| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Eris" |
| Date: |
20 Aug 2004 09:23:08 AM |
| Object: |
O.T. Evil Grandmother question |
My ex Mother in law has severe heart problems and her heart stop at a
party in the sixties and some nice person got her heart started again.
She is married to a retired school teacher in Michigan.
Supposedly they did something that made their retirement payments
cheaper by signing a non survivorship clause, so that when
grandpa(John) dies grandma(Grace) gets nothing.
1. She has never worked for wages, but doesn't she qualify for Social
Security?
2. Won't most of her medical bills be paid for by Medicare?
3. You teachers in Michigan, is there an optional non survivorship
clause in your retirement pension?
Grandpa is not expected to last much longer and Grandma was never
expected to make it to 60 much less 80. Grandma is quite spry and has
a least another 100 years left to go.
Grandma watches all of the Soap Opera's and is telling my kids she
will be destitute and have no medical benefits when Grandpa dies.
Thanks for helping out or dysfunctional family.
.
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| User: "kathryn" |
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| Title: Re: O.T. Evil Grandmother question |
20 Aug 2004 11:40:45 AM |
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"Eris" <vithant01@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:qp1ci05nvlin14a1st5b2c3bl5jurskmib@4ax.com...
My ex Mother in law has severe heart problems and her heart stop at a
party in the sixties and some nice person got her heart started again.
She is married to a retired school teacher in Michigan.
Supposedly they did something that made their retirement payments
cheaper by signing a non survivorship clause, so that when
grandpa(John) dies grandma(Grace) gets nothing.
1. She has never worked for wages, but doesn't she qualify for Social
Security?
Im from the UK so it may not apply to the US..but anyhow...if you do not pay
into the scheme (in our case it's national insurance) you are not entitled
to a retirement pension, (although you may be entitled to income support
which is an income based benefit I dont know what your equivalent would be).
So probably not. the non survivorship clause sounds a bit cack, I hope our
government don't find out about it in their drive to screw people over :|.
It's really quite sexist because (in general terms only at especially in the
older generation) the women didn't work (or worked very little) and as such
wouldnt get much pension anyways and would rely on inheriting their spouses
pension
.
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: O.T. Evil Grandmother question |
20 Aug 2004 12:07:14 PM |
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On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 16:40:45 +0000 in episode
<cg59ic$gb4$1@titan.btinternet.com> we saw our hero "kathryn"
<bob@bob.com>:
the non survivorship clause sounds a bit
cack, I hope our government don't find out about it in their drive to
screw people over
Sounds like Eris is talking about some quasi-private system set up by a
state for teachers. Not the national system (Social Security). The
national system just is what it is, there aren't any "options" involved.
You pay what you're told to pay and get whatever the law says you get.
That's pretty much that.
Apparently in the Michigan state system, you can opt for a plan that does
not provide survivor benefits and pay less into the system. Something
along those lines.
I don't believe that having the state system allows you to "opt out" of
the national system. I believe all the state systems are meant to provide
*additional benefits, not replace the national one.
--
Mark K. Bilbo - a.a. #1423
EAC Department of Linguistic Subversion
Alt-atheism website at: http://www.alt-atheism.org
--------------------------------------------------
"Come to think of it, there are already a million
monkeys on a million typewriters, and the Usenet
is NOTHING like Shakespeare!" -- Blair Houghton
.
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| User: "kathryn" |
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| Title: Re: O.T. Evil Grandmother question |
20 Aug 2004 02:16:19 PM |
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"Mark K. Bilbo" <alt-atheism@org.webmaster> wrote in message
news:wMqdnT-wkKpcsrvcRVn-vA@megapath.net...
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 16:40:45 +0000 in episode
<cg59ic$gb4$1@titan.btinternet.com> we saw our hero "kathryn"
<bob@bob.com>:
the non survivorship clause sounds a bit
cack, I hope our government don't find out about it in their drive to
screw people over
Sounds like Eris is talking about some quasi-private system set up by a
state for teachers. Not the national system (Social Security). The
national system just is what it is, there aren't any "options" involved.
You pay what you're told to pay and get whatever the law says you get.
That's pretty much that.
Apparently in the Michigan state system, you can opt for a plan that does
not provide survivor benefits and pay less into the system. Something
along those lines.
I don't believe that having the state system allows you to "opt out" of
the national system. I believe all the state systems are meant to provide
*additional benefits, not replace the national one.
--
Mark K. Bilbo - a.a. #1423
ahhh that makes more sense
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| User: "Fred Stone" |
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| Title: Re: O.T. Evil Grandmother question |
20 Aug 2004 11:02:25 AM |
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Eris <vithant01@comcast.net> wrote in
news:qp1ci05nvlin14a1st5b2c3bl5jurskmib@4ax.com:
My ex Mother in law has severe heart problems and her heart stop at a
party in the sixties and some nice person got her heart started again.
She is married to a retired school teacher in Michigan.
