That is smart of you. Can you post the link to that information? This round of trouble makes me feel very vulnerable because there is so much I do not know. Maybe I would be less stressed if I knew more.
Big Trouble for Those Dependent on SSI
- Thread starter Vida May
- Start date
Judycat
Well-known Member
- Location
- Pennsylvania
I
A lot of the stuff online about this subject is what is considered "fear porn". I get Extra Help with Medicare Part D and am part of a Medicare Savings Plan as a Qualified Individual (QI). I have my case reviewed every year. The info about that can be found on the government's Medicare site. If you aren't involved in those two benefits you probably have nothing to worry about. We are all vulnerable one way or the other though.
I found it and bookmarked it. Thank you. I have SSI, Medicare, and Medicaid because of a disability. Everything was automatically given to me so I didn't have to know anything to be well taken care of. However, with people on SSI being audited and having to pay back money like my friend, I think I better make the effort to be well-informed.
Years ago someone advised me to "Stay focused on what I know and do not fear what I do not know." I have the advice posted on a board I see whenever I come to my computer.
Don M.
SF VIP
- Location
- central Missouri
Virtually ALL "goverment assistance" programs....Medicare, SS, etc., are at risk in the coming decade if our politicians don't take some much overdue action.
Wow, that could be a good subject for another thread. I am so concerned about the future of needed programs if many things are not done.
There are two ways to look at this. My concern is making a better future with socialist ideas. Then there are the conservatives who have a different bottom line. Both sides have good points and it would be great if we all worked together.
Paco Dennis
SF VIP
- Location
- Mid-Missouri
I qualified for Missouri's Medicaid Savings Plan. If you qualify Medicaid will pay for most of your doctor visits and prescriptions.
We had a close friend who started working for a group that helped seniors find the best Medicaid plan for their specific needs. There are people who you pay a fee for their help in getting the right plan.
We had a close friend who started working for a group that helped seniors find the best Medicaid plan for their specific needs. There are people who you pay a fee for their help in getting the right plan.
Teacher Terry
Senior Member
Vida, I was on the SS website today looking for something unrelated to your concern when I saw that if people on SSI had been overpaid they are only keeping 10% of their checks instead of 100% until the money is repaid.
againstthegrain
Senior Member
- Location
- Sun Valley, ID
Those on SSDI can have a trust where any monies over $2000 that they have can be held for their use w/out triggering the reduction or termination of benefits.
My son (long ago) had a shoebox under the bed that would have been a dream come true for some lucky thief.
You are a saint! I am not kidding. I once saw a piece on 60 minutes about a priest who, every day, sets up a card table in the middle of the homeless population and does paper work for them. My husband volunteers at a food pantry/free store and spends four days a week doing taxes for the poor. He does thousands every year. Without such people life would be even worse for so many.
I once read that out country spends far more making sure no one gets help they "don't deserve," than our total amount of welfare/entitlements.
I think I have figured out why SSI says my friend was over paid and must pay back $5000. Please read this and tell me what you think.
What happens if you have more than 2000 in the bank on SSI?
That is not explained exactly right. If you are saving money for your auto insurance and that is why you have $1000 in your savings account, and you had $100 in your checking account when your $943 check is deposited, that is a total of $2043. That means you are ineligible for SSI and you have to pay that money back.
My friend is being charged his full check for every month his account went over $2000 even though within a week, when his rent and bills were paid he was well under $2000. Do you want to give up that $100 in the account and risk an expected charge causing an overdraft, so you don't risk an overpayment? Hopefully, the person who decided my friend was overpaid is wrong. How about paying the car insurance monthly, even though that costs more, so you don't have money building up in the savings account? I mean how close to the edge of disaster do you want to live, and which risk is the worst one?
What if you have to move? That will cost at least $2000. Can you guess what happens to an elderly person who has to move and does not have that money? How about those car repairs? What happens when the car breaks down and there is no money for repairs? These folks are not living high on the hog, but are living on the edge of disaster and when they do end up homeless we blame them for not making good decisions.
What happens if you have more than 2000 in the bank on SSI?
That is not explained exactly right. If you are saving money for your auto insurance and that is why you have $1000 in your savings account, and you had $100 in your checking account when your $943 check is deposited, that is a total of $2043. That means you are ineligible for SSI and you have to pay that money back.
My friend is being charged his full check for every month his account went over $2000 even though within a week, when his rent and bills were paid he was well under $2000. Do you want to give up that $100 in the account and risk an expected charge causing an overdraft, so you don't risk an overpayment? Hopefully, the person who decided my friend was overpaid is wrong. How about paying the car insurance monthly, even though that costs more, so you don't have money building up in the savings account? I mean how close to the edge of disaster do you want to live, and which risk is the worst one?
What if you have to move? That will cost at least $2000. Can you guess what happens to an elderly person who has to move and does not have that money? How about those car repairs? What happens when the car breaks down and there is no money for repairs? These folks are not living high on the hog, but are living on the edge of disaster and when they do end up homeless we blame them for not making good decisions.
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Does that mean those of us receiving $943 a month can save money? How can we go about doing that and remain eligible for SSI?
That is not exactly right.
What a mess! It appears every state is handling matters differently. If the person who said my friend must pay back$5000 is not wrong, he must pay it back in $100 payments. But that leaves him $843 a month for him and his dog, and extra expenses he has because of a medical problem. If his dog needed to see a vet and he didn't have the money that would be a terrible emotional blow. His money goes for his dog and his own need of disposable pull-up pants. Mine goes to repair a car so I can give people rides. The biggest problem is how far we are from having security. The bank said everyone should have enough money in the bank to cover themselves for 3 months. I think that is reasonable. Especially when we keep getting told the national budget will get passed and we will not get our checks, while at the same time there are 3 to 5 year waiting list for the housing we can afford, but would certainly lose if we didn't get our checks.
