Share the Gift of Security
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: November 3, 2023
We have all received gifts we’ve wanted to return: ugly socks or sweaters that look exactly like the one you got (or gave!) last year. Sometimes, just letting loved ones know that you’re there for them, no matter what, is the best gift of all. And you avoid the embarrassment of giving an awkward gift! Social Security is also there for you and your family — all year long.
For this holiday season, give your loved ones some peace of mind by introducing them to Social Security’s many programs. While creating new holiday memories, help your family members create a personal my Social Security account. It’s the gift that keeps on giving all year long, with features that let you:
- Get your Social Security Statement, to review:
- Estimates of your future retirement, disability, and survivors benefits.
- Your earnings once a year to verify the amounts that we posted are correct.
- The estimated Social Security and Medicare taxes you’ve paid.
- Get a benefit verification letter stating that:
- You never received Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicare.
- You received benefits in the past, but do not currently receive them. The letter will include the date your benefits stopped and how much you received that year.
- You applied for benefits but haven’t received an answer yet.
Some of us might need extra help because of a disability. We’ve made it easy to apply for disability benefits.
Additionally, we have resources for family members in the military who have been injured while serving, or are now disabled veterans. They can find out about benefits they may be eligible for.
Your loved ones will also appreciate the gift of convenience! Social Security has many online services that can fit their diverse needs.
Receiving support and friendship often means more than material gifts. As you’re exchanging presents this holiday season, remember to also exchange some knowledge, and pass on the effectiveness of my Social Security and our online services. Your loved ones will appreciate it.
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Tags: Medicare, my Social Security, my Social Security account, retirement benefits, Social Security benefits, Social Security statement, SSI, supplemental security income, survivors benefits, veterans
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Jim Borland, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Communications
Jim Borland, Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Communications
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S T.
There is likely no increase in benefit amount for the majority of recipients since the Medicare B premium went up almost 10%, way more than the COLA.
Tony S.
Sanders, Tony J. Children. Hospitals & Asylums HA-8-12-16 http://www.title24uscode.org/children.doc
Children have been eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) since Sullivan v. Zebley (1990) and 1.8 million children received $733 a month at an annual cost of $15.8 billion, about 28% of $55 billion SSI expenditures in 2014. There are currently about 9 million SSI beneficiaries. Child welfare must be prioritized and SSI is the most efficient way to end child poverty by taxing the rich. SSI is currently funded by the General Fund. Although estimated at 1% program population growth calculates closer of 0.1% in the 2015 Annual Report on the SSI Program due to high levels of termination due to death (1,100 per 100,000 disability beneficiaries) and substantial gainful employment. The United States needs to normalize SSI program growth with and without any new taxes on the rich. To prioritize child welfare within the current OASDI and SSI budget orphan and IDDM should be made as a qualifying disability for the SSI and SSDI programs. There are about 120,000 individuals age ≤19 years and about 300,000-500,000 individuals of all ages with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). Insulin prices need to be reduced to $50 a month for ten years as penalty for 30 years before adopting the 2.5% health annuity. IDDM needs to be made a qualifying disability. There are an estimated 100,000 orphans growing up in orphanages in the United States with no social insurance, legislation, allowance or property rights, and another 400,000 under retirement age adult orphans, many of whom are extremely poor, who might benefit if orphan were made a qualifying disability. 100,000 is 1.1% of 9 million SSI beneficiaries. 100,000 orphans should be enrolled in the first year and in the second year and third year low-income adult orphans would benefit. There are also an estimated 400,000 children passing through the foster-care system shifting from psychiatric exploitation to homeless youth with rich adoptive parents. By expanding qualifying disabilities to IDDM and orphans 200,000 children and 800,000 would be eligible for SSI and DI depending on poverty and contributions. 100,000 orphans growing up in orphanages would be immediately paid and children with IDDM growing up in poor families must be sure to receive child SSI benefit and 800,000 adult orphans and IDDM patients would qualify for disability and half might apply for financial freedom. SSI must stop semi-automatically terminating the child SSI benefits of people when they turn 18 and abide by substantial gainful income instead. SSI growth has been so low, for the past three years, calculated at 0.1% rather than the 1% reported in the Annual Report, not done in 2016, the United States owes the disabled 5% SSI growth.
