Tag: Benefits

2025: What will your Social Security benefits be when you retire?
What will your Social Security benefit be when you retire? Knowing how much you will receive from Social Security can help with your retirement planning. Two-thirds of Americans rely on Social Security for most of their income in retirement, and one third rely on it for virtually all (90 percent or more) of their retirement income.

The Social Security Administration cannot tell you exactly what you will get. But, it has a calculator that will provide you an estimate. What you receive depends on the average of your top 35 earnings years, as well as on the age at which you choose to claim Social Security.

You can sign up to get benefits before the full retirement age (age 66 today, i.e. for those born between 1943 and 1954, and rising to age 67 for those born in 1960 or later). But your benefit will be reduced by around 6 percent for each year you retire prior to your full retirement age — up to a 25 percent reduction if you retire at age 62, the earliest possible age you can claim benefits. If you wait until after your full retirement age to claim benefits, your benefit is increased by 8 percent each year — up to a 24 percent increase if you wait till age 70.

Your benefits will be protected against inflation by cost-of-living increases. And, of course, if Congress changes the Social Security Act, that could affect your benefits as well. In January 2025, the average monthly benefit for a retired worker is just over $1,976 and just over $3,089 for a retired couple.

To qualify for benefits, you need at least 40 credits of earnings, i.e. 10 years of either working four quarters or paying enough into Social Security during the year to satisfy the four-quarters requirement. To understand how credits are calculated, click here. Or, you might qualify based on the earnings record of a current or divorced spouse (if the marriage lasted 10 years or longer).

SSA also provides calculators to estimate survivors and disability benefits. And the AARP has a calculator to help you decide when to sign up for benefits.

Here’s more from Just Care:
March 11, 2025
Wait to claim Social Security benefits, if possible
You have earned your Social Security benefits. You should claim them when it meets your personal circumstances. For most people, though, it is best to wait as long as possible (though there is no reason to delay beyond age 70).

Although people often talk about a single retirement age, it is best to think about Social Security as having a band of ages. The earliest you can claim retirement benefits is age 62. For every month you delay up to age 70, your monthly benefit is larger – larger for the rest of your life!

The intention is for benefits to be actuarially neutral, so that your decision whether to retire and claim benefits is made independent of the size of the benefit. However, one of the enormous values of Social Security is that it is payable not only for the rest of your life but for the rest of your spouse’s life. Unlike savings and other assets, which can disappear as you age, Social Security is indexed against inflation and you cannot outlive it. Delaying receipt ensures not only that your monthly payments will be as large as possible when you are very old and likely need them most, but also as large as possible for your widow(er).

Of course, some people don’t have a job or savings at 62. In that case, people have no choice but to claim their Social Security benefits as soon as possible. Other people suffer from serious medical conditions at 62, are unmarried, and might not live long enough to benefit from delaying their Social Security benefits. But, anyone who has no reason to collect their Social Security checks early, should not do so.

Some people are simply risk averse, but some claim early because they have heard Social Security is going bankrupt. The truth is that Social Security has never missed a payment in its nearly 90-year history and almost certainly never will. Those scare stories should not scare you into claiming early, against your financial interest.

In addition to educating people about the many advantages to delaying, there are legislative improvements that should be made. While the actuarial adjustments are intended to be fair and neutral, there are strong arguments that those who retire early have their benefits reduced too much and those who retire later have their benefits increased too much. Congress should correct that.

Congress also should increase the overall level of Social Security benefits, so that even those who retire early have a benefit that is adequate for an independent dignified old age. And Congress should update the measure of inflation, so benefits retain their value, as they are intended to do.

Again, Social Security benefits are earned benefits but if you can delay claiming them, you are almost always right to do so. For the same conclusion argued somewhat differently, see Peter Coy’s opinion piece for the New York Times.

Here’s more from Just Care:
November 13, 2024
Humana and CVS will raise costs for Medicare Advantage enrollees in 2025
Humana and CVS intend to raise premiums and reduce benefits on their MA plans in 2025, reports Rebecca Pifer for Health Care Dive. They want to increase their profits further, even though the government already overpays them billions of dollars a year.

As many as 700,000 CVS and Humana MA enrollees could switch to other plans, and CVS and Humana don’t seem to care. UnitedHealth is likely to grow its business in the process, depending upon whether it decides to cut benefits and/or raise premiums. The insurers offering Medicare Advantage are unlikely to increase their out-of-pocket caps and their deductibles, which people with Medicare apparently care most about.

We won’t know what these insurers will decide to do until October. To be clear, CVS and Humana, like all of the big insurers, are first and foremost in the Medicare Advantage business to generate profits for their shareholders. Enrollee needs are secondary. They will exit markets where they don’t see good profits.

