Social Security has done it again!

I just did try to call but got a recording saying that all lines are busy and to try my call again later. Normally, they give us the option of holding and waiting for the next available representative but, if they've reduced everyone's check then I imagine they are being flooded with calls right now. This is our government, for sure. They take everything they want from us but we have to almost die before they give us a dime. I was fighting them for seven years before they finally approved me for disability and this is money that I earned while I was working, it's not like it's THEIR money from their own pockets! I can't stand our government. I don't know too many people who love it... probably only those who work for it or who have never had to rely on them for anything.

That is really a terrifying experience for the government system in your country. You really have to fight for it, and it not an easy fight. Just for you to get what you deserve. I just hope this will get better, if you cannot talk to anyone. You may also go to your nearest government office that handle such issues.

Thanks to Obama's "heatlh care reform", my grandma's retirement has been slashed, and her Medicare costs have gone up. It's sad. She has very little to begin with.

Well, before Obama it was Bush, before Bush it was Clinton, before Clinton it was Bush Sr., etc., etc., so I wouldn't blame Obama. He's just a cog in the wheel of the destruction of the US. I used to do legal transcription, mostly Workers' Comp cases. A lot of them were Mexicans and a lot of the Mexicans were illegal immigrants. Yet, they STILL got their day in court and some of them actually received Workers' Comp money! They should have been thrown right back into Mexico as soon as it was discovered that they were working here illegally!!! That made me so mad!!! Oh, and this was while Bush was in office so Obama could not be blamed for that. Our entire government is screwed up so bad I doubt it will ever get straightened out. Maybe it just has to fall before it can be rebuilt but that's going to hurt everyone.

not to argue but right now our state of arizona is making a stand against illegals and its been said we could be sued over it. plus Obama seems to think we are doing wrong??

Isn't that typical of men? They don't stop to think about what happens to others and they probably wouldn't care anyway!! Hang in there. Take over making the payments yourself, don't trust him to do it. If you want something done right you have to do it yourself. I hate the IRS. I think everybody does. I don't understand why people won't demand the Fair Tax or something like that, they are like sheep meekly trotting along to the slaughterhouse. Enjoy the fresh air and calm down. Don't give your husband the power to make you angry or feel badly. Remember, you are in charge of yourself, not him!

I called Social Security. It took awhile to get through so I thought that maybe this was a bigger problem than I had thought but it turns out that they were just being THEM, inefficient, incompetent, etc. What they told me, when I finally got through, was that, "This is a treasury issue. They are mailing you a letter explaining everything." Oh, wonderful. They're sending a letter AFTER the fact! Well, that's our government for ya. Turns out they are screwing me because my husband, once again, has screwed me. He avoided calling IRS about the taxes we owe (from my receiving seven years worth of benefits in one chunk [even though they never added a PENNY of interest the entire time they were holding MY money] and also because of the profit he made from the sale of his house AND his "forgetting" to file income taxes). He told me he was going to call them to arrange payments A YEAR AGO! He never did so, of course, IRS thinks we're avoiding them and trying to get away with something. So, they're taking money they KNOW they can get, my disability money. My husband did call them about a month ago and made arrangements to pay a certain amount each month. They agreed to that, at least that's what they said. I guess it just wasn't enough for them, though, and decided to screw me, too. I'm so fed up with my husband!!! He's been a miserable ogre since his surgery. Then, last night, he decided he was cold so, instead of putting another blanket on himself or adding another layer of clothing, he turned up the heat to 75 degrees!!! I woke up sweating and could almost not breathe, it was so hot! I turned it down to where it has been all winter, 72 degrees, and I also opened a window. I told him to put more on if he was so cold because the temperature in the house has been 72 degrees all winter and he's never complained about it before. Of course, now he's not talking to me. What he doesn't know is that suits me just fine. Yeah, if I leave him now, he'll probably just stop paying IRS and they'll end up taking every penny of my check since it's a sure thing. Our government won't give US a penny in penalty or interest but they start tacking it on the second you owe them anything. So, I'm rather pi$$ed at our government and pi$$ed at my husband right now. I think I'll get outside for awhile and do some gardening.

