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A Back-Door Plan to Keep Disabled Daughter on Medicaid
Q: My husband is turning 66 and will soon apply for Social Security retirement benefits. He's scheduled to get about $2,000 per month. We have a 35-year-old daughter living at home who has been severely retarded since birth. She currently gets $900 …Read more.
Benefits to an Ex-Spouse Don't Impact Current Spouse
Q: Can there be more than one woman collecting benefits as a spouse on the same man's Social Security record? In other words, if a man was married twice (or even more) and retires, can his ex-wives get part of his Social Security? And how does that …Read more.
Three Big Social Security Mistakes a Woman Can Make
Mistake No. 1: Letting a man fill out your self-employment tax return:
Q: My ex-husband and I used to run our own business about 20 years ago. We did this for about five years. Now that I am about to turn 62 and am thinking of retiring, I'm paying …Read more.
Stay-at-Home Wife Should Stay Home
Q: Both my husband and I are pushing 60 years old. My husband has always made very good money and has paid the maximum into Social Security. I have been a stay-at-home wife and mother all of my married life. I have about 30 quarters of Social …Read more.
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Your Number is UpQ: 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. 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. COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS.COM.
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