CVS, Humana and UnitedHealth all own medical provider groups. So, they are likely to continue their MA businesses in counties in which those groups have clinics and they can generate better profits.

Insurers are most likely to raise copays for specialty care, which people can’t really wrap their heads around before enrolling and needing specialty care. Insurers also could cut supplemental benefits, such as money for home improvements and pet care.

The insurers have a lot of discretion, but they can’t change anything they want. The government limits their ability to change “total beneficiary cost,” which is limited to $40 per enrollee each month.

Here’s more from Just Care:
June 12, 2024
Dental crisis in the US: 20 percent of Americans have lost their teeth
One in five older adults in the US have lost their teeth. There is a dental care crisis. Jessica Glenza interviews Bernie Sanders for her piece in the Guardian on the need to improve dental care as part of fixing our broken health care system.

Senator Sanders has introduced a bill in the Senate to expand Medicare dental benefits and improve them in Medicaid. The bill also gives dental benefits to veterans through the Veterans Administration.

Traditional Medicare does not cover dental care. Medicare Advantage plans sometimes offer limited dental benefits, but they are so limited that people in Medicare Advantage face the same dental issues as people in Traditional Medicare.

Half of adults in the US have gum disease. Sixty nine million adults have no dental insurance and those who do often have limited coverage. Out-of-pocket costs with insurance are high. Most people can’t afford dental bills that are several thousand dollars.

Two million Americans went to the hospital because of tooth pain in 2019. Nearly half a million other people went abroad for lower-cost dental care. Dental care is much less costly in Mexico.

Having bad teeth can cause serious health issues, including malnutrition. It can be emotionally and psychologically destructive.

Senator Sanders says that expanding dental coverage in the US is a political winner. The overwhelming majority of Americans support it. He is urging President Biden to include dental benefits in Medicare as part of his re-election platform.

For his part, President Biden has taken small steps to improve dental coverage in Medicare. For example, some cancer patients with Medicare now have some dental coverage.

Republicans continue to oppose extra Medicare benefits. They claim they are unaffordable. But, it’s all a question of government priorities. Republicans are happy to approve $900 billion in military spending and tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

The American Dental Association opposes a dental benefit in Medicare. It fears a large administrative burden on dentists.

Here’s more from Just Care:
May 29, 2024
Humana threatens to close some Medicare Advantage plans and reduce extra benefits in others
Suzanne Blake reports for Newsweek on the consequences of Humana closing some of its Medicare Advantage plans in 2025 and claiming it will reduce benefits in other Medicare Advantage plans in order to increase profits. Warning: Enrolling in Medicare Advantage will always mean never being able to rely on getting care and coverage from the physicians and hospitals you want to use and having out-of-pocket costs as high as $8,850 this year for in-network care and more if you go out of network.

Today, Humana covers six million Medicare enrollees through its Medicare Advantage plans. Humana offers Medicare Advantage plans in all 50 states. Its greatest penetration is in the Southeast. Florida has nearly three quarters of a million Humana Medicare Advantage enrollees. North Carolina has more than 450,000. Georgia has 336,000, Texas has 289,000 and Illinois has 250,000.

Some people believe that many enrollees in Medicare Advantage won’t get dental, vision, or hearing benefits any longer. Truth is that though insurers tend to offer these benefits, most Medicare Advantage plan enrollees do not appear to use them. The benefits are usually quite limited, offering little coverage, difficult to access because in-network providers are few and far between, and require high out-of-pocket costs.

Humana is claiming that Medicare is not paying it enough to deliver Medicare Advantage. Truth is that Medicare is spending $83 billion more on enrollees in Medicare Advantage than it does on enrollees in Traditional Medicare. Those payments are unsustainable.

The government is giving insurers a $16 billion raise next year on top of the overpayments. Humana simply must wants to squeeze even more money out of Medicare Advantage.

UnitedHealth also is looking to see more profits from Medicare Advantage. It can do so by denying and delaying care, but it can only do so much of that. Traditional Medicare, government-administered benefits, is far more cost-effective and also makes it much easier than Medicare Advantage to get care, anywhere in the US. But, traditional Medicare lacks an out-of-pocket limit, meaning that to protect themselves financially, people need supplemental coverage, either Medicaid or Medigap, that fills gaps in traditional Medicare.

Here’s more from Just Care:
May 7, 2024
Beware of criminals stealing Social Security benefits
Many older adults and people with disabilities rely on Social Security as their sole source of income in retirement. Typically, Social Security deposits their monthly benefit directly into their bank accounts. But, Tara Seigel Bernard reports for the New York Times that last year 2,000 people found themselves the victims of criminals who diverted that money into their own bank accounts.

