Sometimes people will write to me complaining that the government, specifically, the Social Security Administration, has messed them up and cheated them out of benefits they might have been due. But many times (to use a sports analogy), the ball is in their hands. And if they drop it, they shouldn't look around and try to blame others. Here are some examples of what I mean.

Q: I am 72 years old. I have been getting my own reduced Social Security retirement since age 62. I have chronic arthritis and fibromyalgia, and I just learned I could have been getting higher disability benefits all these years. So I called Social Security about this, and they said it's too late! What? Why didn't someone from Social Security ever tell me about this? They messed up, and they owe me 10 years' worth of disability benefits.

A: I'm going to be rather blunt with you. They didn't mess up. You did. It's your job to educate yourself about the benefits you might be due from Social Security. I know if I had the kinds of problems you described, I would have said to myself: "I wonder if I might be eligible for disability benefits?" And then I would have checked into that.

And the Social Security retirement application has a question on it that essentially asks something like this: "Are you unable to work because of a disabling condition?" Back when you were 62, you must have answered that question, "No," because a "Yes" answer would have led you down the path to a claim for Social Security disability benefits.

Q: I am 62 years old and currently unmarried. I have always worked in low-paying jobs and my Social Security benefit will only be about $1,200 per month. I was married to a very wealthy man, but we divorced many years ago. We got the divorce just two weeks shy of our 10th anniversary. The Social Security rep I talked to said that because we were not married for 10 years, I can't get any of his Social Security. Why was I never told about this before? The government has ripped me off!

A: Do you think a Social Security representative should be stationed at every divorce court in this country, ready to tell women to stay married for 10 years to be eligible for benefits from the ex?

I understand that at the time you divorced this guy, Social Security was probably the furthest thing from your mind. Still, the ball was in your court to educate yourself about this. With just a little bit of effort, you could have easily learned about the 10-year duration of marriage rule.

Q: When I was 65, I retired and took the free Part A Medicare. But I didn't want to spend all that money the government was gouging us to take the Part B. However, five years later, when I was 70, I decided I needed the Part B, so I took it and started paying a penalty on top of my regular monthly premium. I'm now almost 80, and I'm still paying the penalty. This just proves my theory that the government is made up of a bunch of crooks who are just out to gouge all of us senior citizens!

A: Well, you didn't really ask me a question. You just got up on your soapbox and blamed the government for the Part B penalty predicament you find yourself in.

But I think if you are looking for blame, you should check the nearest mirror. If you had done your homework when you were turning 65, you would have learned that your Part B Medicare monthly premium would increase by 10% for each year you opted not to participate in that part of Medicare. And you would have learned that the penalties are permanent.

So frankly, you messed up. You were trying to save a few bucks each month by foregoing Part B coverage all those years — and now you're paying for that mistake. And it sounds like you're trying to put the blame for that mistake on someone else!

Q: I had done lots of research and lots of planning to make sure my wife and I maximize our Social Security benefits. I waited until 70 (just two months ago) to start my Social Security. My wife, who was always a homemaker and doesn't have her own Social Security, is also 70 and filed for spousal benefits on my record. We were counting on her getting half of my Social Security. So imagine my shock when we learned that she is only getting about 40% of my benefit. Everything I've ever read says a wife gets 50%. So why is the government cheating us?

A: The government isn't cheating you. You cheated yourself (and your wife) by not doing enough research. Had you done your homework (by reading my book, "Social Security: Simple and Smart," for example), you would have learned that your wife's spousal benefit is based on your full retirement age benefit, not on your augmented age 70 rate. So your wife is getting 50%, but again, it's 50% of your FRA benefit, not your age 70 benefit.

So that's the bad news. A little bit of good news (for your wife) is this: if you should die before your wife does, her widow's benefit will be based on your full age 70 rate.

Q: Something has been bugging me for years. I'm 74 years old and have been getting Social Security since I was 62. But I always felt they didn't figure my benefits correctly. I think they are cheating me. How can I get them to correct this mistake?

A: You can't. It's too late. At the time your benefits first started, your "award letter" told you that if you disagreed with anything, you had 60 days to file an appeal. So why did you wait for over 10 years to bring this up? It may make you feel better to know that studies show that Social Security retirement benefit calculations have something like a 99.8% accuracy rate. So it is extremely likely that you are being paid correctly.

If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has two books with all the answers. One is called "Social Security — Simple and Smart: 10 Easy-to-Understand Fact Sheets That Will Answer All Your Questions About Social Security." The other is "Social Security: 100 Myths and 100 Facts." You can find the books at Amazon.com or other book outlets. Or you can send him an email at [email protected]. To find out more about Tom Margenau and to read past columns and see features from other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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