Your Number is Up by Tom Margenau on Creators.com

Recently

What's Best for Mom in a Mom-and-Pop Business? Q: My wife and I are in our 30s. We're partners in a business that nets us about $80,000 per year. What's the best way to report our income on our tax returns to maximize our Social Security benefits? A: Even though you're asking about your future …Read more. Bleeding Hearts and Bootstraps Q: I was surprised by the woman who wrote to you and said that people living on a small amount of Social Security were just lazy. Let me share my story to help this callous woman understand why people like me don't get very much from Social Security.…Read more. Don't Base Critical Decisions on Prophets of Doom Q: I'm about to turn 66. I want to put off starting my Social Security until age 70 because if I do, I'll get an extra $600 or so per month in a delayed retirement bonus added to by Social Security checks. But my husband said I should take my Social …Read more. Geezers and Floozies Q: I'm part of a group of old geezers who gets together every week at the local coffee place. Social Security is a frequent topic of conversation. At our last meeting, the subject of benefits for divorcees came up. One of our geezers was married to …Read more.

Your Number is Up

Q: My employer recently contracted with a private company to do some kind of research into our insurance benefits. I was asked to supply this outfit with my Social Security number. I thought I remember reading somewhere that there are only three or four times when I am legally obligated to provide someone with my Social Security number. Do I have to give these folks my Social Security number?

A: No one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to give this company your Social Security number. But if you refuse to do so, you'll have to live with whatever consequences your employer has in store for people who don't cooperate with this research firm.

As you alluded to, there are a small number of legally authorized uses for the Social Security number. At last count, I think it was about a half dozen times. For example, employers are authorized to use your Social Security number to report earnings and other information to the government. And the Internal Revenue Service can use the Social Security number for income tax and record- keeping purposes. Obviously, the Social Security Administration uses the SSN to maintain its records and to pay Social Security benefits.

Those, and a few others, are the instances when a Social Security number is legally authorized to be used. But Congress has never passed a law preventing other government agencies and private businesses from using the SSN for their own internal record-keeping purposes.

Don't think they haven't tried. Over the years, there have been many attempts to restrict the use of SSNs, especially when private companies want those numbers. But powerful business lobbyists have always prevented that from happening. That's because the SSN is a very convenient record-keeping number for them to use. After all, it's the one national identifying number that everyone has and tends to remember.

Q: Awhile back, I started getting widow's benefits from Social Security. I've noticed that on any correspondence I get from the Social Security agency, they always used my husband's number for reference purposes.

Recently, I signed up for Medicare and see that my Medicare card has my husband's number on it, too, followed by the letter "D." Does that mean my deceased husband's number is now my Social Security number?

A: No. You will always keep and use the number originally assigned to you as your own Social Security number. So, if you are ever asked for your number on tax returns or credit card applications, for example, you should give them your own Social Security number.

But the Social Security Administration has issued you a "claim number" that is different from your own Social Security number. That is because you are claiming widow's benefits on your husband's Social Security account. Your claim number is your husband's Social Security number with the letter "D" following it. "D" is the symbol that the SSA uses to denote widow's benefits. (Don't you think a "W" would be a more logical symbol for widow's benefits?)

By the same token, you are also claiming Medicare coverage on your husband's Social Security record. So, the number shown on your Medicare card will be your husband's Social Security number with the letter "D" suffix.

Note: After I e-mailed my reply to this reader, she had a follow-up question:

Q: I have a friend who also gets widow's benefits. But her Medicare card has her Social Security number with the letter "A" after it. Why does this widow get to keep her own Social Security number, but I have to use my husband's number?

A: Your friend must be receiving a combination of her own Social Security benefits and a widow's benefit. If a woman has worked and earned her own Social Security retirement benefit, she will almost always be paid that benefit first. Then if she is due extra money off her husband's record, she gets that, too.

Even if she's due only 10 cents on her own Social Security record, and all the rest of her monthly Social Security payment comes from her husband's record, her own account is still the primary one. This means her Social Security claim number — and Medicare number — is her own SSN with an "A" suffix. "A" is the symbol SSA uses to denote retirement benefits.

To find out more about Tom Margenau and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.