Yea !

[carlie]

Due to this cola raise my SSD just broke a thousand bucks a month.

Makes me happy, but I've always been a cheap date, lol.

carlie

[JR Reihs]

john999,

I have the exact same situation as you.......I got to looking at the upcoming raise for BC/BS and saw I had to much with the medicare paying first (still irks my ass how this continues )I looked at the GEHB, and realy wanted it but the RX plan was 50/50 period, but BC/BS bsaic was 35.00 on none generic plus it was very good with medicare as a co pay, so I took it.

I saved about 70 bucks a month, self only as my wife is a heart nurse and has her own and champ va is the secondary....this so far has realy worked very good for us, as her cost is about 75 per month so it was better dollar wise for me not to add her. My wife also has BC/BS, but it is not as goos as what I have but champ va has realy been a good co pay.

I was realy only conserned with the RX because of the Plavix....$178.00 per month. I could fight the VA to get it, but I boycotted them years ago and only use the dental.

BTW, I did read where OPM is going to accept late changes due to the BC/BS fiasco of hiding the new non PPO charges.

Edited December 9, 2008 by JR Reihs

[iraqx2]

Carlie,

I dont' get SSDI but is thinking about applying. I was just curious.

Thanks

[carlie]

iraq2,

From what I know a grand a month from SSDI is not THAT low.

I know of people that made quite a bit more than I and

their SSDI is $1,300.00 a month.

SSD doesn't pay amounts that equal VA's 100 %.

jmho,

carlie

[tagandbag]

To qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, the claimant must have received credits for working a specific amount of time and earning a specific dollar amount during the ten year period immediately preceding the onset of disability. The Social Security Administration keeps a record of all amounts reported by employers on each workers' Social Security number or account over the course of each worker's work life. From this record, the Administration calculates whether a claimant has earned sufficient credits to qualify for SSDI. A credit is equivalent to a calendar quarter. In order to earn a credit for having worked a calendar quarter a disability claimant must have earned a minimum dollar amount (to be discussed below) during that calendar quarter. Even if that minimum dollar amount was earned during a brief, two week period in that calendar quarter, following which the disability claimant did no work at all during the remaining portion of the calendar quarter, credit for the entire quarter is earned. Generally, in order to be eligible for SSDI, a claimant must have received credits for at least 20 calendar quarters (five years worth of calendar quarters) out of the last 40 calendar quarters (ten years worth of calendar quarters) ending with the year the claimant became disabled. The requirement of having earned credits for 20 out of the last 40 calendar quarters roughly equates to having worked five years worth of quarters out of the last ten years worth of quarters; however, it should be emphasized that the quarters need not have been worked together or in sequence. Thus, if a claimant was out of work every other quarter over a ten year period of time ending with his disability, he would have just barely earned sufficient credits to qualify for SSDI benefits. Since there are only four calendar quarters in a year, a disability claimant cannot earn more than four credits for a year of work. For example, if a claimant worked in 1997, he received one social security credit for each calendar quarter in which he received at least $670 in earnings. The minimum amount of earnings required during a calendar quarter in order to earn a credit towards Social Security disability eligibility increases each year

This is the requirments in a nutshell above. I missed about 20 yrs of work credits and dollar value and my disability 1345 per month. I think if I had work those other 20 yrs., I possibly could have made another couple hundred bucks, depending on how much I was earning. Hope this helps

T&B