Supposedly they did something that made their retirement payments
cheaper by signing a non survivorship clause, so that when
grandpa(John) dies grandma(Grace) gets nothing.
1. She has never worked for wages, but doesn't she qualify for Social
Security?
Yes, if they paid taxes as "Married filing jointly". She should have a
Social Security number anyway. Go here and get a statement of her
account:
http://www.ssa.gov
2. Won't most of her medical bills be paid for by Medicare?
Yes, as above. She should have been receiving Social Security from the
time he retired, in fact. Contact the SS office about that.
3. You teachers in Michigan, is there an optional non survivorship
clause in your retirement pension?
For that one you need a lawyer to look over the papers.
Grandpa is not expected to last much longer and Grandma was never
expected to make it to 60 much less 80. Grandma is quite spry and has
a least another 100 years left to go.
Grandma watches all of the Soap Opera's and is telling my kids she
will be destitute and have no medical benefits when Grandpa dies.
If she ends up entirely out of money with no income whatsoever she
should qualify for Medicaid (more or less like Blue Cross/Blue Shield)
and food stamps and some amount of financial assistance. That may or may
not be enough to pay for her current housing. Contact the HHS department
in her town for this one.
Thanks for helping out or dysfunctional family.
--
Fred Stone
aa# 1369
Cthulhu for President! Why vote for a lesser evil?
.
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| User: "Fred Stone" |
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| Title: Re: O.T. Evil Grandmother question |
20 Aug 2004 01:38:13 PM |
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Fred Stone <fstone69@earthling.com> wrote in
news:Xns954B7A7AFA523fstone69@207.69.154.206:
Eris <vithant01@comcast.net> wrote in
news:qp1ci05nvlin14a1st5b2c3bl5jurskmib@4ax.com:
My ex Mother in law has severe heart problems and her heart stop at a
party in the sixties and some nice person got her heart started
again. She is married to a retired school teacher in Michigan.
Supposedly they did something that made their retirement payments
cheaper by signing a non survivorship clause, so that when
grandpa(John) dies grandma(Grace) gets nothing.
1. She has never worked for wages, but doesn't she qualify for Social
Security?
Yes, if they paid taxes as "Married filing jointly". She should have a
Social Security number anyway. Go here and get a statement of her
account:
http://www.ssa.gov
Oh, by the way, she should be able to claim Social Security survivor
benefits in any case.
2. Won't most of her medical bills be paid for by Medicare?
Yes, as above. She should have been receiving Social Security from the
time he retired, in fact. Contact the SS office about that.
3. You teachers in Michigan, is there an optional non survivorship
clause in your retirement pension?
For that one you need a lawyer to look over the papers.
Grandpa is not expected to last much longer and Grandma was never
expected to make it to 60 much less 80. Grandma is quite spry and has
a least another 100 years left to go.
Grandma watches all of the Soap Opera's and is telling my kids she
will be destitute and have no medical benefits when Grandpa dies.
If she ends up entirely out of money with no income whatsoever she
should qualify for Medicaid (more or less like Blue Cross/Blue Shield)
and food stamps and some amount of financial assistance. That may or
may not be enough to pay for her current housing. Contact the HHS
department in her town for this one.
Thanks for helping out or dysfunctional family.
--
Fred Stone
aa# 1369
Cthulhu for President! Why vote for a lesser evil?
.
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: O.T. Evil Grandmother question |
20 Aug 2004 10:58:45 AM |
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On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 10:23:08 -0400 in episode
<qp1ci05nvlin14a1st5b2c3bl5jurskmib@4ax.com> we saw our hero Eris
<vithant01@comcast.net>:
My ex Mother in law has severe heart problems and her heart stop at a
party in the sixties and some nice person got her heart started again.
She is married to a retired school teacher in Michigan.
Supposedly they did something that made their retirement payments
cheaper by signing a non survivorship clause, so that when grandpa(John)
dies grandma(Grace) gets nothing.
1. She has never worked for wages, but doesn't she qualify for Social
Security?
First of all, go here:
http://www.ssa.gov/
Read much. It's a complicated system let me tell you. I'm helping someone
through it (for SSDI/Medicare) and it's a maze. You can also--and I
recommend this *highly--go to a local office and bug them about it. Your
taxes are paying for them to answer questions after all.
(And, bureaucratic as it is, I've found the local one I've dealt with to
be very helpful. They're bureaucrats but not demons. <g>)
I believe there are "survivor benefits" but know next to nothing about
them. Only that I know people who have gotten them on the death of a
parent or spouse and that they're aren't much.
There is also that if you are just *flat *broke, you can get SSI. But you
have to be almost on the streets to qualify for that one. It's an
entitlement based on need, not whether you worked.
2. Won't most of her medical bills be paid for by Medicare?
I'm *no expert but what I found on helping someone through the SSDI
process is that Medicare follows Social Security. There's a two year "gap"
in there. That is, once you qualify for SS, you qualify for Medicare two
years *later. The qualification is apparently automatic but you don't get
in immediately.
