Social Security's 'Generous' Cost of Living Increase for 2006
The talking heads on the news have been prattling about the fact that the country's elderly and disableds are getting the largest annual cost-of-living increase ever in January 2006.
Well, they never mention the disableds who get social security disability, just the elderly. In fact, SSD is no different that what those getting social security retirement get, adjusted for age and number of quarters paid into the system before becoming too ill to work. Well, that and the fact that disableds have to be reviewed every couple of years to make sure they are still too ill to work. Which is okay, just horrendously stressful as the whole Social Security disability system is hugely adversarial and apparently whimsical, with the unwritten goal being to cause so much stress and difficulty for the people applying that as many as possible just go crawl into hole and die before their application is finally approved after several denials.
But, I digress.
Back to the whopping 4.1 percent COL increase.
Woohoo! We'll be rolling in the money now, Mabel!
Or will we?
Let's take our hypothetical elderly or disabled Mabel. Let's say that Mabel worked long and hard before she became too ill to work and so either fought for and got approved for disability, or she 'retired' earlier than she had planned on, because she was too sick to keep pushing herself any more. If she's lucky, and had been able to work her way up the corporate ladder or otherwise earn a nice salary, she might be lucky to have her SSD or SSR benefit be a whole 1/6th of her monthly paycheck. Since that amount can't buy into COBRA or most any other health plan, she's been seeing one or two of the dwindling number of doctors in her area who still take Medicare.
She hasn't been to the dentist in years to have her teeth cleaned and problems checked out, because she can't afford the $100 cleanings and heaven knows what for things like x-rays, fillings, root canals or extractions, let along bridges or crowns. So, why go at all? As long as the services aren't covered by Medicare (and they aren't), it's all out of pocket.
As for her vision, well, since she still has to drive her self to her doctors, grocery store and the few other places she goes to during the days (evenings only very rarely), she does have to keep getting her eyes checked periodically - but only when her vision has changed so much that she has no choice but to get new glasses. (Medicare may pay for the eye exam, if there are actual problems other than visual acuity changes, but Medicare does not pay for eyeglasses.)
So, here's Mabel, maybe lucky enough to be getting $1000 a month in 2005. That puts her $2,430 over the 2005 federal poverty limit for a single person, no dependents. Of course, with her gas and electric bills having climbed to $150 a month, even with her medical allowances and rate averaging, that has been leaving her only $850 a month for rent, food, medications, Medicare co-pays and non-Medicare-covered services.
Oops! She actually is starting out with $1000 minus the $78.20 a month Medicare Part B premium that is deducted from her SSR/SSD amount before the check is even cut or deposited automatically into her bank account. So, she really has only $921.80 for the month, minus the $150 gas/electric bill, leaving her only $771 for rent, food, medications, Medicare co-pays and non-Medicare-covered services.
If she lives someplace like where I live, there is a dearth of affordable and low income housing, and a waiting list 5 years long for state and federal housing assistance. So she is living in a decent place paying more than she can afford, or, like my friend Julia, whom I've talked about in previous posts, in a hovel that never met building code to begin with, and isn't being safely maintained by the alcoholic, abusive landlord.
Julia can't afford to move anywhere else (due to the aforementioned affordable/low income housing shortage), nor is she willing to complain to the building or health department, because she will end up on the street with no place to live but her car (which she shouldn't be driving, since she is now legally blind but, since the few in-home support hours she did have was rescinded by the case manager working for IHSS, she has no choice but to drive herself, since she cannot afford to go by cab or pay someone to drive her.
But, I digress.
So. That $1000 a month (which is really only $921.80 a month) is going to be increased by 4.1%. That's what the newspeople tell us, so it must be true!
And it is. Technically.
What the news people aren't telling those of you who are not eking out an existence on SSR or SSD, is that the Medicare Part B premium has gone up, as has the Part B annual deductible.
So, we have Mabel, whose $1000 a month is going to be increased in 2006 to $1041 a month. Let's do the math, shall we?
$1041.00 Monthly SSR/SSD benefit
- 88.50 Monthly Medicare Part B premium
=======
$ 925.50
- 200.00 Gas/electric/water/garbage
=======
$ 725.00
- 47.00 Auto insurance for her 20 year old clunker
======
$ 678.00
- 23.50 New Part D drug plan monthly premium
======
$ 654.50
- 65.00 Deducible & co-pay for her maintenance meds
======
$ 589.50
- 50.00 Gas to get to doctors, grocery store, post office
======
$ 539.50
- 200.00 Food
======
$ 339.50
- 40.00 Over-the-counter meds she needs to take regularly
======
$ 229.50
- 124.00 M'care Part B deductible for a couple of MD visits month
======
$ 175.50
Well, there, I guess it IS a generous COL!
