah... so begin the tales of normalization.

Amazing what people will say and do to be part of Obama's soft landing crew.

[scarletwoman]

20. Indeed. Thank you.

"Amazing what people will say and do to be part of Obama's soft landing crew."

Amazing, yes, and also very sad.

sw

[Forkboy]

21. Not that amazing, really. Predictable yes, amazing no.

[loyalsister]

16. My situation is similar

Only, I have been here for many years and I'm 40. The interesting thing is that I may not be if health care had been available and working was not implicitly discouraged.
SS law could use some tweaking way that could lead to some valuable changes. The disability benefits portion is poorly written. The threshold\definition that a person must meet is "unable to be gainfully employed." If a person does not maintain that status they lose health care benefits.

I know that if I had had access to health care from the start, my situation may not have turned into one where I would be penalized for seeking and gaining employment. I'm not sure that my particular situation could be fixed at this juncture, but I think that one result of healthcare reform will be that there will be fewer additions to the disabled benefits rolls.

I would enthusiastically support a plan that eliminates the work penalty.

I would also be very happy to see nursing homes get fewer dollars.

I see definite possibilities for positive changes in Medicare and SS so I think it is fair for me to wait and see.

I am much more concerned about Medicaide.

[jwirr]

30. I agree the work penalty should be changed. My sister-in-law is

an artist. She is bi-polar and can paint some of the time but has long periods of total blocks. The work laws insist that if she can paint even one salable painting then she is better. She looses her SSDI and he medical care which pushes her right back into the situation she was in.

Her paintings are beautiful and a great lose to the world.

[loyalsister]

33. Exactly

People who have mental illnesses are also subject to extreme bias. People question the legitimacy of the classification of disability in situations like hers. Institutional discrimination against people with disabilities is essentially written into law. A person with a disability is supposed to be poor before they can begin to find the adaptations (medication, durable equipment, ther that make it easier to function.

[scarletwoman]

19. Well, bless your heart.

[Forkboy]

22. That's cool. Can you share some with me? I have $23 bucks for the rest of the month.

And every month is this tight. Since you can handle the hit, surely you can afford to help others who cannot. Thanks in advance.

[Kaleva]

34. That's a little over $22.00 more then I have.

Almost all of the money I get went out on the 2nd Tuesday to pay bills. Took the last 4 bucks I had and walked to the corner store to buy a gallon of milk for $3.96. But if push comes to shove, I could drop internet access and cable tv.

[Forkboy]

35. We all must "sacrifice".

[Vinnie From Indy]

23. The selfishness of your post is an awesome thing to behold

while it may difficult to impossible for you to do, I would offer that you try very hard to get outside your self-centered view of the world and understand that what may be a "hit" to you might mean "death" to someone else. In even a not so extreme case as death, there are millions of families that would be effected in very negative way from the financial pressures and a host of other societal ills that would result from allowing SS and Medicare to become vulnerable to repeated attacks by the right-wing.

Grow up and quit thinking of only yourself.

[Kaleva]

26. Your probably alot better off then I am but you tell me to quit thinking of myself.

[Safetykitten]

27. Really. It's amazing. Let me help you to that cliff...want me to push a bit?

[fadedrose]

25. How difficult was it for you to get disability?

I mean apart from your doctor's recommendation, diagnosis, etc., what else did you have to do?

I know someone who has doctors' recs and was still denied....

[Kaleva]

29. According to the letter I got from SSA, I was eligible for disability in Jan. of 2007

But since I kept trying to work and didn't apply until Oct. of last year, my benefits could only be back dated a year before I applied.

[madfloridian]

28. Unbelievable.

A Democratic president is willing to shred the safety nets for seniors to bits, and you say thank you...unbelievable.

[RebelOne]

39. I agree, and if the president allows any cuts to social security,

he has lost my vote in the next election.

[JVS]

31. Translation: I got mine

[piratefish08]

32. wow.

seems like it's all been said......


step out of your bubble.


there. now it's all been said.

[southernyankeebelle]

36. I had to start taking it at 62. I tried to get disability a yr earlier but

they turned me down. I said screw it I wait til am 62 and retire early. Now I will be 65 in 2 yr. I don't make make $800 a month. I know I will be charged at least $100 or more out of my ss to pay for my medicare. I thank god I have a husband. I don't know what I would do. I don't know how people are going to make it on even less than what I make a month. I guess they don't care if old people die. I remember a time when old people were eating dog food. I am so disappointed in Obama. Many people just can't afford to take that kind of a hit.

[Kaleva]

38. I often worked for free or charged a very minimal fee for people in your situation

I didn't feel right about charging just because an elderly person, single mom, or someone who didn't have it all upstairs didn't know how to change a blown fuze, reset a tripped circuit breaker or replace a dirty air filter.

A woman called me up one early winter morning saying her elderly mother called her and said she had no heat. I rearranged my schedule and drove the 20+ miles to the woman's home only to quickly discover she had turned her thermostat down the evening before and simply forgot to turn it back up when she got up in the morning. I charged her $5.00 and she paid plus gave me some bakery.

[mentalsolstice]

37. I'm on SSDI, unlike you I'm pissed!

I don't receive Medicare yet, because my husband's insurance is cheaper. I haven't complained about the lack of COLA's the past two years. However, I'm gonna complain if we start taking a steep backwards slide (my husband will be eligible for SS in a couple of years). I don't like having people who receive SS, whether it's for disability or age, being treated as if we should just shut up and die already.

eta: And I'm really pissed about how the proposed changes will affect those who are much worse off that I am money-wise! If the disabled and elderly are going to be treated this way why even bother having other laws such as ADA protecting them. What's the point of having curb cuts if you're going to be pushed under the bus anyway?