Comments

1. Howard R.

   November 1, 2016 8:14PM

   I married and moved to Brazil in 1999 and soon after that I suffered complications due to diabetes including heart surgery and blindness (legally blind). I keep myself busy doing work over the internet, but we rely on my wife’s retirement to get by. I have never filed for disability and have not had an income statement for many years. the title of this page is “Retiring Overseas? What You Need to Know About Getting Benefits Abroad”. I went and followed the online tool. It asked if i am currently getting benefits, I checked no, the survey finished and did not answer the question! I will be 62 in March.

   • 

     Ray F.

     November 2, 2016 12:09PM

     Thank you for contacting us Howard. The Payments Abroad Screening Tool is designed to assist Social Security beneficiaries. The earliest age you can apply for retirement benefits is 62, and our system is set up to take applications three months in advance. You can print a “Request for Social Security Statement” and mail it to the address provided in the form. For any assistance related to Social Security programs and benefits, contact your local U.S. embassy or consulate. Please see our publication “Social Security — Your Payments While You Are Outside the United States”. Also, our Office of International Operations home page provides more information to assist our customers living abroad. We hope this information helps!

2. Dominique

   October 28, 2016 1:16AM

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3. Ewlly B.

   October 26, 2016 2:08PM

   My spouse passed away 8 years ago, he collected his benefit when he was 66 but only for 4 months then he died, now I’m 61 years old and want to collect survivor benefit, I know I would be qualified for 76.3 of his benefit but I was wonder how is the benefit going to calculate. it’s base on his 70 or 66. In his case could we said he had volunteer suspend his benefit after 4 months. The original benefit is $1,772

   • 

     Ray F.

     October 27, 2016 11:16AM

     Social Security uses the deceased worker’s basic benefit amount to calculate the percentage survivors can get. Remember that a widow’s benefits is based on age and can start any time between ages 60 and full retirement age as a survivor. You cannot apply online for survivors’ benefits. If you wish to apply for benefits please contact your local Social Security office. You can call our toll free number at 1-800-772-1213 to request an appointment. Representatives are available Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

4. Tony S.

   October 25, 2016 6:36PM

   I am hoping human rights will help the United States to do right by Social Security and publish papa Tony – the Social Security Commissioner, or specially compensated author thereof, who does not rob the orphan like a Judeo-Christian unfamiliar with the Qu’ran, and has SSA’s accounts in order to tax the rich, end poverty by 2020 and pay for the child victims of the 1996-2000 AFDC-TANF cuts convicted of 10 million counts of deprivation of relief benefits by the Acting Commissioner’s 2014 Annual Report on the SSI Program. 16 to 24 million children are poor in the United States 22-33% of SSAs 77 million tonk children, as soon as 2017.

   As a single disability beneficiary and author of Hospitals & Asylums, working on a statistical and medical textbook on ‘Children’ to do my best for them regardless of my ability to pay, I am motivated to continue the career of I. King Jordan whose election as the first deaf president of the former Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb resulted in the non-election of the only woman President of what is now called Gallaudet University. To assure you of my altruistic, non-discriminatory, and well-formulated intentions my stated priority as SSA Commissioner is to redress the runaway child poverty, that discriminates unequally against women, especially single mothers, who tend to be poorer, maybe only after the unpaid maternity leave, than single fathers.

   The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. A functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), it was established by Council resolution 11(II) of 21 June 1946. The Convention the Nationality of Married Women of 1957 provides that neither the celebration nor the dissolution of marriage between one of its nationals and an alien, nor the change of nationality by the husband shall affect the nationality of the wife or leave her stateless, furthermore, the alien wife of one its nationals may acquire her husbands’s nationality as a matter of right. These special nationality privileges apply equally to husbands and wives under the equal protections clauses of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of 18 December 1979 created a Committee and as of 1 January 2008, responsibility has been transferred to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