Oh. Wait.
I forgot something.
Rent.
Since she isn't eligible for housing assistance, and there is no place, not a studio, not a tiny room in someone's house or garage, going for $175.50 a month, that means she's paying somewhere between $500-800 a month for rent.
That rather changes things, doesn't it?
Why don't you play around with the numbers, this time making sure you pay the rent first, and see how much this enormous 4.1% COL increase is going to change our lives.
Well, they never mention the disableds who get social security disability, just the elderly. In fact, SSD is no different that what those getting social security retirement get, adjusted for age and number of quarters paid into the system before becoming too ill to work. Well, that and the fact that disableds have to be reviewed every couple of years to make sure they are still too ill to work. Which is okay, just horrendously stressful as the whole Social Security disability system is hugely adversarial and apparently whimsical, with the unwritten goal being to cause so much stress and difficulty for the people applying that as many as possible just go crawl into hole and die before their application is finally approved after several denials.
But, I digress.
Back to the whopping 4.1 percent COL increase.
Woohoo! We'll be rolling in the money now, Mabel!
Or will we?
Let's take our hypothetical elderly or disabled Mabel. Let's say that Mabel worked long and hard before she became too ill to work and so either fought for and got approved for disability, or she 'retired' earlier than she had planned on, because she was too sick to keep pushing herself any more. If she's lucky, and had been able to work her way up the corporate ladder or otherwise earn a nice salary, she might be lucky to have her SSD or SSR benefit be a whole 1/6th of her monthly paycheck. Since that amount can't buy into COBRA or most any other health plan, she's been seeing one or two of the dwindling number of doctors in her area who still take Medicare.
She hasn't been to the dentist in years to have her teeth cleaned and problems checked out, because she can't afford the $100 cleanings and heaven knows what for things like x-rays, fillings, root canals or extractions, let along bridges or crowns. So, why go at all? As long as the services aren't covered by Medicare (and they aren't), it's all out of pocket.
As for her vision, well, since she still has to drive her self to her doctors, grocery store and the few other places she goes to during the days (evenings only very rarely), she does have to keep getting her eyes checked periodically - but only when her vision has changed so much that she has no choice but to get new glasses. (Medicare may pay for the eye exam, if there are actual problems other than visual acuity changes, but Medicare does not pay for eyeglasses.)
So, here's Mabel, maybe lucky enough to be getting $1000 a month in 2005. That puts her $2,430 over the 2005 federal poverty limit for a single person, no dependents. Of course, with her gas and electric bills having climbed to $150 a month, even with her medical allowances and rate averaging, that has been leaving her only $850 a month for rent, food, medications, Medicare co-pays and non-Medicare-covered services.
Oops! She actually is starting out with $1000 minus the $78.20 a month Medicare Part B premium that is deducted from her SSR/SSD amount before the check is even cut or deposited automatically into her bank account. So, she really has only $921.80 for the month, minus the $150 gas/electric bill, leaving her only $771 for rent, food, medications, Medicare co-pays and non-Medicare-covered services.
If she lives someplace like where I live, there is a dearth of affordable and low income housing, and a waiting list 5 years long for state and federal housing assistance. So she is living in a decent place paying more than she can afford, or, like my friend Julia, whom I've talked about in previous posts, in a hovel that never met building code to begin with, and isn't being safely maintained by the alcoholic, abusive landlord.
Julia can't afford to move anywhere else (due to the aforementioned affordable/low income housing shortage), nor is she willing to complain to the building or health department, because she will end up on the street with no place to live but her car (which she shouldn't be driving, since she is now legally blind but, since the few in-home support hours she did have was rescinded by the case manager working for IHSS, she has no choice but to drive herself, since she cannot afford to go by cab or pay someone to drive her.
But, I digress.
So. That $1000 a month (which is really only $921.80 a month) is going to be increased by 4.1%. That's what the newspeople tell us, so it must be true!
And it is. Technically.
What the news people aren't telling those of you who are not eking out an existence on SSR or SSD, is that the Medicare Part B premium has gone up, as has the Part B annual deductible.
So, we have Mabel, whose $1000 a month is going to be increased in 2006 to $1041 a month. Let's do the math, shall we?
$1041.00 Monthly SSR/SSD benefit
- 88.50 Monthly Medicare Part B premium
=======
$ 925.50
- 200.00 Gas/electric/water/garbage
=======
$ 725.00
- 47.00 Auto insurance for her 20 year old clunker
======
$ 678.00
- 23.50 New Part D drug plan monthly premium
======
$ 654.50
- 65.00 Deducible & co-pay for her maintenance meds
======
$ 589.50
- 50.00 Gas to get to doctors, grocery store, post office
======
$ 539.50
- 200.00 Food
======
$ 339.50
- 40.00 Over-the-counter meds she needs to take regularly
======
$ 229.50
- 124.00 M'care Part B deductible for a couple of MD visits month
======
$ 175.50
Well, there, I guess it IS a generous COL!
