How Social Security Helps Women Secure Today and Tomorrow
March is Women’s History Month — a time to focus not just on the past, but also on the challenges women continue to face in the 21st century. Today, more women are working than ever before, paying Social Security taxes, and earning credit toward monthly retirement income. With longer life expectancies than men, women tend to live more years in retirement and have a greater chance of exhausting other sources of income.
This means you should plan early and wisely!
Social Security provides financial benefits, tools, and information to help support you throughout life’s journey. Here are some tools to help you plan for your future:
- You can visit our Retirement Estimator. In just a few minutes, you can get a personalized, instant estimate of your retirement benefits. You should also visit Social Security’s planner pages to get detailed information about how marriage, widowhood, divorce, self-employment, government service, and other life or career events can affect your Social Security.
- We base your benefits on your lifetime earnings, so you should create your personal my Social Security account to verify that your earnings were reported correctly.
- For more information about the role of Social Security in women’s lives today, you can read Social Security: What Every Woman Should Know.
- You can visit our website for Women.
Take advantage of these tools today and begin planning for tomorrow’s journey.
Tags: my Social Security, my Social Security account, retirement benefits, Social Security benefits
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Jim Borland, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications
Jim Borland, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Communications
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Frank
My wife who has been disabled by Multiple Sclerosis has been denied after waiting 3 years.
This dysfunctional system made her wait almost 2 years for a hearing and then another 6 months just for the decision.
I obtained all of the records and notes that the DDS and ALJ used to determine she wasn’t disabled. Talk about disgusting.
The DDS employee determined she wasn’t eligible because she asked for steroids in the hospital when she was having an MS flare. Any person familiar with MS knows that steroids is the gold standard for treating symptoms. Instead of the DDS idiot consulting with a medical source she decided my wife wasn’t disabled as she was drug seeking.
Next step is the reconsideration: This is where social security says they will have another DDS examiner review the previous examiners finding and see if they come to a different conclusion. This time the DDS examiner did consult a medical doctor. The only problem. This “doctor” is 84 years old and hasn’t actually practiced medicine since the 70’s. Denied again.
Next step ALJ: My wife was forced to wait 17 months to see some biased old judge who made his mind up prior to even having the hearing. 6 months later he rendered a denial decision and only used the statement from the 84 year old doctor. He completely ignored my wife’s treating neurologists statements, and records along with the 10 hospitalizations.
Next step is waiting for the appeals council. Another year down the drain where I’m sure they won’t actually read any of the evidence, and will likely deny my poor wife again.
Now my wife can’t walk, is basically bed ridden and social security says she isn’t disabled and can work.
Folks the system is an absolute joke. The problem is no one petitions congress to change anything. After all most people don’t become disabled prior to retirement and likely could care less about the disability program social security has.
The system is corrupt from the top to the bottom. At the top you have DDS examiners looking at applications. The problem is the DDS examiners have ZERO medical background.
At the bottom you have ALJ’s. Fake judges really who have as much medical knowledge as the DDS examiners who denied the case to begin with. Lots of times these “judges” have biases and render decisions based on their political beliefs and not the facts. SSA posts statistics for these judges and the republican ones grant approvals at the 20 percent range. Democrat judges grant approvals at the more normal 50-60 percent range.
Luckily the supreme court is currently hearing arguments as to the constitutionality of these kangaroo court judges. They aren’t appointed yet have lifetime appointments.
Thank goodness I work and can support my wife. Otherwise she would be living under a bridge somewhere.
This is totally an un-American way of treating people.
Deborah Gretz
Great info. Keep it coming.
iola
i am 67 years old and receiving my social security. my husband is retiring this month. will i be able to get social security from him as well?
Tina Simmons
I have ra hurt so bad can i get ssi and disabily been married 32years divorce now have not remarried i am 62 now
S. P.
It’s unfair that I have been married for almost 30 years of my life, and I get almost nothing to live on because none of those marriages were over ten years in duration. (And none of my husbands died while we were married.) (I was married twice for 9 and a half years each to two husbands) But a woman who has been married less than 2 years can draw on her husband’s SS if he dies. And a woman who has been married 10 years and a day gets to draw on her ex-husband’s SS too. Why after almost 30 years of marriage must I live on about 600.00 a month and those others get over 2000.00 per month? That is very unfair.
Marian Grossi
Retired disabled. Got divored husband (of 36 years) s.s. Now receiving SS $756. SDI $174. He deceives about double that at 80 now and I am 74. Can I qualify for an increase in. monthly amount? He also receives retirement from union. My $ is poverty level. Can you help? My disability has increased in severity. Thank you.
Ray Fernandez, Public Affairs Specialist
Unfortunately, and because of security reasons we do not have access to personal records in this blog and cannot answer your question at this time. Please call our toll free number at 1-800-772-1213 for assistance. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Generally, you will have a shorter wait time if you call later during the day or later in the week. Thanks!
Sandra Hudson
I’m now still working at 65 but having health problem (knees). I would like to retire but will only get $368.00 after paying Medicare. Can’t live off of that amount. Need to know what Or how to increase my Social Security. I raise good citizens for this country and now I can’t live off what I getting. So unfair to stay at home Moms. Is there any help for stay at Home MOMS!
Jeremy
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PATSY HUT TUBBS
Can I draw on my first husband’s record (still living) if I remarry and divorce the second husband?