   Bearing in mind the great contribution of women to the welfare of the family and to the development of society, so far not fully recognized, the social significance of maternity and the role of both parents in the family and in the upbringing of children, and aware that the role of women in procreation should not be a basis for discrimination but that the upbringing of children requires a sharing of responsibility between men and women and society as a whole. State parties promise under Article 2 (f) To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women. Article 9 provides (1) States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality. They shall ensure in particular that neither marriage to an alien nor change of nationality by the husband during shall automatically change the nationality of the wife render her stateless or force upon her the nationality of her husband. (2) State parties shall grant women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of their children. Article 11(1)(e) The right to social security, particularly in cases of unemployment, sickness, invalidity and old and other incapacity to work, as well as the right to paid leave; (2)(b) to introduce maternity leave with pay or with comparable social benefits without loss of former employment, seniority of social allowances. Article 13 State parties shall take all appropriate measure to eliminate discrimination against women in other areas of economic and social life in order to ensure on a basis of equality of men and women, the same rights, in particular (a) to family benefits.

   Convention on the Rights of the Child of 2 September 1990 Recognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding. Considering that the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society, and brought up in the spirit of the ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity. Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”. Article 7(1) The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents. (2) States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless. Article 8 (1) States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference. (2) Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity.

   Article 13 (1) The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice. Article 26 (1) States Parties shall recognize for every child the right to benefit from social security, including social insurance, and shall take the necessary measures to achieve the full realization of this right in accordance with their national law. (2) The benefits should, where appropriate, be granted, taking into account the resources and the circumstances of the child and persons having responsibility for the maintenance of the child, as well as any other consideration relevant to an application for benefits made by or on behalf of the child.

   The unanimous adoption, in June 1999, of International Labour Organization Convention No. 182 on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, which prohibits, inter alia, forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict, led to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict of 12 February 2002 whereby States Parties shall ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 18 years are not compulsorily recruited into their armed forces and members of the Armed Forces who have not attained the age of 18 do not take a direct part in hostilities. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography of 18 January 2002. Article 1 States Parties shall prohibit (criminalize) the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography as provided for by the present Protocol. Article 2 For the purposes of the present Protocol: (a) Sale of children means any act or transaction whereby a child is transferred by any person or group of persons to another for remuneration or any other consideration; (b) Child prostitution means the use of a child in sexual activities for remuneration or any other form of consideration; (c) Child pornography means any representation, by whatever means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a child for primarily sexual purposes.

   The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure of 14 April 2014 provides that States parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention”) recognize the rights set forth in it to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child’s or his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status. The best interests of the child should be a primary consideration to be respected in pursuing remedies for violations of the rights of the child, Article 2 General principles guiding the functions of the Committee provide that in fulfilling the functions conferred on it by the present Protocol, the Committee shall be guided by the principle of the best interests of the child. It shall also have regard for the rights and views of the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child. Article 7  Admissibility explains the Committee shall consider a communication inadmissible when: (a) The communication is anonymous; (b) The communication is not in writing; or (f) The communication is manifestly ill-founded or not sufficiently substantiated.

   The most important demographic difference between 1984 and 1999 was the change in marital status among the total U.S. population. In 1990 the number of marriages ending in divorce stood at 50%. The number of TANF beneficiaries has declined dramatically from a high of nearly 14.2 million in 1993 to little less than 5 million in 2003 after the Personal Responsibility and World Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 coerced families with children to work. People are waiting longer before marriage, the number of people who never marry has increased, and marriages are more likely to end in divorce. Today the divorce rate remains stable at around 40 percent of marriages. In 2003 there were 12.9 million children living in poverty, or 17.6% of the under-18 population. That was an increase of about 800,000 from 2002, when 16.7% of all children were in poverty. Of 18-to-64-year olds 20.5 million, 11.1% were poor and of people 65 and older 3.6 million, 10.1% were poor. In 2011 an estimated 1 in 4 US children, 21%, were growing up in poverty, the highest rate in the industrialized world. In Finland, the number is about 2.8%; Norway, 3.4%; Sweden, maybe 4.2%, Switzerland, 6.8%, Netherlands in second place at 9.8 percent. The reason for the high child poverty in the Netherlands is that there minimum wage discriminates against people under the age of 25 and must stop. The United States also has a problem with the minimum wage in that it is necessary to legislate an automatic 3% annual increase in minimum wage to prevent wages from falling behind inflation before they get laid off because the minimum wage hike is too expensive to employer when it finally comes. It is essential that Labor Department Unemployment Compensation (UC) pay contributing women for the three months of unpaid maternity leave they are entitled to under the Family and Medical Leave Act of February 5, 1993 (PL-303-3) to fulfill ILO Holidays with Pay Convention (Convention 132) of 1970; Workers with Family Responsibilities (Convention 156) of 1981, and Maternity Protection (Convention 183) of 2000.