The criminals change the bank account to which Social Security benefits are directed. And Social Security staff say that this is a common crime. Between 2013 and 2018, 21,000 people lost $33.5 million in Social Security benefits to criminals. The government was able to stop $23.9 million in attempted fraud during that same time. Between 2019 and 2023, 7,600 people let the Federal Trade Commission know that criminals had redirected their Social Security benefits.

Don’t ever give anyone your Social Security number. Social Security will never ask for it. But, criminals call claiming to work at Social Security or a computer company, a bank, an insurance company, a credit bureau or a doctor’s office and persuade people to divulge personal information the criminals can use to steal their Social Security benefits. Criminals then break into people’s online Social Security accounts and change all applicable information so that the benefits go to their bank accounts.

Criminals are also claiming benefits of people who have reached retirement age but have not yet claimed benefits.

The Office of the Inspector General suggests that the online Social Security portal is not secure enough. People can verify their identity too easily. Social Security claims to be doing what it can, updating its systems, but the Office of the Inspector General says it needs to do more.

Social Security does write people when there is a change to their account to ensure they authorized it. And, that has helped avoid a lot of fraud.

Consider identifying someone you trust serve as your representative payee with Social Security. You might not need a representative payee now, but should you be unable to manage your Social Security account on your own, it’s good to have a representative payee in place. A power of attorney will not work with Social Security. You will need a representative payee.

You can lock your Social Security account. Put an e-services block on your Social Security account. You will not be able to change any information you provided Social Security online, but neither will anyone else. If you do need to change something, you will need to reach out to your local Social Security office to do so.

You can put a direct deposit block on your account to prevent fraud. Again, this will keep anyone, including you, from changing your direct deposit information online. If you do need to change something, you will need to reach out to your local Social Security office to do so.

Never trust that a caller is from Social Security even if Social Security appears on your phone’s caller ID. If the caller presents some issue with your accountant, hang up and call Social Security directly at 1-800-772-1213.

If you are scammed: Call the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-IDTHEFT (1-877-438-4338) or contact them online here.

Here’s more from Just Care:
March 13, 2024
With Medicare Advantage, less for you is always more for insurers
David Wainer reports for the Wall Street Journal that people in Medicare Advantage plans–coverage through corporate health insurers–are likely to see fewer extra benefits next year. That’s no surprise, nor will it be a surprise for Wall Street when everyone enrolled in Medicare Advantage faces much higher out-of-pocket costs than they do today and no longer have government-administered traditional Medicare as an option. If the administration and Congress do not swiftly rein in tens of billions in annual overpayments to insurers offering Medicare Advantage, the only question is when people will appreciate that Medicare Advantage is a helluva disadvantage.

About 32 million people are now enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, just under half the Medicare population. People are swayed by the ads offering “dental” benefits and free gym memberships and the seemingly trustworthy insurance agents steering them towards Medicare Advantage. Older adults and people with disabilities also can’t afford or don’t want to spend money on supplemental coverage in traditional Medicare that picks up most out-of-pocket costs, when they would like to believe they won’t be needing much health care. Since at any given time the vast majority of people don’t need a lot of health care, it has yet to sink in for them that insurers could take advantage of them if they are in a Medicare Advantage plan.

Wainer says that insurers now need to address greater health care spending and lower government payments to appease Wall Street and deliver handsome shareholder returns. What’s concerning is that the bad actor Medicare Advantage plans–and we don’t know how many or which ones those are, but they appear to be numerous–are still raking in billions of dollars in profits from Medicare Advantage that they seem not prepared to spend on their enrollees’ medically necessary care. What kind of a health care coverage model is that?

Wainer says that “if the current trends continue, plans will have to be more cautious in their offerings going forward.” Really? Truth is that people need to be more cautious about enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan going forward. Medicare Advantage plan offerings in some, if not most, cases are concerning for people who need care–including restricted access to high quality doctors and hospitals, administrative hurdles and delays getting urgent care, inappropriate denials of care and high out-of-pocket costs.

Even with tens of billions in annual overpayments, Medicare Advantage plans delay and deny care inappropriately. And, many restrict access to high quality providers. Some have such high mortality rates that one group of academics found that the government could save tens of thousands of lives a year if it ended contracts with those Medicare Advantage plans.

If all goes well, people will start to see that Medicare Advantage is no free lunch when they most need care. In fact, it can easily cost people twice as much as what they’d spend on care in Traditional Medicare with supplemental coverage, with huge delays and obstacles to getting care.

