The Average Social Security Check is $1000 a Month…..

[McCamy Taylor]

Out of which, the elderly and disabled must pay their rent, utilities and buy food and gas. For the people who are laid off in their fifties and early sixties by companies that want younger, less expensive (and often non-American) workers, that Social Security check is all they have to live upon. Forget the story about the married couple who will be flush with cash----and who will qualify for Medicaid---when they early retire at 62. In order to qualify for more than $60,000/year in Social Security, they had to be high wage earners for years. That means, they probably have savings, a retirement account, maybe even insurance from their jobs. That couple will do fine no matter what happens to Social Security.

This is for the 58 year old disabled woman who finally started getting her $950 a month check, after filling for Social Security, being denied and then appealing twice. Going from no income to $950 a month income has made all the difference in the world—though it does not even begin to touch the mountains of debt which she accumulated after her stroke cost her a job and home. Medicare will make even more of a difference, when it finally kicks in (you have to be disabled for two years to qualify, unless you are on dialysis.) Unless the GOP has its way, and her insurance is “privatized.” Cigna will not touch this woman and her $20,000/year medical bills with a thousand foot pole. Not for less that $1000/month in premiums---and she only makes $950.

According to the GOP, this woman is not just lucky. She is living high off the hog, gorging herself at the federal government trough, draining our coffers. She is a parasite. She is the New Welfare Queen. She is American royalty---

Because she can now afford to eat beans seven nights a week instead of not eating at all.

This is the woman who sewed your blue jeans. This is the woman who assembled your telephone. This is the woman who cleaned your motel room. She worked hard all her life, raised two kids, paid her taxes, voted in presidential elections, accepted a wage that was half of what a man with her high school diploma would make. This is your mother. Your grandmother. Don't you think she is worth $1000/a month and health insurance she can afford to use?

[hobbit709]

1. None of the people I know on disability or SS are getting near $1000/mo.

And these bastards want to screw them out of what little they do get.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. That is why it is an average

I know people on a lot less... too.

[RebelOne]

19. I am on social security and I collect $1,400 a month.

Out of that comes $110 for Medicare. So, the net is $1,290. Fortunately, my expenses are low. I live in a mobile home which is paid for and I own my car with no payments. All I pay is lot rent that is $367 monthly, which includes water and garbage pickup. I have no charge cards. And my only other expenses are cable, Internet and phone, and of course, the electric. I am a vegetarian, so my food expenses are low.

[Imagevision]

58. Me too, then I switched over to "Universal healthcare" and no more $110.00 per month

for medicare. And even some of the prescriptions are cheaper. check it out!

[madlefty]

71. WOW! you livin a dream life! What about

car repairs and gas? or don't you go anywhere? And what about your prescriptions? and all the medical expense that medicare does not pay for, and that can be a bunch, do you have to go the dentist? that can take your whole check to get one tooth fixed.

[TexDevilDog]

3. Why didn't the woman have disability insurance?

Just wondering. I spend $hundreds on life and disability insurance a month to protect my family. But I can't afford cable TV. I get TV off air. My priorities are wrong.

[Flatulo]

4. I'm 55 with degenerative disk disease. LTD insurance costs $800 per quarter.

Too expensive for the vast majority of low-income earners. I'm lucky that I have enough saved from my good earning years that I can afford it, along with the 6-month exclusion period before any payouts.

[Flatulo]

6. By the way, unless you've been cut in half by a train, SS will routinely deny

all disability requests. You then need to get an attorney and wait about 3 years and go through several appeals before you'll get a dime.

[Enthusiast]

30. Cut in half by a train.

:rofl: I'm sorry but that is funny.

[Heathen57]

43. 3 years is pretty quick

It took my wife 10 years, 3 hearings, 2 Appeals council decisions, and a trip to Federal Appeals court before she got her disability.

I had my 3rd and hopefully last hearing the end of June, so I have about 90 days for a decision, and then how many months for the SSA to get their act together.

Talk about frustration. And mine was first filed in 2003.