   In normal pregnancy there are few restrictions concerning work. The traditional time designated for maternity leave is approximately 1 month before the expected date of delivery and extending until 6 weeks after birth. The United States is not party to the International Labor Organization (ILO) Maternity Protection (Convention 183) of 2000. The Family and Medical Leave Act of February 5, 1993 (PL-303-3) is considered substandard and the U.S. provides only 12 weeks of unpaid leave to approximately half of mothers in the U.S. and nothing for the remainder. 45 countries ensure that fathers either receive paid paternity leave or have a right to paid parental leave. The United States guarantees fathers neither paid paternity nor paid parental leave. At least 96 countries around the world in all geographic regions and at all economic levels mandate paid annual leave. The U.S. does not require employers to provide paid annual leave. At least 37 countries have policies guaranteeing parents some type of paid leave specifically for when their children are ill. Of these countries, two-thirds guarantee more than a week of paid leave, and more than one-third guarantee 11 or more days. 139 countries provide paid leave for short- or long-term illnesses, with 117 providing a week or more annually. The U.S. provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for serious illnesses through the FMLA. The following ILO Conventions await ratification by the United States a. three weeks annually of Holidays with Pay Convention (Convention 132) of 1970; allowing for b.Workers with Family Responsibilities (Convention 156) of 1981; and c. 14 weeks of unemployment compensation or social security paid Maternity Protection (Convention 183) of 2000.

   The United States lags dramatically behind all high-income countries, as well as many middle- and low-income countries when it comes to public policies designed to guarantee adequate working conditions for families. One hundred sixty-three countries around the world guarantee paid leave to women after childbirth; the United States does not. Forty-five countries ensure that fathers either receives paid paternity leave or paid parental leave; the United States does not. Seventy-six countries protect workingwomen’s right to breastfeed at work; the United States offers no such protection. Ninety-six countries offer paid annual leave; the United States does not require employers to provide any paid annual leave. One hundred thirty-nine countries provide paid leave for short or long-term illnesses; the United States has no national policy regarding sick leave. The list of working conditions relevant to families where the United States lags behind goes on and includes, among others, maximum hour legislation, legislation guaranteeing minimum days of rest, and leave for major family events.  Where this comprehensive global data are available, the United States also appears to lag significantly behind in services available to children in working families. The United States ranks 39 in available data on early childhood education enrollment and 91 in student-to-staff ratios. The school year in the United States is shorter than that of 54 other countries around the world. While the United States has high rates of 0- to 3-year-olds in childcare, this is mainly due to families paying privately for care that is necessary in the absence of paid parental leave, not to either publicly-provided care or to parents choosing infant and toddler care when parental leave is available.
    
