Example Of Social Security Award Payment Letter

[pacmanx1]

Social Security Administration
Retirement, Survivors and Disability Insurance
Notice of Award

Office of Central Operations
1500 Woodlawn Drive
Baltimore, Maryland 21241-1500
Date: March 1, 2004
Claim Number: xxx-xx-xxxxHA

Matthew Claimant
123 Claimant Lane
Somewhere, NC 28996

Your are entitled to monthly disability benefits beginning June 2003. The Date You Became Disabled.

We found that you became disabled under our rules on December 7, 2002. However, you have to be disabled for 5 full calendar months in a row before you can be entitled to benefits. For these reasons, your first month of entitlement to benefits is June 2003.

What We Will Pay And When

• You will receive $7,356.00 on approximately March 7, 2004.
• This is the money you are due for June 2003 through February 2004.
• Your next payment of $1065.00, which is for March 2004, will be received on or about the second Wednesday of April 2004.
• After that, you will receive $1065.00 on or about the second Wednesday of each month.
• These and any future payments will go to the financial institution you selected. Please let us know if you change your mailing address so we can send you letters directly.

The day we make payments on this record is based on your date of birth.

Do You Think We Are Wrong?

If you think we are wrong, you have the right to appeal. We will correct any mistakes and will look at any new facts you have. A person who did not make the first decision will decide your case.

• You have 60 days to ask for an appeal.
• The 60 days start the day after you get this letter.
• You must have a good reason if you wait more than 60 days to ask for an appeal.

http://www.disabilitysecrets.com/letter-award-notice.html

[Buck52]

Thank you pete 992

Answered our questions.

................Buck

[USMC_HVEQ]

Hey Pete,

Great post. Just a quick question since you are 100%, did you opt out of the Medicare $110/mo payment or do they wack you for it? I just started getting hit. I'm 100% TDIU P&T/ Medically retired 50% DOD & 70%CRSC........I only use the VA for all my health. Just curious if you opted out and if so, how do you do so?

sorry if I'm off topic, didnt mean to hijack your thread

[Guest]

I went searching for opting out of Medicare and this is what I found.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-opt-out-of-medicare-part-b.html

How to Opt out of Medicare Part B

By Patricia Barry from Medicare For Dummies

Copyright © 2014 AARP. All rights reserved.

You need to think twice about saying no to Medicare Part B coverage, even though it costs a monthly premium to use it. (If that amount would be a hardship, you may be able to have the premiums paid by your state.) It’s an important decision you need to make during the enrollment process — especially if you’re signed up automatically — and you should be very clear on how to deal with it according to your situation.

There are situations when opting out of Part B is okay — in other words, not likely to cause you any regrets (or cost you money!) in the future — and when doing so may cost you money or cause other problems.

Bizarrely, the rules are different for people who have Medicare because they’re 65 or older and those who have it at earlier ages on the basis of disability. So look separately at these two groups to know when people in each can confidently turn down Part B.

Know when to turn down Part B if you’re 65 or older

In general, when you’re 65 or older, you should decline Part B only if you have group health insurance from an employer for whom you or your spouse is still actively working and that insurance is primary to Medicare (it pays before Medicare does).

In this situation, you can delay Part B enrollment without penalty until the employment stops or the insurance ends. So if you’re not yet drawing Social Security (or railroad) retirement benefits, just skip signing up for Part B.

Or, if you’re enrolled automatically because you’re receiving those benefits, you can decline Part B by following the instructions that Social Security sends you in the letter that accompanies your Medicare card and meeting the specified deadline.

Opting out ensures that you don’t have to pay Part B premiums or, if you’re receiving retirement benefits, have them deducted each month from your Social Security or railroad retirement check. But of course, if you prefer to pay for both employer insurance and Medicare coverage — and that’s entirely your choice — go ahead and enroll (or stay enrolled) in Part B.

One group of people is especially prone to turn down Part B without giving it adequate thought: people age 65 and older who are in same-sex marriages or domestic arrangements with people of the same or the opposite sex and who are covered under health insurance from their partner’s employer. If you’re in either of these situations, you need to find out exactly how current law applies to you.

When to turn down Part B if you’re under 65

In general, if you have Medicare based on disability, you should decline Part B only if

• You have health insurance from an employer for whom you or your spouse actively works, and the employer has 100 or more employees.

• You’re covered as a family member on somebody else’s group health plan at work, and the employer has 100 or more employees.

What does family member mean? It means that the employer providing this insurance regards you as eligible for health coverage based on your domestic relationship with an employee — even if you aren’t formally married to that person and even if he or she is the same sex as you.

When turning down Part B at any age is risky

Regardless of whether you have Medicare based on disability or age, you should definitely enroll in Part B (or not refuse it) if you have health insurance that will automatically become secondary to Medicare (it will pay after Medicare does) when your Medicare benefits begin. This includes the following:

• Health insurance that you buy yourself on the open insurance market and that isn’t provided by an employer

• Health insurance from an employer with fewer than 20 employees (if you’re 65 or older)

• Health insurance from an employer with fewer than 100 employees (if you have Medicare due to disability)

• Retiree benefits from a former employer (your own or your spouse’s)

• Health benefits from the military’s TRICARE For Life retiree program

You should enroll in Part B coverage in the preceding situations for a very good reason quite apart from the possibilities of late penalties down the road if you don’t. When Medicare is considered primary coverage, it pays your medical bills first.

So if you’re not enrolled in Part B, you run the real risk of having your insurance plan deny any claims that Medicare could’ve paid — from basic ones like doctors’ visits and lab tests to major ones like surgery. In other words, you may face having to pay the entire bill.

Worse, if your own insurer takes a while to realize that you haven’t enrolled in Part B, your plan may even ask you to pay back all the money it has spent on your medical services since you became eligible for Medicare.

This kind of thing doesn’t always happen. For example, if you’re a federal retiree and receiving health insurance from a plan in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, you aren’t required to enroll in Part B.

When deciding whether to accept or decline Part B, finding out whether Medicare would be primary or secondary to any other insurance that you have is critically important.

Hope this helps

[Carl the Engineer]

pete992,

Let me run this by you;

My wife goes on Medicare Oct 1st and we need to make some decisions.....

Bear in mind, I dont need insurance, I am 70%.

I have employee insurance which covers her currently and it costs me a total of $4700 a year. Premuims and deductibles, etc. I use it too as it is more convenient.

If we take B, which we have too I believe (under 100 employees), with the best Medicare Advantage Plan, the plan would cost me about $4000. So total about $9000 a year.

I we take B, and I cancel my employer insurance, than the total goes bizerk because of her medications, etc.

So, my wife getting Medicare is going to cost us money. I dont see a way around it. What a crook.

And we will not qualify for any assistance because of income..

Hamslice

[USMC_HVEQ]

Pete,

thank you for the post. I understand the generalities of Medicare Part B. I was more specifically asking if Vets, maybe you, getting 100% from the VA and use only the VA for Health coverage, have opted out? I'm 39yrs old, single, no dependents if that helps.

Again, I'm not trying to clog your thread up. I'm wondering if anyone has chosen to unenroll from Medicare Part B, since after 2 yrs on SSDI, it automatically kicked in.

thanks again

[TexasMarine]

Yes. SSDI effective 2005, Medicare effective 2007. Unenrolled immediately from Part 'B'. VA medical care only. No effect, except the savings on the premium for Part 'B'. Have thought about reenrolling since then, and could not find a single reason to do so. VA bills Medicare for what they owe. I've not received a single bill other than co-pay for medications from the VA.