Social Security

Social Security Questions and Answers

Q. IF I TAKE early retirement, when do I apply for Medicare? A. If you are already entitled to Social Security benefits when you become 65, you will automatically receive information about Medicare in the mail during the three months before your 65th birthday. If you are not entitled to Social Security before you are 65, -contact Social Security three months before your 65th birthday to apply for Medicare protection. Q A friend of mine has a disabling drug addiction. Is he eligible for SSI? A. Yes, under certain conditions. Disabled drug addicts and alcoholics are usually referred for appropriate treatment. In order to remain eligible for SSI, a drug addict or alcoholic must undergo the treatment and otherwise comply with its terms and requirements. SSI payments cannot be made directly to disabled alcoholics and drug addicts, but rather to a representative payee. Q. I'M RETIRED and I've got Medicare. Recently I got a phone call from someone wanting to sell me 'Supplemental Medicare" insurance. He said it was government-approved. What does that mean? A. It is common for state insurance commissions or agencies to certify that a policy or a company complies with laws or regulations established by the state. Beware, however, of claims that a particular ' policy is governmentsponsored. Neither the federal nor any state government sells or services a policy to supplement Medicare. Q. I receive SSI benefits, and I recently received a small tax refund from the IRS. Will the refund affect my benefit? A. No. Income tax

refunds, Aether Federal or State, are not counted as income for purposes of SSI eligibility. Q. MY DOCTOR has told me I need surgery for my condition. I would like to have a second opinion. Will Medicare pay for that? A. Yes. Because even minor surgery involves some risk, it!s always advisable to get a second opinion as to its necessity. Medicare will help pay for a second opinion in the same way it pays for other services by doctors. Q. My wife and I both receive SSI. We've just started to tend a small vegetable garden in our backyard as a means of making our food dollar go farther. Will our payments be reduced on account of the garden? A. Provided the homegrown produce is consumed by your household, it is not counted in figuring your income. Q. I'VE BEEN seeing a chiropractor for years. Next month I became covered under Medicare. Will Medicare pay for my chiropractic treatments. A. Medicare helps pay for only one kind of treatment provided by a licensed and Medicare-certified i chiropractor. That treatment is manual manipulation of the spine to correct a ; subluxation that can be < demonstrated by X-ray. i Q. I get a Social Security check as the child of my retired father. I expect to earn over the earnings limit this year. My question is, will it affect my father's Social Security benefits, too? A. No. Excess earnings of people receiving benefits as dependents or survivors affect only their own checks. Q. I understand that people who get Social Security disability benefits can take advantage of something ' called a "trial work

* period" to test their ability to work in spite of their disability. Can disabled people who get SSI have a trial period? A. Yes. The law allows people getting SSI disability payments to test their ability to work for up to nine months while continuing to get payments. (But only if their countable income does" not go above certain limits and/or they have not recovered from their disability.) After this trial work period, a decision is made about whether the work performed was "Substantial gainful activity." If it was, payments are stopped after a threemonth adjustment period. The other advantage of the trial work period is that if the. person, is still disabled and his or her earnings fall below substantial gainful activity within 15 months after the trial work period, monthly payments can be started again in most cases; a new application is not needed. Q. WHO CAN get Medicare? A. People 65 or older, certain disabled people, and most people with permanent kidney failure can get Medicare insurance. Local Social Security offices take applications for Medicare and provide information about the program. Q. Do the SSI property limits of $1,500 and $2,250 go up every year when there \£ a cost-of-living increase? A. SSI resource limits are set by law and do not automatically go up with each cost-of-living raise. Congress has decided to change the resources limits by changing the law. The resource limits will increase in January, 1985, to "$1,600 for an individual and $2,400 for a couple.

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