Community Chat

[60sgirl]

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@151949 wrote:

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@Silver Lining wrote:

I understand what you're saying, 151949, but what about those who don't drive? There are many elderly people who don't. I know of some who either take a taxi or otherwise pay for transportation to get to their medical appointments, grocery store or pay for deliveries and those costs aren't lowered when gas prices are. Also, some don't have a spouse with whom to share household expenses. Also, through no fault of their own, some people have only SS as income.

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Even in the direst times of my life I always put a small amount of my income aside for my senior years. And, believe me , and due to no fault of my own, I have been through some really bad times financially. People who haven't saved for the future were very foolish and are now paying for it in their senoir years. It would be difficult to live on SS alone , even if you got the max amount - which few do. 

As someone else said - especially if you are on SS - be extremely careful who you vote for because there are those who want to take as much from us as they possibly can. If you think not getting a COLA raise is bad - wait to see what happens if the wrong ones get elected.

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Are you serious with this statement? Seriously do you think everyone has lived the same kind of life as you have having been a nurse with no children and 2 incomes so you could save. How about single moms who have raised children on meager income with deadbeat dads who paid little to no child support? How ere they supposed to save? To call people foolish who havent saved for the future is so uncaring and presumptuous of you. And as I recall last year when COLA raises were announced you made a huge proclamation about them and how great they were (1,5% last year) and you live off of 2 SS incomes, not 1. Single people who didn't work for companies that had pension plans and now have to pay for rent, utilities and food by themselves are hurting. 

[60sgirl]

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@Greenhouse wrote:

In the AARP magazine, it stated people may have as much as a 52% hike in Part B Medicare....it's an obscure part of Medicare law....Most pay $104.90 and the amount is deducted from social security, those  most likely will not be affected.  If you are still working and are age 65, you must apply for Part A....when i retired, i enrolled  in part B....I did not take social security immediately upon retirement and waited until the maximum benefit and therefore would not have Medicare payments subtracted from social security because I was not collecting it.  Payments were made directly to Medicare.  If you pay a higher premium above $104.90 due to income and even tho it is deducted from SS, you may see a hike of $159.30 or higher...if you are enrolled in Part B but the payments are made to Medicare, you will be affected as well.  The cost will be shifted to higher income recipients and those new to the program expected to sign up in 2016. 

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actually the story said about 70% of people already on SS and having their Part B premiums deducted may be part of a "hold harmless" clause meaning they will not see a rise in premiums. 

[Helen852]

Mom's medicare advantage program is going up $15.00, I believe that's Part B She collects an annuity from the railroad from my Dad where Medicare deducts $104 each month, she never signed up for Part D and the penalty at this point would be almost $70 a month extra; she also gets a small pension amount from the retail clerk's union.  

Luckily she's finally selling her 'rental' which was never really a rental because she barely collected the rent from the tenants who was her grandson.  He moved out without paying the last months rent and left the house in shambles.  

It is tough on seniors who depend on SS.  

[Stray]

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@60sgirl wrote:

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@Greenhouse wrote:

In the AARP magazine, it stated people may have as much as a 52% hike in Part B Medicare....it's an obscure part of Medicare law....Most pay $104.90 and the amount is deducted from social security, those  most likely will not be affected.  If you are still working and are age 65, you must apply for Part A....when i retired, i enrolled  in part B....I did not take social security immediately upon retirement and waited until the maximum benefit and therefore would not have Medicare payments subtracted from social security because I was not collecting it.  Payments were made directly to Medicare.  If you pay a higher premium above $104.90 due to income and even tho it is deducted from SS, you may see a hike of $159.30 or higher...if you are enrolled in Part B but the payments are made to Medicare, you will be affected as well.  The cost will be shifted to higher income recipients and those new to the program expected to sign up in 2016. 

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actually the story said about 70% of people already on SS and having their Part B premiums deducted may be part of a "hold harmless" clause meaning they will not see a rise in premiums. 

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Yes, you are correct....most are paying $104.90 and will be held harmless.  It is aimed at higher earners and new entrants. 