Oh. Wait.
I forgot something.
Rent.
Since she isn't eligible for housing assistance, and there is no place, not a studio, not a tiny room in someone's house or garage, going for $175.50 a month, that means she's paying somewhere between $500-800 a month for rent.
That rather changes things, doesn't it?
Why don't you play around with the numbers, this time making sure you pay the rent first, and see how much this enormous 4.1% COL increase is going to change our lives.
posted by Melissa at 11:26 AM
5 Comments:
Good opinion, BUT.....why complain? Anyone getting a benefit should be grateful they get anything. Imagine someone's situation being unable to work and NOT getting any benefit. Anything helps even if it doesn't make life fit for a king. At least a person DOES get a few dollars to put toward rent, electric, food, etc. I collect SSD, about 5 years now, and regardless of increases, I'm happy to get at least something. And from many previous years experience in the workplace, I find the SSD COL increases are MORE than raises given on the job (percent-wise, and those were always supposed to be accepted with gratefullness as if it was a life-altering gift from the gods). It seems a waste of energy to nit-pick the effect of any COL increase..... it's better than NO increase.
>>Imagine someone's situation being unable to work and NOT getting any benefit.
Then they are eligible for SSI (social security insurance), which gives them dental, vision, drug, mental health, and medical; those of us on SSDI only get medical, and the privilege of paying through the nose for the joke known as Part D for prescription drugs. A friend of mine is on SSI. We totaled it up one day, and she gets almost $1000 more in benefits than I do...and guess who paid and is still paying for her benefits: me, because even though I am on SSDI and have to take from what is left of my savings after two major market crashes, I still have to pay federal income taxes, which goes to fund SSI and Medicaid benefits (the latter called Medi-Cal in California).
>>Anything helps even if it doesn't make life fit for a king.
I'm not asking to live like a king. I didn't live like one while I was still working, and sure as heck don't live like one now.
>>I'm happy to get at least something.
So am I. I was a few weeks away from having to live in my car before the slow, grinding adversarily systems known as the Social Security Administration finally approved my SSDI - and that was after two denials and my having to appear before a judge to plead my case. Two and a half years which ate up savings and put me ever closer to the edge.
>>And from many previous years experience in the workplace, I find the SSD COL increases are MORE than raises given on the job (percent-wise, and those were always supposed to be accepted with gratefullness as if it was a life-altering gift from the gods).
I've been on both ends of that in the workplace, but my salary at least comfortably covered my bills every month, and I had good health care coverage. SSDI is still less than a third of my working salary, and I am not living the lifestyle (or in the type of place) I lived back then. So, saying the SSA COL increase is generous, well, so is a few sips of water to a man dying of dehydration, despite the fact he will need quarts of water to actually survive.
>>It seems a waste of energy to nit-pick the effect of any COL increase..... it's better than NO increase.
My point of this and other Medicare & SSA posts is because the people out there who are still working and paying into the system, well, most of them think like I did back then: that if the time ever comes when you need to use that system, it will provide enough money to live simply without having to pull from savings to make ends meet and pay for health care not covered by Medicare.
That simply is not the case.
I live on Social Security, but I work also, because my rent, water, utilities, phone, AOL, and Netflix take most of my check. I do not have a cell phone or cable. AOL and Netflix are my entertainment.
My part time job pays for food, charity, and savings for emergencies. I follow Dave Ramsey, and he has helped me to be educated on not having debt. If I did not work this job, then I would volunteer at a food pantry, and baby-sit to get the additional money I need. Medicare rejected two claims I put in, but they never reject the $96.40 that I pay monthly. I do not like Medicare, and I have a secondary insurance, and an insurance from my part-time job, that I get free.
I am blessed that I am not on any medication, and I use the Free transportation for seniors, or I pay $2.00 (RT) for a van to pick me up from my home and return for me, when I am working. I have a paid for 1994 van, that I may have to sleep in, if the economy sinks anymore. Be prepared...
I, too, am able to do a little now and then, which helps pay for gas and some of the Rx copays, but I am unable to work long enough or consistently enough to get even a regular part-time job. So, like so many (and an increasing number of) others, one ekes. You are fortunate in that you can work enough at a job that provides secondary insurance! Good luck...
PS: Here, there is no free transit for seniors, and when I used it once last year, Paratransit costs $5 per one-way trip (more, if you have to go outside its territory). With all the budget cutting going on here, I suspect that fees will continue to climb and any city and county service discounts to seniors will be reduced or eliminated entirely as well.
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