Wainer is correct that threats from insurers about cutting extra benefits in Medicare Advantage are designed to pressure the Biden administration to continue to overpay them. The administration is currently deciding Medicare Advantage rates for 2025. Beware: If CMS steers away from its current course of reining in Medicare Advantage overpayments, you will pay ever higher Medicare premiums and, before long, face signficantly higher Medicare costs.

Here’s more from Just Care:
February 14, 2024
Are lower income individuals enrolling in Medicare Advantage for the wrong reasons, at their peril?
Medicare Advantage enrollment is up, and people with low incomes and people of color are enrolling in Medicare Advantage at disproportionate rates. A new study published in JAMA by Avni Gupta, BDS, MPH, Diana Silver, PhD, David J. Meyers, PhD; et al. finds that lower income individuals are often drawn into Medicare Advantage because of ads promising vision and dental benefits. The authors consider whether this is a good reason for people to enroll in a particular plan or whether these people are more likely to end up in Medicare Advantage plans that threaten their access to care.

Many people of color and low income individuals rely on misleading marketing to make their choices, which is highly problematic.

The worst performing Medicare Advantage plans are largely responsible for tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths a year. But we don’t know which ones they are. The data is not available. People who enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan take a gamble that if they develop a serious condition they will get the care they need.

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has urged the government to step in to protect people in Medicare Advantage. The AHA explains the harm to patients from prior authorization rules that lead to delays and denials of critical care. So does the HHS Office of the Inspector General. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees Medicare Advantage, does not have the resources to conduct adequate oversight and enforcement.

In this study, the data show that Black Americans were more likely to sign up for MA plans with dental or vision benefits than White Americans. People with incomes no more than twice the federal poverty level also were more likely than higher income individuals to enroll in Medicare Advantage plans with dental benefits.

It’s not clear from the study whether the MA plans with dental and vision benefits have better or worse health outcomes. As it is, they have on average 43 MA plans to choose from, all differing in ways that are impossible to assess, including with respect to premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket caps, which are knowable, and with respect to typical out-of-pocket costs, denial and delay rates, and mortality rates, which are not knowable. What is clear is that people who enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan take a big gamble with their health and well-being that they will be able to get the care they need should they develop a complex and costly condition.

Vision and dental benefits in MA plans tend to come with high out-of-pocket costs and to be restricted. While data is limited, it appears that most people do not end up using these benefits, either their dental and vision needs are not covered or they can’t find a provider to see them or their costs are unaffordable.

What will happen to dental and vision benefits when the government addresses overpayments to MA plans? Based on prior research, changes to these benefits are likely to be minimal. One researcher found that with $1,000 less to spend, MA plans increased monthly premiums by $5. There is also a five percent risk that vision or hearing benefits would end.

What will happen to Medicare if the government does not address overpayments to MA plans? It is not unlikely that Traditional Medicare will wither on the vine and that insurers will take over all of Medicare. Because they cost so much and often delay and deny care inappropriately, more people with Medicare are likely to be unable to afford or get the care they need, endangering their health and well-being.

If you’re in a Medicare Advantage plan, take advantage of the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment period, which runs through March 31. If you can, switch to Traditional Medicare if you want to ensure easy access to the care you need.

Here’s more from Just Care:
January 17, 2024
Honor US workers, increase Social Security benefits
On Labor Day, we celebrate the contributions of workers. The best way to honor those contributions is to increase their economic security. A key component of economic security is retirement security, which we can substantially improve by protecting and expanding Social Security for current and future generations of American workers.

Social Security and Medicare are deferred compensation. Just as we earn our current cash compensation, we earn our Social Security and Medicare with every paycheck. Sadly, too often these earnings are inadequate.

Today’s workers are facing a retirement income crisis, where too many will never be able to retire without drastic reductions in their standards of living. As traditional pensions continue to disappear, replaced (if they are) by riskier, less reliable, inadequate 401(k)s, Social Security is more vital to American workers’ economic security than ever.

While President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress want to protect and expand Social Security, Donald Trump and other Republican presidential candidates want to slash Social Security benefits—or worse.

Social Security has many strengths. It is extremely efficient, secure, nearly universal, excellent for both long-term and mobile workers, and fair. Its one shortcoming is that its benefits are too low. By expanding those modest Social Security benefits, we are renewing our promise to workers and promoting the security of all American workers for generations to come.

In recognition of Social Security’s increasing importance for workers and their families, several bills have been introduced during this Congress to expand Social Security’s modest benefits.