[awoke_in_2003]

44. my wife is going through this....

she is 53, and worked two jobs since she was 16. Her ailment list is long, and she cannot possibly work anymore. Most of the time I have to help her out of bed. She was denied twice, and is now awaiting a court date. She filed Feb2010, her second denial was 3 months ago. The waiting list for a trial is 14 to 18 months. They want people to give up, get desperate, and go back to work.

[Alameda]

78. and many die waiting. I know a couple of people with brain cancer

denied disability, had to get a lawyer, after a couple of years one finally got it, but passed away shortly after. The other never did get it and died waiting.

However I do know a couple of people who get it, and they are in no way even a fraction as disabled as my other friends. I wonder how that happens

[dixiegrrrrl]

84. Not always true, actually.

I know from personal experience there are people who are totally and permanently disabled who were accepted at first application.
Even then, tho, the entire process took 18 months.
I suspect there are a lot of variables including where you live.

[Scout]

88. wasn't our experience ... but then there's really no faking

right hemisphere paralysis after the second brain surgery to remove the tumor.

my sister's SS disability claim was approved on the first try. everyone at SS was great, i didn't have any problems with customer service or anything.

[Hissyspit]

8. Maybe they wouldn't sell it to her?

Maybe she couldn't afford it or afford cable BOTH?

Maybe nobody ever told her about it?

Social Security IS disability insurance, by the way.

Get off your high horse.

[SmileyRose]

9. Excuse me but

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA.

:crazy:

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Divernan]

15. Minimum wage folk w/no health insurance do not have cash for disability insurance.

If your priority is coming here to ridicule people struggling to survive, then I certainly agree with you that your priorities are wrong.

[trud]

17. TexDevilDog

On what planet do you live that you don't know people who have to choose between paying the rent and buying food, let alone even thinking about buying insurance.

[noiretextatique]

21. maybe she didn't have thousands to spend on insurance

like you do.

[REP]

27. Disability insurance deducts SSD payment amount from LTD monthly payments

At least, mine does.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[anneboleyn]

37. MTE. NO clue what living off disability actually means for real people.

[Bluebear]

66. Thank you.

[JDPriestly]

32. She probably did not have disability insurance because it was

far too expensive for her by the time she had raised her children and had any money at all left over for anything at the end of the month.

Shut-ins get cable because they can't go out. I can't stand the idiot box, but I do not begrudge a shut-in person their cable. It is their walk around the block, their window on the world beyond their four walls.

[anneboleyn]

36. Lots of companies do not provide LTD, and it is very hard to get them to pay, and to pay over years

The insurance companies fight every step of the way -- forcing the disabled to visit multiple doctors to be declared disabled, demanding constant reports and check-ups, and doing everything they can to avoid paying,

[caseymoz]

41. I'd say your priorities are wrong.

Your smugness is always a wrong priority. I bought the life and disability insurance until cuts in my pay made it impossible, and I went without TV, the air or cable type for thirteen years. Now I'm on social security and disability without anything else. So, don't think today's smugness protects you from tomorrow's catastrophe.

Furthermore, what if you pay all that money on disability and life insurance, and you never, ever need it. It never pays off. Then you've thrown away tens of thousands of dollars for nothing. To boast about your wisdom for taking a gamble that hasn't paid off is simply being a dick, especially when you follow it with idiocy about how you forego cable TV. Oh, how wise! How frugal!

If you have a family you're raising, then you calculate your needs differently than if you don't. For anyone who's disabled, old and almost bedridden, cable or satellite TV is pretty important. I won't say it's a necessity, but you certainly can't compare your situation to all others and put yourself out on top.

[daleanime]

42. Yes, they are.....

spent a little more time worrying about multinationals paying nothing in taxes, and a little less worrying about how the last $20 of a minimum wage families money is spent.:spank:

[Mnemosyne]

54. You can get basic cable for $12 a month most areas. Do you know where to buy

that cheap DI you are talking about?

I bet you think people that died during and after Katrina "deserved" it for being stupid enough to live there.