   The only other industrialized country, which does not have paid maternity or parental leave for women, Australia, guarantees a full year of unpaid leave to all women in the country. In contrast, the Family and Medical Leave Act of February 5, 1993 (PL-303-3) in the U.S. provides only 12 weeks of unpaid leave to approximately half of mothers in the U.S. and nothing for the remainder.  45 countries ensure that fathers either receive paid paternity leave or have a right to paid parental leave. The United States guarantees fathers neither paid paternity nor paid parental leave.  At least 76 countries protect working women’s right to breastfeed; the U.S. does not, in spite of the fact that breastfeeding has been shown to reduce infant mortality several-fold. In fact, nearly two-thirds of these countries protect breastfeeding for 15 months or longer. Nearly nine out of ten protect this right for at least a year. At least 96 countries around the world in all geographic regions and at all economic levels mandate paid annual leave. The U.S. does not require employers to provide paid annual leave. At least 37 countries have policies guaranteeing parents some type of paid leave specifically for when their children are ill. Of these countries, two-thirds guarantee more than a week of paid leave, and more than one-third guarantee 11 or more days.  139 countries provide paid leave for short- or long-term illnesses, with 117 providing a week or more annually. The U.S. provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for serious illnesses through the FMLA.  Pregnant women are expected to pay the doctor for an estimated twenty pre-natal care visits plus expensive hospital births.  This is very expensive and many poor women do without leading to great disparities in health outcomes between races and the rich and poor. However women in every state can get help to pay for medical care during their pregnancies, that is a Medicaid covered expense for people regardless of their income. This prenatal care can help to have a healthy baby. Every state in the United States has a program to help. Programs give medical care, information, advice and other services important for a healthy pregnancy. To find out about the state program call 1-800-311-BABY (1-800-311-2229)

   The Maternity Leave Act, Title III of the Social Security Amendments of January 1, 2016 provides in Sec. 14 Unemployment Compensation for 14 weeks of Maternity Leave. To prioritize the payment of the families of 16-24 million poor children SSI benefits with new OASDI revenues from taxing the rich in 2017.  10 million Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits were cut between 1996 and 2000. During this time period child poverty increased from the average non-age discriminatory rate of about 15% in 1996 to 21-28% in 2016 while poverty among working age adults decreased to 10% and in elders 9%. Child SSI is the priority in 2017. It is necessary to understand that about 4 million children are born annually in the United States and that for all legal billing purposes the obstetric bill must not exceed the Medicaid rate of about $435 for an uncomplicated delivery. The Medical and Family Leave Act does not insure unemployment compensation (UC) contributing mothers for the 14 weeks of Maternity Leave under ILO Convention No. 183 (2000). To competently end child poverty with the new OASDI tax UC contributors shall be insured for 14 weeks of paid maternity leave.

   To amend Demonstration Projects to ‘Maternity leave’ Section 305 of the Social Security Act 42USC§505.

   (a) To expedite the reemployment of individuals who have established a benefit year to claim unemployment compensation under the State law the Secretary of Labor shall fulfill the 14 months of paid leave authorized for Maternity Leave by International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 183 (2000).
    
   (1) The Family and Medical Leave Act shall be repealed except in that workers’s positions who have served their benefit year, shall continue to be entitled to up to twelve weeks of (unpaid) sick leave, 14 weeks of maternity leave and 24 weeks to care for an injured armed service-member.
    
   (2) Employers shall provide at least 3 weeks of paid leave annually to uphold the Holiday with Pay ILO Convention No. 132 (1970).
    
   (b) On production of a medical certificate, stating the presumed date of childbirth, a woman shall be entitled to a period of maternity leave of not less than 14 weeks. Cash benefits shall be provided at a level which ensures that the woman can maintain herself and her child in proper conditions of health and with a suitable standard of living.
    
   (1) Where a woman does not meet the conditions to qualify for cash benefits under national laws and regulations or in any other manner consistent with national practice, she shall be entitled to adequate benefits out of social assistance funds, subject to the means test required for eligibility for such assistance, from the Supplemental Security Income Program for the Aged, Blind and Disabled under Sec. 1611 of Title XVI of the Social Security Act 42USC§1382.
    
   (2) Medical benefits shall be provided for the woman and her child. Medical benefits shall include prenatal, childbirth and postnatal care, as well as hospitalization care when necessary.

   Social Security Amendments of January 1, 2016 http://www.title24uscode.org/ss1.htm

5. tammy

   October 25, 2016 6:26AM

   “There are a number of people who choose to live their retirement years in places outside of the United States”, I will be one of them. It cost less to live in another country and people can be more understanding. I just wonder if other countries socialist security systems are going broke like ours?

   I am 45 years old, a mother of three older children and physically disabled ( I was born with cerebral palsy ). I’ve never collected one red cent of money from the Socialist Security System, even though I have applied several times and they find me disabled.