[60sgirl]

and don't forget that the calculation based on gas prices is for a 3month period so when winter rolls around and heating costs skyrocket, the cost of living will again rise substantially. 

This whole thing is politically driven, just like the price of gasoline is. Anyone who doesn't think so must not see the price of gas go up for every major holiday. And then they tell us some Bs story about a refinery needing to shut down for a day or something like that.

Winter fuel mixtures cost more than summer. Food also depends on getting trucked to our stores and if the gas prices being lower than last year are determining whether we get COLA increases or not, then someone please tell me why food prices are so high and then asked we are told "it costs a lot to truck it here". 

These are all just ruses done purposely before a big election year. It will all play out in its own time. One party will blame the other and one will come out and say they are going to make new laws to recalculate these increases and that party will get major points for doing that. 

[Snoopp]

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@Greenhouse wrote:

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@60sgirl wrote:

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@Greenhouse wrote:

In the AARP magazine, it stated people may have as much as a 52% hike in Part B Medicare....it's an obscure part of Medicare law....Most pay $104.90 and the amount is deducted from social security, those  most likely will not be affected.  If you are still working and are age 65, you must apply for Part A....when i retired, i enrolled  in part B....I did not take social security immediately upon retirement and waited until the maximum benefit and therefore would not have Medicare payments subtracted from social security because I was not collecting it.  Payments were made directly to Medicare.  If you pay a higher premium above $104.90 due to income and even tho it is deducted from SS, you may see a hike of $159.30 or higher...if you are enrolled in Part B but the payments are made to Medicare, you will be affected as well.  The cost will be shifted to higher income recipients and those new to the program expected to sign up in 2016. 

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actually the story said about 70% of people already on SS and having their Part B premiums deducted may be part of a "hold harmless" clause meaning they will not see a rise in premiums. 

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Yes, you are correct....most are paying $104.90 and will be held harmless.  It is aimed at higher earners and new entrants. 

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This is the 30 percent I mentioned in an earlier post.  You no longer spread the cost. 

[Stray]

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@Helen852 wrote:

Mom's medicare advantage program is going up $15.00, I believe that's Part B She collects an annuity from the railroad from my Dad where Medicare deducts $104 each month, she never signed up for Part D and the penalty at this point would be almost $70 a month extra; she also gets a small pension amount from the retail clerk's union.  

Luckily she's finally selling her 'rental' which was never really a rental because she barely collected the rent from the tenants who was her grandson.  He moved out without paying the last months rent and left the house in shambles.  

It is tough on seniors who depend on SS.  

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It really is...longevity has a lot to do with it.  Many outlive their finances.  We moved to a condominium and a pretty large number of the very old like 90-103 did reverse mortgages to supplement their incomes.  The only thing they were never told was that if you live too long, you lose your home.  It is so sad here, tho it is not a senior complex a large number of people moved here after children married and/or they lost a spouse or like us, we were just sick of leaves, shoveling snow, home repairs etc....they have now reached an advanced age and I can think of three that were forced to move and it was so sad because they made friends here over the years.....some were lucky and children took them in but they didn't want to go.  They were all women but very vital...

[RetRN]

I consider an increase in Medicare B premiums from $104.90 to $159.30 to be significant.

[60sgirl]

whether it's $15 or $20, did you know that many seniors who live off SS apply for food stamps and even while getting maybe $1200 a month to live on, all they qualify for is $15-18 A MONTH in food stamps.

It is outrageous that this country csn spend billions on salaries for government officials (many of whom are found guilty of fraud later on) yet, can't give a decent amount of people who spent their life WORKING in this country never asking for a dime from the government.

The CEO of Chicago public schools who used to be the CEO of Cleveland Public schools and made millions in those jobs was just found guilty of fraud to the tune of $2 million? And she got little more than a slap on the wrist for it. No mention of paying back the money to the schools she defrauded instead of 20 years lock up reduced to less than 8, and probably will end up less than that. Not to take the subject off topic but it's these kinds of things that burn my b*tt when hearing about seniors getting the shaft again. BTW her name is Barbara Byrd Bennett in case you want to read her disgraceful story.