[Bluebear]

67. I'm certain you have cable TV, and that it is tuned to FOX 24/7.

[Warren DeMontague]

68. Because it was all part of her plan to deny Club for Growth members their badly needed 3rd yacht.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAA

[fasttense]

69. When you are barely making ends meet. paying out for

disability insurance is a lot like wasting money. Besides most of that insurance has a time limit. It wont cover you for the rest of your life if you are disabled. You only get about 12 weeks coverage in most plans.

I could use some life insurance. If I die, my spouse will be left with nothing. But I can't afford the $130 a month. When we worked we got life insurance through our employer for half that. Now that we are living off our savings, we are required to pay double the rate.

It has nothing to do with priorities.

[Mimosa]

72. Some people don't have hundreds of dollars for protective insurance.

Many people in this economy struggle just to make mortgage and car payments, for instance. They juggle bills.

[pitohui]

83. nobody can afford disability insurance, it costs tens of thousands a year

maybe i have my priorities wrong but i can't pay out more than i earn in a year just to an insurance company

[Flatulo]

5. This whole trend is making me sick to my stomach. We now have

worse income inequality than China? WTF?

I've erred on the conservative side for most of my life, but in recent years I've become keenly aware of the myriad social inequalities that we're seeing.

I wonder when the tipping point will come?

[xchrom]

7. Recommend

[Sarah Ibarruri]

10. This country is disgraceful, thanks to all of us refusing to fight right wing assholes

A huge problem was that these right wing assholes carried BIBLES and that just sort of stopped us from fighting them. We need to stop being so stupid. Bible-banging right wingers are wolves in sheep's clothing, and far more evil than anyone who has no religion.

[Fuddnik]

12. Right-wing asshole drinks $350 a bottle(2) wine with lobbyists!

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/rep-paul-ryans-pricey-pinot-noir.php?ref=fpblg

Rep. Ryan Tastes The Grapes Of Wrath
Susan Crabtree | July 8, 2011, 2:30PM

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), a leading advocate of shrinking entitlement spending and the architect of the plan to privatize Medicare, spent Wednesday evening sipping $350 wine with two like-minded conservative economists at the swanky Capitol Hill eatery Bistro Bis.

It was the same night reports started trickling out about President Obama pressing Congressional leaders to consider changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for GOP support for targeted tax increases.

The pomp and circumstance surrounding the waiter's presentation, uncorking and decanting of the pricey Pinot Noir caught the attention of another diner who had already recognized Ryan sitting with two other men nearby.

Susan Feinberg, an associate business professor at Rutgers, was at Bistro Bis celebrating her birthday with her husband that night. When she saw the label on the bottle of Jayer-Gilles 2004 Echezeaux Grand Cru Ryan's table had ordered, she quickly looked it up on the wine list and saw that it sold for an eye-popping $350, the most expensive wine in the house along with one other with the same pricetag.

(snip) Full story at link.

[HomerRamone]

13. IOKIYAR--more specifically,

it's OK as long as you don't show any compassion for those less well off, because you're not a "hypocrite"...

[noiretextatique]

22. assholes drank my rent

these people have no shame :puke:

[eallen]

14. Social security is necessary for those throughout the income scale

McCamy Taylor:

That means, they (the high earners) probably have savings, a retirement account, maybe even insurance from their jobs. That couple will do fine no matter what happens to Social Security.

Probably. But many times, not. You might be surprised at the number of doctors and lawyers who come to the end of their income-earning years before they expect, with very little in the way of savings. There are a variety of reasons for that, from bad investments to illness to family troubles. And they then end up relying on social security. Yes, of course, a much higher social security check than most. But their lifeline, still. There's some irony in seeing this happen to someone who all their life cursed social security and LBJ. No joy in it. But irony. They learned late. Too late.