Representative John Larson’s (D-Conn.) Social Security 2100 Act, which has over 175 cosponsors, would increase benefits across-the-board for all current and future Social Security beneficiaries. It would improve the annual Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) to better match the true costs that seniors face. The bill would improve benefits for widows and widowers, students, children living with grandparents, public servants, the most elderly Americans, lower-income seniors, those with disabilities, students, and more. And it pays for all of this by making the wealthy finally pay their fair share.

Similarly, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have introduced the Social Security Expansion Act. Their proposal would increase Social Security benefits across-the-board by $200 a month and update the way that COLAs are determined to better reflect the costs seniors and other beneficiaries face. Further, it would update and increase the minimum Social Security benefit and restore student benefits. Again, it would pay for all of these increases and restore Social Security to long-range actuarial balance by requiring millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share.

Additional bills that would make positive changes to Social Security have been introduced as well. All of these bills not only address our nation’s looming retirement income crisis, but other challenges as well, including rising income and wealth inequality. In fact, rising inequality has cost Social Security billions of dollars each year. Those are billions of dollars that should go to expanding Social Security.

While President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress want to protect and expand Social Security, Donald Trump and other Republican presidential candidates want to slash Social Security benefits—or worse.

As president, Trump released budget proposals that would cut Social Security and Medicare every year he was in office. He even attempted to defund Social Security by threatening to eliminate the system’s primary dedicated revenue source, payroll contributions. And, after leaving office, he stated that Social Security cuts are on the agenda if he is elected to a second term.

The other Republican presidential candidates are even more open about their designs on our earned Social Security. Former Vice President Mike Pence wants to raise the retirement age for younger Americans and privatize Social Security. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie also wants to raise the retirement age for Social Security, and he wants to subject our earned Social Security benefits to a means test, transforming them from deferred compensation to welfare.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Tim Scott both supported Paul Ryan’s infamous Social Security and Medicare-cutting budget proposals when they were in Congress. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley also wants to raise the retirement age and means test Social Security. Vivek Ramaswamy wants to get rid of civil service protections and fire 75% of federal employees. Imagine trying to get help from the Social Security Administration under a President Ramaswamy, with up to three-quarters of the SSA staff missing and out of action.

This is a moment to build upon the legacy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the other founders of our visionary Social Security system, not a moment to undo the vast, essential gains to workers’ economic security represented by Social Security. The choice in the upcoming presidential election could not be starker.

Every generation has built on the strong foundation laid down 88 years ago, when Roosevelt—and his Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins (the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet)—shepherded Social Security into law. Now it is our turn. Expanding Social Security is the best way to honor our nation’s workers in the Labor Days to follow this one.

[This post was originally published in Common Dreams on September 4, 2023]

Here’s more from Just Care:
September 5, 2023
People with disabilities face undue delays getting Social Security benefits
Lisa Rein reports for the Washington Post on the inability of Social Security offices to meet the needs of people who are applying for disability benefits. In some states, the backlog is staggering, preventing people from getting benefits to which they are entitled for a year or longer. Congress must step in and appropriate the funds needed to adequately staff Social Security offices.

Today, more than a million Americans wait to learn whether they are eligible for disability benefits. People typically wait 214 days–more than seven months–for a determination of disability, up from 79 days three years ago. The delays mean vulnerable Americans are not receiving critical income, forcing them to forgo basic necessities.

Social Security outsources many claims for disability benefits. State employees do the work, even though the benefits are federal. Pay is low and offices are seriously short-staffed.

Decades ago, Congress gave states the authority to do the hiring of Social Security workers and make decisions about their terms of employment, including their pay. Pay varies wildly. And, many claims examiners lack needed training.

Pay is more than twice as high in Washington DC than in Florida, $75,506 and $32,655 respectively. Puerto Rico staff are paid half as much as Florida staff, $16,128. And, states can implement hiring freezes!!!!

When it comes to delays, some states are worse than others. In one Texas office, 130,000 disability benefit claims still need to be reviewed, and it is taking 214 days on average to review each one. Florida, Wisconsin, Georgia and Delaware have longer delays, 225, 227, 246 and 261 days respectively.

Many people whose claims are reviewed are inappropriately denied benefits and must appeal those denials. The appeal process can take another year.

What’s worse is that people under 65 are only eligible for Medicare if they qualify for Social Security Disability Benefits. So delays keep them from getting good health care coverage.

Social Security is trying to fix the problem. But, Congress has too often not appropriated the money Social Security needs to operate effectively, even though these administrative funds, like Social Security benefits, all come from the Social Security Trust Fund. Social Security needs the money to hire more people, conduct appropriate staff training, upgrade its technology and better coordinate with the states. The Social Security acting commissioner explains that there is also a shortage of physicians available to make medical determinations and review cases.

Here’s more from Just Care:
December 6, 2022