   Technically, I am an “adult disabled child” (please look this up, it is NOT SSI or SSDI) but have never been able to secure any benefits whatsoever from the Socialist Security system, even under that program because I got married to an “Able bodied person”. The Socialist Security system is too busy paying benefits to some people who scam the system and worrying about adult disabled children (who they pay benefits to off of a parents record) marrying an able bodied person. This gives them the justification to cut off benefits to the adult disabled child because the husband (in theory) can now support the disabled person. This theory works great, if your husband is rich and you have no need for money but what it actually does, is to force two adults (one disabled one able bodied person) to live off of one income. In the real world, the socialist security system is forcing adult disabled children to only marry other disabled persons (and NO able bodied persons) at the threat of loosing any and all benefits that they are entitled to.

   If you are a physically disabled person (an adult disabled child) and you happen to marry an “able bodied person” you will be loosing out on a lifetime of benefits, all because of a one word “rule” that prohibits you from marrying an “able bodied person”. Best of all, they never tell you about their “Rule” so that they can justify cutting off any benefits that you may be due.

   Because you are physically disabled (adult disabled child) and you choose not to marry another adult disabled child or disabled person drawing off socialist security, you WILL LOOSE ANY AND ALL BENEFITS FOR LIFE. This means that the SOCIALIST SECURITY system is TELLING YOU WHO YOU ARE ALLOWED TO MARRY and who you are
   NOT ALLOWED TO MARRY! It is a discriminatory act “rule” and should be ILLEGAL!

   Even though I am permanently and totally disabled, if I marry an “able bodied person”, somehow that marriage makes everything ok and I am no longer considered disabled (in the eyes of the socialist security system). Magically (because I married an able bodied person), the pixie fairies come down and cure my disability, because now I can just go out and find gainful employment, no one will discriminate against my physical disability and everything will be grand, right? Somehow magically, marrying an able bodied person makes my physical disablility dissappear and now I am cured, right? WRONG!

   The issue is a special “Rule” that the Socialist Security System uses to discriminate against “certain” people. If you are a “physically disabled person” (AKA-certain people) and happen to marry an able bodied person, then the SOCIALIST SECURITY system will use special “Rules” to legally discriminate against you and deny you benefits, even if you appeal online.

   The SOCIALIST SECURITY system has caused me a lot of economic hardship all because I married an able bodied person. The SOCIALIST SECURITY system thinks someone who is physically disabled (permanently and totally disabled) marries an “able bodied person”, that somehow magically they are cured of their physical disability and two people can survive off the able bodied persons income. WOW, talk about a bunch of bureaucratic idiotic thinking, that somehow this would not cause a financial hardship….. amazing.

   The rules that the Social Security Administration uses to legally discriminate against persons who are “Adult Disabled Children” who happen to marry an able bodied person, are discriminatory. This is loosely referred to as the “marriage penalty” but I call it exactly what it is, a legal form of discrimination.
   I firmly believe this rule, is an act of bias, prejudice and discrimination against people who (by no fault of their own) are born disabled and happen to marry an able bodied person

   Please write your Congressional Representative and tell them to end this modern day form of Legal Discrimination. In this day of fairness and equality, there are still some people suffering from an outdated and oppressive bureaucratic rule.

   (PS. notice how the only thing any of these SOCIALIST SECURITY workers ever say are quotes of the rules or processes, like a worker drone. They are unable to address any topics that fall outside of their rule books). Typical bureaucracy and bureaucratic responses, like trying to argue over lost change with a vending machine!

6. Richard

   October 24, 2016 10:37AM

   I was in the Navy 20 yrs, retired. I am retiring next yr 2016 after 20 yrs as a law enforcement officer but they did not take out ssn there. Is it true that my ssn will be cut in half because my 2nd job did not take out ssn?

   • 

     Ray F.

     October 24, 2016 1:56PM

     Good question, Richard. A pension based on work that is not covered by Social Security (for example, Federal civil service and some State or local government agencies, such as police officers and some teachers) may cause the amount of your Social Security benefit to be reduced. Your own Social Security benefit can be reduced based on the Windfall Elimination Provision. Read more here.