This is important because people broadly misunderstand social security. Life has its vagaries. None of us know how long we will be able to work. None of us can be certain how our investments will do. None of us knows what family or health tragedy lies around the corner. Any one of us may succumb to early Alzheimer's. Opening the door to con artists and our own mishandling of money. Any one of us may be subject to lawsuit, which may cost us dearly whether the suit well found or not. And after a certain age, there is no financial recovery. Social security is the financial protection against that. Not just for the poor. It's more important for the poor. And it's right that social security is progressive in its payout.

But if we make the mistake of selling it as a program for the poor, we make the large mistake of under-selling it.

:hippie:

[arikara]

25. I know a couple of retired local doctors

who lost good portions of their retirement in the crash a couple of years ago. One is back at work, the other is living on a vastly lowered income than she expected.

[Mimosa]

73. Me, too. n/t

[shireen]

56. +1

Now how do we get that message out to the idiots who voted for the Republicans who are currently trying to screw them? I'm so frustrated about that ... didn't these people know the consequences? :(

[onpatrol98]

60. +1

[Mimosa]

74. If we sell S.S. as a program for the poor, we make the large mistake of underselling S.S.

Great observation!

[RaleighNCDUer]

81. It is a program for the poor

and the potentially poor, which in reality is all but 1% of us.

[Bryn]

16. Isn't this odd that a Republican President said this in 1952 on SS?

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952

[Enthusiast]

33. Odd, yes. They have changed their minds.

And they have bought influence in the other party, the party that used to represent the people.

[tpsbmam]

48. Excellent quote, Bryn -- thanks! nt

[On the Road]

18. I Talk with People in This Income Bracket all the Time

and I don't know many of them live from month to month. A 10% cut spells disaster. Pegging COLAs to CPI spells slow-motion disaster.

You can't require people pay to pay into SS, give them planning numbers for retirement, and then pull the money after they actually retire. You might as well just steal the pension fund.

[RaleighNCDUer]

82. You might as well just steal the pension fund.

Well, they already DID that - that's why they have to turn to SS. In the words of the immortal Willie Sutton "It's where the money is."

(edit for sp)

[jwirr]

20. That means many of us make less than $1000 a month. Of course

when you make less you are eligible for more help such as food stamps and rent vouchers. It is not easy making it on less. I am out of money by the middle of the month after I pay for utilities, food and rent. Oh, and I have to save at least $20 for co-pays on my medicines. That last was a gift from timmy plenty.

[Stinky The Clown]

23. Thank you

[DollyM]

24. my 83 year old mother . . .

My mother is 83, has worked since she was 17, mostly in factories, stores and menial labor like cleaning houses. But she kept her family fed and clean and raised three good kids. She had literally never used Medicare, had been healthy all her life, was not on any prescriptions and was still working until May of last year. Then she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and our world turned upside down. Medicare covered their part of the bills but she was left with about 15 thousand out of pocket. She started paying what she could on the bills after draining her savings to pay the ongoing bills. THe Cancer Treatment Centers of America, bastards that they are, told her to pay $200.00 a month out of her $800.00 a month social security check. She was still trying to pay the other bills to the doctors, hospital, etc. Then she got a call one day for the Cancer treatment center saying they would no longer treat her until her bill was paid down. She was in tears and I was furious. Yeah, Welcome to America! I took her down to apply for Medicaid, this woman who had never accepted a hand out in her life, and she was approved. THe Cancer Treatment Center welcomed her back with open arms! There is just something wrong with a system that allows little old ladies and men, who have worked hard all their lives and built the very fabric of our country, to only be drained of every penny they have due to medical bills. I knew how to get her on medicaid, not everyone does and not everyone will qualify. It's just wrong that we treat our seniors with so little respect in this country.

[Enthusiast]

35. God bless your mother.

Medicare should extend to every adult and child in this nation. Fraud should be ruthlessly rooted out and viciously punished. Our heath care system could become the envy of the world, for ALL of us.

[McCamy Taylor]

38. This is such a tragic story. American dream is now work all your life until you get sick

then die in debt. It's like every death makes some hospital richer, gets some bank a free/foreclosed home and gives VISA a bunch of interest payments.