Oh, I forgot, something you said really rang a bell. "If they cut benefits it never comes back." Well, when I first started getting disability, they took money out of my check for Medicare Part B for four months, even though I had told them specifically that I did not want Medicare Part B. I was told that I would get reimbursed for those four months (nearly $400.00) but I have yet to see a penny of it. If I complain or raise a ruckus, they'll most likely stop my benefits or make my life so miserable I won't want disability anymore. It's no better than communism, except we're lied to. Communists KNOW what they're not going to get. We have to find out only when we need something or expect what we've already paid for. I'm so angry right now!!!

Oh, that's wonderful news!!! I mean, it figures that the government took it's time about making the adjustment but I'm happy to hear that they've realized the mistake and are correcting their error. Awesome!!!

I am really close to actually despising our government. They don't care about anyone who doesn't work for the government. Why should they? After all, us "commoners" just pay their salaries with our tax dollars. They took out the premium for Medicare Part B for four months once I finally started getting the checks, even though I told them I did NOT want Part B. It took them four months to FINALLY stop taking that out of my checks and said that I would receive a check for those payments, almost $400.00. I have yet to see a penny of that and I'm sure that if I complain about it, they'll give me a hard time like pulling me in for a re-evaluation, too. They made my sister get evaluated every year and she had muscular dystrophy for crying out loud! I guess they had to pull her in every year because, well, they've witnessed so many medical "miracles" in their careers. Yeah, sure. They do it because they are pompous a$$es, for the most part. They act like they are better than everyone, yet their official titles are all "civil SERVANTS". Maybe they need to be reminded of that occasionally but, we need to remind them anonymously, otherwise they'd just cause us more grief. Yeah, I do despise our government. Oh, I learned that this newest issue is from the Treasury Dept. We owe income taxes because my husband never did call them to make payment arrangements. He was supposed to do that around a year ago but conveniently "forgot". I'm sure IRS assumed that we were ignoring them, so they came after the only "sure" source of income we have, my disability payments. I hope karma bites them all in the butt big-time one day. I hope they need disability or even welfare some day and they have as hard a time as they've given people like you and me. I don't normally wish anything bad on anyone but I really can't stand government workers... at least not the majority. I hope your issue gets resolved soon and with much less anxiety than they caused you last time. Ooooooooooohhh they make me so MAD!!!

Oh, I almost forgot. I got that letter, too, telling us that there has been no cost of living increase in the past year. Sure, right. I bet whoever actually mailed those letters complains all the time about the rise in the cost of living. They don't care about us. After all, we're just numbers to them, file folders. We're not human.

I will be receiving it (hopefully) until I am no longer disabled or until I die. I have fibromyalgia along with some other disabling health problems and, so far, there is no cure for anything I have. The best that can be done is to control the symptoms a little. When I reach 65, I should be able to get retiree benefits along with disability benefits because I worked and paid Social Security taxes from the age of 14 until I could no longer work, around the age of 48 and, still, I did try to work after that in part-time jobs but, with the way my symptoms are, changing from day-to-day, I could not even work part-time. It is bad enough that, for the past three years, our government has concluded that there has been no increase in the cost of living. Of course, THEY are getting raises all the time but those of us who cannot work, even though we don't get enough to live on to begin with, they are making sure that we get less and less every year because the cost of living IS going up all the time.

Read the last paragraph if nothing else. I found out that the money was taken by the Treasury Dept. because they felt like it. We owe taxes. My husband was supposed to call IRS a year ago to make payment arrangements. Because he didn't (for whatever reason), IRS assumed we were ignoring them and put a lien on our house and froze our bank accounts. That made my husband FINALLY call them and he made arrangements to pay $400/month until it's paid off. Apparently, IRS felt that wasn't enough and, without bothering to tell me, they decided to take even more than what was agreed on. At least our bank accounts have been released by IRS but I still despise them. I'm going to try to give our government the least amount of tax dollars possible by growing even more food this year so I will cut way down on food spending, plus I'm going to look into adding more solar panels to what I have already. The hope is that, one day, I won't have to pay a penny for electricity because what I pay the electric company, they pay taxes on to the government. I'd like to eliminate MY tax dollars from the scenario, as much as possible. Oh, I'm also driving less, only going out about once a week now so I buy less gas. (I need a horse and wagon.) Your government sounds exactly like ours. Well, Social Security WILL approve someone if they've lost both arms and legs or at least half their brain in an accident or shooting AND show that they can't function. You know what put me over the "winning" edge? my level of depression. Not the depression itself but how depressed I was. When I had my last hearing before a judge, he sent me to a psychiatrist for a re-evaluation. (I had already been to one who said I was fine to work.) This psychiatrist was great because he asked the right questions... or maybe it was because I got help from a fellow mylotter about what to do and what not to do. She said "don't cry". Well, I TRIED not to cry but when the doctor was asking me to describe what I can and cannot do and how it makes me feel, it was all too much for me and I started crying. BUT, I immediately apologized for crying. I said, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to do this" (meaning cry). I honestly think that is what convinced this doctor that I was totally honest about being extremely depressed. Now, here's the last paragraph. I have a very good feeling about your hearing on April 14th. That is my birthday, you know. I like to think it was a good day, is a good day. Never mind that the Titanic hit the iceburg on that date or that Abraham Lincoln was shot on that date. You know, my hearing was on FRIDAY THE 13TH and I WON!!! Your hearing on April 14th will be in your favor. I just know it! Dates that have a bad rap can be extremely good. I know!