7. milton s.

   October 23, 2016 12:54AM

   helpful

8. Judith G.

   October 21, 2016 9:15PM

   It is a shame such small COLA, or it any increase, while my COL will one day pass my benefits, and I will be forced to live in a cheaper country. Shame on our country!
   “You can’t get rich in politics unless you’re a crook.”
   — Harry S. Truman
   (1884-1972), 33rd US President

   “The measure of a man’s character is what he would do
   if he knew he never would be found out.”
   — Thomas Babington Macaulay
   (1800-1859)

   “No legacy is so rich as honesty.”
   — William Shakespeare
   (1564-1616) Playwright
   Source: All’s Well That Ends Well.

   Google: Judi Grace StoryCorps.

9. Guillermo

   October 21, 2016 4:39PM

   SSA will deduct Medicare premium from my retirement check when I am 65 years old ? because I live in south america and Medicare is not good overseas and besides I do not need it. I am 64 years old. Do I have to decline medicare when I am 65 years old, or I do not have to worry about it? Because SSA will not deduct anything from my check since I am living overseas, am I correct?

   • 

     Ray F.

     October 24, 2016 9:43AM

     Hi Guillermo. Generally, individuals already receiving Social Security benefits, and becoming eligible for Medicare, will be automatically enrolled in Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Part B (Medical Insurance).
     You’re right, in most situations, Medicare won’t pay for health care or supplies you get outside the U.S. Also, Medicare Part B is optional. Beneficiaries may refuse the coverage and if they file a written notification before the coverage starts, we always consider this a timely refusal. Timely refusals do not incur premium charges. While we make every effort to notify beneficiaries living outside the United States of their eligibility to Medicare, we recommend that you contact your local U.S. embassy or consulate at least 3 months before your 65th birthday for further assistance. We hope this information helps!

     • John C.

       October 31, 2016 7:47AM

       “Generally, individuals already receiving Social Security benefits, and becoming eligible for Medicare, will be automatically enrolled in Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) and Part B (Medical Insurance).”

       This is incorrect.
       Plan B (Medical Insurance) is not automatic enrollment. This is what I thought and when making a Plan B claim It was denied. On top of that I am being penalized
       For not being enrolled a 65.

       • 

         Ray F.

         October 31, 2016 10:52AM

         You’re right John, if you already get Social Security benefits, we’ll automatically enroll you in Medicare Hospital Insurance (Part A) and Medical Insurance (Part B). However, because you must pay a premium for Part B coverage, you have the option of turning it down. Also, if you or your spouse are actively working and you are covered under an employer’s group health insurance program, you can delay enrollment into Medicare Part B until you stop working or the health coverage is dropped. However, we suggest that individuals speak to their health benefits advisor, or health plan representative to see what’s best for them, and to prevent any penalties or delayed enrollment in the future. To learn more about the Medicare enrollment periods visit http://www.Medicare.gov.

10. Erlinda S.

    October 21, 2016 1:58PM

    I am 62 years old and plan on applying for an early SS benefit due to an health issue. Plan on applying online 01 Nov 2016. When can I start receiving benefit.?

    • 

      Ray F.

      October 21, 2016 2:18PM

      Thank you for your question Erlinda. Our system is set up to take applications three months in advance, you can apply for your retirement benefits online now. Remember that benefits are paid the month after they are due. So, for instance, if you want your benefits to begin with the month of November, you will receive your first benefit payment in December. If you need further assistance call our toll free number, 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) and ask to speak with one of our representatives, who are available Monday through Friday between 7:00am and 7:00pm. We hope this helps!

      • Andal

        October 23, 2016 11:41AM

        She says she has a health issue. If it is so bad she is retiring she needs to consider a disability application.

      • Jeff

        September 22, 2017 11:25PM

        If I apply for early retirement at 62, will my benefits be reduced if i work less than 45 hours a week in a country that does not have an agreement with the US?

Comments are closed.