This is an old chat, but first if you pay for something over many years why would you refuse the benefits. That’s what someone says who most likely wouldn’t do it. You accept the benefits and then, if you didn’t need it, give to charitable projects. Most wealthy people give a lot of money each year and more importantly they leave millions of dollars to those projects when they pass away. Not everyone obviously, but a darn good number. If you don’t believe me, go to GuideStar and check the revenue charities collect each year. That doesn’t come from poor people.
I have no issue with people who have worked all their life and hopefully get to a point of wealth — a little or a lot then accepting the benefits they paid for. Social Security isn’t just about your monthly check. Most people even those who are a little better off can’t afford private insurance rates at $1500-2000/month for husband and spouse so they need their employee benefits, or if retired, they need their Medicare benefits that still run around $300-400 if they have Medicare, medi-gap and Part D drug benefits. Drug plans vary widely depending on who you get them through and you have to make sure that they cover your meds. And even if they can scrape that amount up, there are still the deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance etc amounts to pay on top of those high premium. So why in the world would someone turn down what they have already paid towards for over many years?
Most people who have had their employer cover 75-80%+ of their premiums every year and still gripe - have no clue what the real world has to pay these days for coverage. Nor do they always understand how much it cost their employers. And small business, sole proprietors, small partnerships are hit hard — they aren’t like a large company that has 1000s of employees and can leverage the rates by working one insurance company against another to get the best deal. The small business, mom/pop businesses, are the same as individuals paying their own premiums, they are just stuck with the rates.
It also makes me so mad when I hear people complain “such and such is living off the government on disability”. Those people paid for those benefits and those benefits are based on the years they worked. It’s not like you work for a year or two, go on SSA disability and then get the same check as someone whose worked for 40 years. I know — I had to go on permanent disability at 44. And whether in disability, or not, you still have the same other obligations you had before you had to go on disability — mortgage or rent, car payments, insurance premiums (house, car, health, life), food, clothing, household items that have to be repaired or replaced, utilities (water, sewer, trash, electric, gas), and a dozen other items. These benefits aren’t considered living off anything, people are paid benefits for the years they worked. In my case I had put 29 years of working plus the credits I got for the second and third jobs I had. That said, I ended up on disability 20-25 years earlier than I expected if I could have worked until 65-70. And when you reach full retirement — they don’t increase your check unless they grant COLA for that year. And some years we don’t get any increase, and then others you might get 1/2% or 1% maybe a little more but some of it goes to the Medicare premium increase. I have known years without an increase in social security but I don’t believe they have ever missed increasing our Medicare premiums. My grandparents said the same. The 2021’s 1.3% Social Security increase amounted to around $16 (based on an avg monthly check for disabled $1261 check went to $1277) but the monthly medicare premium went up from 144.60 (2020) to $148.50 (2021) so we netted around $12 each month to spend. And then, many people also have to pay around $140/month for their secondary medi-gap insurance and everyone has their their Part D drug plan to pay. And both of these go up every year too. By the time you include these increases, that $12 is shot - usually overshot especially when you get no increase. And whether on disability or regular retirees— these costs are the same. You might not need to spend as much on gas, dry cleaning, a little less on clothing and a tiny decrease on car insurance due to lower mileage—but that’s about it. If you already have a car, you still have to pay for it, same for housing. In fact, because you are home 24/7, utilities go up.
What I want to know with COVID, what about all these folks working from home — spending their money for phone, internet, supplies, extra water/lights, disrupting their house to make an office — no one I know is being reimbursed for any of this. Sure, if they are smart they can write it off but they have to be careful and the space must be used 100% for work. If you are using your den, living room or dining room to work in — can’t deduct it as business expense. Unless IRS makes a special COVID deduction.
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