Is anyone else confused about why the OP's husband's SSDI was going to a nursing home? I thought Medicare covered nursing homes? My mom is getting SSDI and we're looking at facilities now...

Going back to the COLA question - the increases have been pretty significant lately! 5.9% in 2022, 8.7% in 2023, 3.2% in 2024. So that $2750 could be quite a bit higher in 4 years if inflation stays high. Just wanted to add some optimism to the thread!

i just checked my bank account again and realized they did NOT apply my medicare part B correctly!!! they took out $209 instead of $174 that i was paying before! anyone else have this problem? now i need to call them too uggggh

Update: Just received my letter in the mail today explaining the COLA adjustment! It says my first increased payment will be on the 4th Wednesday of this month, and the lump sum for retroactive adjustments will come within 10 business days after that. Going to mark my calendar and stop worrying. Thanks everyone for the helpful info!

my cousin did this wrong and they made him pay back like 5 grand in benefits they shouldnt have paid him. be really careful with this stuff

One more important detail - the earnings test only counts wages or self-employment income. It doesn't count investment income, pension payments, annuities, capital gains, or government benefits. So if any of your income comes from these sources, they won't count toward either the monthly or annual limits. And remember that the earnings reduction isn't a permanent loss. Once you reach your Full Retirement Age, your benefit will be recalculated to credit back the months when benefits were withheld.

u shud make sure ur wife knows all about YOUR work record since if something happens to YOU she'll need to apply for benefits for the kids on ur record. My husband died 2 yrs ago and I had NO IDEA what I was doing with all the SS paperwork!!!!

One final point that might be helpful for your planning: Since your wife doesn't have her own work record, you might want to maximize your own Social Security earnings base. This would mean trying to have your highest 35 years of earnings be as high as possible, since that's what your potential survivor benefits would be based on. Additionally, if you're looking at overall family financial security, consider whether your wife might return to work part-time when the children are older. Even earning just 40 credits (which can be done with 10 years of even part-time work) would provide her with her own retirement benefit and create potential survivor benefits.

To directly answer your original question - having these items ready will make your application process smoother: 1. Your birth certificate 2. Your Social Security card or number 3. Your bank account information for direct deposit 4. Marriage certificate (if applicable) 5. The dates of any previous marriages and divorces 6. The name, DOB, and SSN of your current spouse and any former spouses 7. Names and DOBs of any unmarried children under 18, or disabled adult children 8. Military service papers if you served before 1968 9. Recent W-2 forms or self-employment tax information Most people don't need to submit all of these documents with their application. The online system will tell you which specific documents you need to provide based on your answers. And yes, reviewing your earnings record for accuracy before applying is extremely important. Mistakes happen, and correcting them before you apply is much easier than fixing them afterward.

The online application typically takes 30-45 minutes to complete if you have all your information ready. I'd recommend setting aside at least an hour to be safe. Remember that you don't have to complete it all in one sitting - you can save your application and come back to it later. However, as another commenter mentioned, if you leave it idle too long during an active session, you could get timed out. One more tip: apply 3-4 months before you want your benefits to begin. This gives the SSA time to process your application and ensures you'll get your payments on time. While many online applications are processed quickly, some require additional verification that can take time. Good luck with your application!

my brother told me u can also just ask ur employer to hold ur last paycheck til january and then it counts for next year's limit not this years. not sure if thats legal but he did it and said it worked lol

After reading everyone's responses, I'm feeling much better about this situation. It sounds like the process is pretty straightforward - they'll catch the overage through my tax return, send me a letter explaining the situation, and then make small deductions from my payments until the $350 is recovered. I'll make sure to budget for slightly smaller payments for a few months next year. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and expertise!

I just delt with this last year!!!! make sure ur sister knows that if her husbands check was from SSDI there might be a disability freeze on his earnings record that could effect the PIA calculation for her survivors benefit!!! The SSA ppl didn't even mention this to me until my THIRD CALL and it made a $137 difference in my monthly payment!!!! The system is SO COMPLICATED uggggh

To address your original question more precisely about the percentages: - At 65 and 11 months: 95.9% of his benefit - At 66 (November 2024): 97.2% of his benefit - At 66 and 4 months (February 2025): 100% of his benefit The reduction is approximately 0.396% per month before her survivor FRA. The financial decision weighs immediate need against long-term gain. If she waits from October 2024 to February 2025 (4 months), she gains 4.1% higher benefit for life. Whether that's worth it depends on: 1. Her immediate financial needs 2. Life expectancy considerations 3. The actual dollar difference (4.1% of a $2,000 benefit is $82/month or $984/year) If she's in difficult financial circumstances, taking the slightly reduced amount now might make more sense than waiting for the higher amount.

SSI is unlikely to be relevant in this situation. Survivor benefits are typically substantially higher than the SSI federal benefit rate ($943/month for individuals in 2025). SSI is meant as a safety net for those with very limited income and resources who don't qualify for sufficient SSDI, retirement, or survivor benefits.

Well EXCUSE ME for trying to help!!!!! I was just saying she should look into ALL options!!!! Some people have very little in savings after a spouse dies!!!! 🙄

all these explanations r so confusing!! just call SSA and ask them directly...but good luck getting someone on the phone lol 😂

One thing nobody's mentioned - working part-time might let you delay claiming Social Security longer, which could MORE than offset any small reduction from lower earnings. Every year you delay claiming between your Full Retirement Age and 70 adds 8% to your lifetime benefit. That's huge! So if part-time work provides enough income to postpone claiming by even a year or two, you could end up with a LARGER monthly benefit despite the reduced earnings.

One important thing to note about applying for benefits with a future start date (like your February 2025): SSA typically doesn't process these applications immediately. They often place them in a pending queue and only begin processing them 3-4 months before your chosen start date. This might explain why you're not seeing confirmation yet. However, you should have still received an initial acknowledgment when you submitted the application. Regarding Medicare Part A - this is handled somewhat separately from retirement benefits. You should have received a Medicare card in the mail within a month of approval. If you haven't, that's another indication something might have gone wrong with your applications. I strongly recommend calling SSA directly at this point to verify both application statuses.

just wanted to add that when i finally got thru to someone at ssa, they told me sometimes the online account doesnt show pending applications for technical reasons but that doesnt mean the application isnt in their system. only way to know for sure is call or visit office