Thank you for that gracious, "pat on the back". You have no idea how good it is to hear SOMEBODY say that to me. Check this out. Section 13 of ODSP's Act 13. Subsection 4(1) of the ODSPA defines a person with a disability as follows: 4. (1) A person is a person with a disability...if, (a) the person has a substantial physical or mental impairment that is continuous or recurrent and expected to last one year or more; (b) the direct and cumulative effect of the impairment on the person's ability to attend to his or her personal care, function in the community and function in a workplace, results in a substantial restriction in one or more of these activities of daily living; and (c) the impairment and it's likely duration and the restriction in the person's activities of daily living have been verified by a person with the prescribed qualifications. Now I ask you... First of all, who isn't MORE qualified than your doctor? I've have COPD, DDD, a torn left rotator cuff, and occasional blackouts with loss of memory since 2003. My doctor INSISTS I DO NOT return to work. I take daily medications for all of the above, and there is NO cure for any of them. Each day they will, and do, get progressively worse. Tell me...do I not fit the criteria described in the Act? Yet I'm constantly being denied, and have been since 2003. Huh???? However, I DO wish you all the best. I will use your strength to guide me. Oh and...Happy Birthday, in case I forget. And again..thank you for your support. Be good. Be safe. Cheers luv; cdrxo

Thank you, vandana. I agree that healthy people who are defrauding the Social Security system because they are just plain lazy should be made to pay back every single penny they've received if they are ever caught. I just hope they are caught. I know there are a lot of people out there pretending to be disabled but, luckily for them, I do not know any of them. If I did, I would definitely report them, even if they were very good friends of mine because, if I found out they were defrauding the government, they would no longer be a friend of mine. I would give anything to be able to work again full-time. The best I can do is to find odd jobs proofreading here and there. I am allowed to earn up to a certain amount while on disability but I couldn't earn anywhere near that amount. I just went outside because it is absolutely gorgeous outside today (74F degrees) and did some trimming of some of my trees and bushes. I was outside about 20-30 minutes and could hardly stand up anymore. Right now, I hurt so much I won't be able to do anything for the next two days because of what I just did outside. Yeah, I'd give anything to be healthy again!

Hi Leenie. I don't have a lot of time right now because my husband is expecting a physical therapist any minute now but I wanted to say that this is not a premium for anything since I don't get anything but Part A from Medicare and that is supposed to be free. I found out that it's from the IRS. We owe them taxes, mostly thanks to my husband's lack of doing anything about what we have owed and his "forgetting" to make payment arrangements with them. Basically, he was ignoring their letters. So, we have a lien on our house right now and he has made arrangements to pay $400 a month on these taxes until they're paid off. Of course, they didn't mention ANYTHING about deducting this money from my disability checks. They don't give you enough to live on in the first place, then tax you on what is already not enough, simply because you're married to a man who is working. It wouldn't matter what he makes, either. I have to pay taxes on every penny they give me. Of course, they didn't give ME a penny in penalties or interest when they were holding all that money for seven years but they sure do add it when you owe them! I despise our government and will do everything I can to cut down on every single tax penny I give to them. We're only paying their salaries, not helping the government help us because they couldn't care less about us. Gotta run now, I hear a car. Take care, Leenie! Love ya, too! Marti