[shireen]

57. +1

:hug:

[defendandprotect]

61. Everyone is being treated with disrespect --- it's called corporate/fascism....

Welcome to the right wing's "third world America" --

and ... great post -- agree!!

[daleanime]

77. This should have it's own post...

O8)

[Mimosa]

79. We need a single payer system.

It's a crime to keep putting the sick through hell to get them appropriate treatments.

God bless you and your dear mother, DollyM. *hug*

[kayakjohnny]

26. Great post.

One of the best I've seen lately.

Thank you so much.

Cheers.

[WillyT]

28. HUGE K & R !!!

:kick:

[Enthusiast]

29. "Let her eat cake."

Fuck a bunch of politicians of any stripe that would abuse this woman.

[malletgirl02]

34. $1000 a month

Where I'm from $1000 a month would barely pay the rent for an efficiency apartment.

[Kaleva]

39. I get $1100.00 a month. My Medicare starts in October. Thankfully, the house is paid for.

Medicare premium will be $135.00 which will drop my SS check down to $965.00. With my wife's excellent health insurance from the U.S. Postal Service, we'll come out further ahead past October as my monthly medical bills which I pay on now will decrease by much more then $135.00.

[RebelOne]

40. Why is your Medicare premium $135 when I am only paying $110?

My social security payment is $1,400 per month and minus the $110 brings the monthly amount down to $1.290. I think you are getting screwed.

[Kaleva]

46. I'll check again. It's $115.40 a month for Part B

I think you are paying $110.00 a month because there was a rate increase this year which did not affect those already on Medicare.

[REP]

52. There are penalties if household income is over a certain amount

I am penalized because my husband makes a decent salary. We were married after I was disabled.

[awoke_in_2003]

47. and here...

my 120k house has about $1200 year for insurance, and $3500 a year property tax. That is more than 1/4 of what you receive in benefits. I will never be able to retire.

[Kaleva]

49. I live in a low property tax area. Almost $1100.00 a year.

[awoke_in_2003]

55. Still a lot of money...

considering the income level. I live in a high property tax state- Texas. This is balanced by the fact that we don't have a state income tax. I will probably return to Ohio when I retire- much lower property tax, and since I won't have much income, I won't pay much income tax. There is a lot good about Texas, but I cannot imagine living in this furnace when I retire. I just got back from a ride- temps were much more reasonable at 9pm (95) then our high today (105). I miss my home state, but getting a job like I have here is really difficult there right now.

[dixiegrrrrl]

85. My state does not collect property taxes from over 65, or blind, or disabled.

We live in one of the "homestead exemption" states.
So no property taxes anymore, since we qualify for a permanent exemption.

Bad news: local sales tax is on everything, and is...9.5%.
They get their money back, trust me.

[awoke_in_2003]

87. the figure I stated...

is after my homestead exemption- save me 25%. Once SS authorizes my wife's disability my taxes will go down a little bit more. Alabama doesn't tax food, do they? I could live with 9.5% sales tax on everything else (we are currently at 8.25)- I don't buy a lot of things.

[jtuck004]

45. Maybe we need a 50Plus interest group within the party.

With 8000 people a day turning 65, the numbers are going to do nothing but grow for the next 20 years. Doesn't need to be in opposition to anyone else in the party, but certainly could provide pressure for our particular interests, and especially for the most vulnerable who seem to be lacking a group of lobbyists. It would give us something to fight for, not just against, in opposition to the Repubs, Teabaggers, and anyone who sees things their way.

[Fire1]

50. No. My mother and grandmothers were teachers. Their

benefits were well past a thousand dollars but of course, they had pensions, too.

[drpepper67]

51. I know it's their own fault but.

I know two widows who worked hard all their lives, they just didn't report most of their income, thinking they were gaming the system.

One cleaned houses since she was a teenager, for cash.

The other sat with the elderly and did home care, again since being a teenager and not reporting the income.

They were both married and got to claim 1/2 their husbands SS for themselves.