(There may be ways to "bridge" that gap with an existing, private
insurance system. Such as the friend I'm helping through the mounds of
paperwork is being bridged through that two year period via COBRA from the
last job worked. But you'd have to pester whatever private insurance she's
on now for information on whether or not she can be bridged to Medicare,
how it's done, etc.)
If you're *broke, you can qualify for Medicaid. Which, like SSI, is need
based. But the qualifications are down pretty low. So much so that you
have to be damn near living on the streets before you can qualify.
3. You teachers in Michigan, is there an optional non survivorship
clause in your retirement pension?
Grandpa is not expected to last much longer and Grandma was never
expected to make it to 60 much less 80. Grandma is quite spry and has a
least another 100 years left to go.
Grandma watches all of the Soap Opera's and is telling my kids she will
be destitute and have no medical benefits when Grandpa dies.
Thanks for helping out or dysfunctional family.
If the situation is getting that urgent and you want to help, you need to
move *now. It's a complicated, massively bureaucratic system to get
through. I can't count the number of confused elderly I saw at the local
SSA office. For a system that supposed to help people who are no longer in
the "prime of their lives," it's awfully complex.
Again, pester the local SSA office. Your taxes pay their salaries. It's
their job. And I've found most everybody I've dealt with in the system to
be quite helpful. It's just tedious as hell dealing with all the paperwork
and rules and such. I would *not recommend putting off learning how the
system works until the need becomes urgent. Get a head start.
--
Mark K. Bilbo - a.a. #1423
EAC Department of Linguistic Subversion
Alt-atheism website at: http://www.alt-atheism.org
--------------------------------------------------
"Come to think of it, there are already a million
monkeys on a million typewriters, and the Usenet
is NOTHING like Shakespeare!" -- Blair Houghton
.
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| User: "Mike Painter" |
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| Title: Re: O.T. Evil Grandmother question |
20 Aug 2004 06:32:59 PM |
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Mark K. Bilbo wrote:
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 10:23:08 -0400 in episode
<qp1ci05nvlin14a1st5b2c3bl5jurskmib@4ax.com> we saw our hero Eris
<vithant01@comcast.net>:
My ex Mother in law has severe heart problems and her heart stop at a
party in the sixties and some nice person got her heart started
again. She is married to a retired school teacher in Michigan.
Supposedly they did something that made their retirement payments
cheaper by signing a non survivorship clause, so that when
grandpa(John) dies grandma(Grace) gets nothing.
1. She has never worked for wages, but doesn't she qualify for Social
Security?
First of all, go here:
http://www.ssa.gov/
Read much. It's a complicated system let me tell you. I'm helping
someone through it (for SSDI/Medicare) and it's a maze. You can
also--and I recommend this *highly--go to a local office and bug them
about it. Your taxes are paying for them to answer questions after
all.
I never bothered with the local one. I did try the online system and didn't
have all the needed information. When I went back I couldn't get back
on-line so called.
First I tried the local number and it rang busy all the time so I called to
800.
They were *very* helpful and said not to even bother with the on line
system. They had people to help.
I called a second number and ended up talking with a very helpful person who
asked a bunch of questions and answered some. I got an estimate of what I
would get now or at 65. The difference was nominal so I'm "retired".
What you get is based on highest income for 10 years and you will get
something.
You need an official copy of a birth certificate, possibly proof of
citizenship and any military forms.
You send those.
They send you a form which is basically what you told them.
You correct, sign and send it back and about the time they tell you, money
is deposited to your bank account.
They also send back your birth certificate, etc.
You can still have the checks sent and many do as the trip to the bank is
the high point of their month.
A quick and painless experience
.
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| User: "Eris" |
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| Title: Re: O.T. Evil Grandmother question |
20 Aug 2004 06:26:47 PM |
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On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 10:23:08 -0400, Eris <vithant01@comcast.net>
wrote:
My ex Mother in law has severe heart problems and her heart stop at a
party in the sixties and some nice person got her heart started again.
She is married to a retired school teacher in Michigan.
Supposedly they did something that made their retirement payments
cheaper by signing a non survivorship clause, so that when
grandpa(John) dies grandma(Grace) gets nothing.
1. She has never worked for wages, but doesn't she qualify for Social
Security?
2. Won't most of her medical bills be paid for by Medicare?
3. You teachers in Michigan, is there an optional non survivorship
clause in your retirement pension?
Grandpa is not expected to last much longer and Grandma was never
expected to make it to 60 much less 80. Grandma is quite spry and has
a least another 100 years left to go.
Grandma watches all of the Soap Opera's and is telling my kids she
will be destitute and have no medical benefits when Grandpa dies.
Thanks for helping out or dysfunctional family.
Thanks everyone, I am working up the courage to go to the SS site.
.
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