What the government can put us through when it comes to income is nothing short of remarkable. My job was eliminated during Covid and I was fortunate enough to receive enhanced unemployment payments that included the Covid stimulus. I guess there were many who scammed on these payments, so Unemployment tried to call them back.
I had to fill out paperwork, provide 3 forms of identification and do a Zoom call with one of their representatives. My passport was about to expire, so I renewed it. When I got on the call I was told the passport didn't match the one I originally submitted so I would have to resubmit all the paperwork with the new forms of ID and schedule another Zoom call.
I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to claw back the SS checks received during the stimulus. I've seen it all.
I had to fill out paperwork, provide 3 forms of identification and do a Zoom call with one of their representatives. My passport was about to expire, so I renewed it. When I got on the call I was told the passport didn't match the one I originally submitted so I would have to resubmit all the paperwork with the new forms of ID and schedule another Zoom call.
I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to claw back the SS checks received during the stimulus. I've seen it all.
I am sorry about your bureaucratic experience. We are trying to do the impossible- keep track of a huge population and expenditures. Before Roosevelt and the New Deal government programs such as Social Security were impossible because we did not have the bureaucratic organization to run national social services. Jointly Hoover and Roosevelt gave the federal government power that it never had before, and we have been economically fascist ever since.
The intentions are good, but it reminds me of when I was a kid and stuck 10 pieces of bubble gum in my mouth at the same time.
That wad of gum got bigger and bigger and was too much for my mouth. I never did that again. What our government is trying to do is like that and mistakes will be made. Big mistakes! The alternative to the bureaucratic and social mess is strong families and laws that make family members responsible for each other. I have a copy of a 1940 Oregon Family Law book. We can not go back to that, but knowing how things have changed gives us perspective.
Oh what you said is great for a philosophical debate!
What makes a person deserving? Who is responsible for giving individuals what they deserve? My sister is trying to rescue everyone on the streets and she is using her own money to buy these people what they need, get them into housing, etc.. She has dealt with people I would not want to deal with and that is what pushes her. No one cares about these people, so she feels like she must.
That need to care for others comes with our learned understanding of being a good citizen. Before education for technology, for industrial and military purposes, it was the priority purpose of education to turn us into good citizens. (Conservative) What our government is doing is trying to manifest this caring (liberal) but the notion of "deserving people" goes with an idea of underserving people. If we become disabled before accumulating the means to have a decent standard of living, somehow we come out as not deserving of the security of having money in a savings account. But if we blow that money foolishly every month, we are assured of getting more.
Mostly my sister deals with people who have mental problems and very poor social skills. They get evicted for screaming and saying the wrong thing, and for hoarding and not keeping their apartment clean. You would not want them for neighbors. In the past, we had asylums for them, but now we leave them on the streets. I think most of them have SSI checks but they are not enough for rent. We do not have the housing they need. Should we take responsibility for their well-being?
Teacher Terry
Senior Member
As a nation our priorities are misplaced. We spend a fortune on foreign aid while we have homeless people and many are veterans and/or severely mentally ill. We are worried about a poor person going a dollar over 2k/month yet the wealthy get huge tax breaks or pay nothing. Warren Buffet’s secretary paid more in taxes than he did.
againstthegrain
Senior Member
- Location
- Sun Valley, ID
The first step is to establish a trust, then it can be funded, and the trust owns the money which is disbursed as needed to the beneficiary. My wife is executor of a friend's trust that is on SSI so I know little more than I've written here. This trust was originally funded by a small inheritance and continues on with donations of the woman's friends.
Thanks but that does not help those of us who will lose SSI or SSDI when we have over $2000 in the bank.
This is from a government site.
I thought we had to pay back the amount over the $2000 limit not the amount of that months' check. It would not be a serious problem if the amount was based on the monthly average, instead of the moment the SSI check hit the account and before the rent and utilities checks cleared, bringing the account well below $2000.
I thought we had to pay back the amount over the $2000 limit not the amount of that months' check. It would not be a serious problem if the amount was based on the monthly average, instead of the moment the SSI check hit the account and before the rent and utilities checks cleared, bringing the account well below $2000.
againstthegrain
Senior Member
- Location
- Sun Valley, ID
t
papa tiger
Senior Member
During the Pandemic I only received one partial check. The second one never showed up. I put the pittance in my savings figuring
the crooks would scheme to get it one way or another. It actually had no change in my life and was just basically a big joke. Politicians
are snake tongues is one description of it all. My Neighbors card mailed to me. I gave it to him, he cut it up in front of me. Wow !
the crooks would scheme to get it one way or another. It actually had no change in my life and was just basically a big joke. Politicians
are snake tongues is one description of it all. My Neighbors card mailed to me. I gave it to him, he cut it up in front of me. Wow !
I think cutting up those checks would be a good thing, but I needed car repairs. I really wish we did have the power to ensure money is spent more wisely. I am sure drug dealers and bars made a good profit.
Good news. There is a bill to increase the resources a person on SSI can have from $2,000 to $10,000. I have contacted my Senator's office to see if it would help if I testify. The idea of flying to Washington D.C. by myself is frightening but this is bigger than just me and important.