I don't think either one gets over $400 a month.

[lib2DaBone]

53. Paul Ryan and the Republicans had a $350 bottle of wine at dinner last night...

They will tell you that this woman doesn't deserve to have heat in her apartment or Cat food to eat.

Yet they will DEMAND that their hotel room be cleaned perfectly (and on time) for $5 an hour.

My mother worked at a Holiday Inn for 15 years , and waited on these assholes hand and foot. And then she died with no health insurance.

While Paul Ryan and his buddies sucked down a $350 botle of wine.

[defendandprotect]

59. Should be at least DOUBLE that -- we've never had less than .03% inflation since Ike ....

despite the lies --

In fact, any $1 you had pre-W Bush is now worth about 50 cents --

but, we'll be repaying the debt with inflated dollars!!

[iamthebandfanman]

62. my almost 80 year old grandmother

gets a lil over a thousand a month. plus her retirement from a local government job (thank goodness).

[Enthusiast]

63. I fear there is only one good answer.

[999998th word]

64. When did we meet ? - same story almost line by line

The last job (one I thought I'd be retiring from) worked abt 10 yrs, was a CNA-nursing home.That is very physically demanding job,even if you're young.
Was injured @ work 1st time ever claimed wc.They were purging the workforce of older workers also any workers who had an ADA protected
disability.I was both.The workmans comp was the pretext for termination.I lost.Medical bills I had to pay out of pocket,used up all my pension.
Devastated.Many older workers are experiencing this.The WC system can be manipulated by these shady employers,their ins.companies-with their'doctors',and also their lawyers.
Young or old the uninformed injured worker don't stand a chance .
Yay-according to the tpubs I'm living the high life.My menu changes when the color of the beans change,kidney,lima,black,navy...many ways to diversify...t.
How many people know that if you get a disability policy through a private insurer,and you become eligible for ssdi,you are OBIGLATED to repay the private insurance company EVERY DIME
you received from them if you get a retroactive settlement lump sum?? THEY are the ones who make out .WHY are we REPAYING THEM back with GOVERNMENT MONEY?if we're supposedly 'broke'??
They can cut the BS.
Sorry for the rant but they are assholes.

[Maru Kitteh]

65. Yeah, actually - it is my mom.

It's a good thing we are able to step in and cover the gaps for her. We're VERY lucky.

[Mimosa]

70. McCamy, thanks for this eloquent OP.

I don't know how anybody can get by on 12K a year. :(

[Pooka Fey]

75. If Social Security gets cut...

I'll have my elderly father and a brother on disability that I'll have to keep from going homeless, probably without the support of my 3 wingnut siblings who have been high earners for years and are cheap, greedy assholes. I have a second brother on disability that has been such a monumental fucker all his life that I would just have to let him slip under the water.

I'm currently unemployed, but I was public school teacher. I'm pissed off and fucking scared shitless.

Hope I don't get tombstoned or deleted, but right now is the time that Americans need to call a general strike, where Nothing and Nobody works. Like that will happen...

[Progressive dog]

76. 60,000 on social security

The maximum benefit at 66 years old in 2011 is $2366 per month or 28,362 per year with a married couple entitled to 1.5 times this. No 62 year old married couple gets $60,000 per year from social security. Too lazy to look it up, but with reduction in benefits for taking SS at 62, I would guess about $30,000.
Even so, these teachers ain't goin' to do fine without social security.

[southernyankeebelle]

80. I retired a year ago early because of my health. I make less than $700 a month. I

tried to get disability but they turned me down. So when I reached 62 I retired early. My health isn't the greatest. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a husband who is still working. My poor aunt had to retire early in her 40s. She was so crippled she couldn't walk. Her husband died early in life. She never remarried. Once she got of medicare it helped her. She also paid for blue cross and it kept going up. Her meds cost alot of money. I don't know what she would have done if she hadn't lived with my sister.

[dixiegrrrrl]

86. The time is coming when single households are going to be unaffordable.

At least for the majority of us.