An orphan is a child whose parents are dead or have abandoned them permanently. Adults can also be referred to as orphan, or adult orphans. However, those who reached adulthood before their parents died are normally not called orphans; the term is generally reserved for children whose parents have died while they are too young to support themselves. An orphan is a child whose parents are dead or have abandoned them permanently. They grow up in an orphanage. The United States does not legislate regarding orphanages and orphanages are in no rush to legislate. 100,000 orphans growing up in orphanages are due an SSI benefit. 7.6% of children are orphans, in Africa that number is estimated at 11% , in Asia 6.5% and Latin America and the Caribbean 7.4%, however the United Nations counts for children who have lost only one parent. The estimated 100,000 orphans in the United States comprise only about 0.2% of children in the United States. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) growth has been about 0.1% although it is advertised at 1% for the passed several years; SSA needs to make orphan a qualifying disability right away. Adults can also be referred to as orphan, or adult orphans. However, those who reached adulthood before their parents died are normally not called orphans; the term is generally reserved for children whose parents have died while they are too young to support themselves. Although the Economic Security Act of 1935 did not specifically provide for orphans it intended to insure aged persons, blind persons, dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare, public health, and the administration of their unemployment. Since 1996 the United States has seriously failed to provide for dependent and crippled children, maternal and child welfare. SSA must respect that children are disabled workers and respect orphan and juvenile onset diabetes as qualifying disabilities (Sanders ’16: 340.
There is no other way for the United States to end child poverty than by taxing the rich the full 12.4% Old Age Survivor Disability Insurance (OASDI) tax on all their income to end poverty by 2020 beginning with 16-24 million child Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits under Sec. 1611 of Title XVI of the Social Security Act 42USC§1382 by repealing the Adjustment of the contribution and benefit base Section 230 of the Social Security Act 42USC(7)§430 unique >$250 billion tax haven. Within one quarter of the tax passing SSA would take responsibility for SSI program costs and begin paying benefits to 16-24 million poor children child SSI benefits in 2017 and 50 million SSI benefits by 2020 to end poverty in the United State using current economic growth estimates. The OASDI tax rate must be amended from the temporary 2.37% DI 10.03% OASI tax rate 2016-2018 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 to 2.4% DI 10.0% OASI in 2017 and 2.2% DI 10.2% OASI in 2018 and every for-seeable year thereafter. This would be enough to afford to sustain orphans as a qualifying disability, predicated upon normal 3% Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), 1% annual SSI and DI beneficiary population growth. The DI trust fund is temporarily protected by a high tax rate and it should be safe to pay beneficiaries a 6% COLA in 2017 bringing SSI benefits up to $777 a month under Sec. 215(i) of the Social Security Act 42USC§415(i). The OASDI program has a harmless deal with Medicare Part B premiums regarding a 2.5% health annuity for 3% COLA. An automatic 3% COLA and raise in federal minimum wage and welfare benefits are necessary for poor people to stay ahead of a fairly constant 2.7% rate of consumer price inflation (Sanders ’16: 341).
inaki b.
Thank you
Boothe H.
Is it possible to establish a mysocial security accout if I reside abroad?
R.F.
We appreciate you using our blog to communicate with us! At this time you must have a U. S. mailing address to create or to access your online account. The “my Social Security” authentication system requires address verification as one of the essential criteria for issuing an account. People with APO/FPO/DPO addresses can create an account overseas, but our system does not support registration and account creation for users with a foreign address yet. Please contact your local U.S. embassy or consulate for any assistance related to your Social Security benefits. Also, our Office of International Operations home page provides more information to assist our customers living abroad. We hope this information helps!
Sanne
those sketches are so rough, they don't show much really. thr&ee#039;s clearly a lot of thought gone into the design of these products from the sketch stage, which is fine but not what the concept of the project supposedly is. the project description brings to mind sketch designs that have been faithfully reproduced, with every slip of the pen or rushed detail made real. what we get is some fairly normal, cute european furntiture also, the boop description makes me want to boop the guy who wrote it, hard.
Harold J.
I just received the notice of benefits for 2017. With the increase in insurance, my net gain was zero, no change from 2016. Everything is going up, food, insurance, mortgage fee etc.
Seniors are really being taken for a ride, down down and down.
Carl E.
Stop payin them after they r out of office include the president n vice presi.
Laura W.
Well said Carl, although you didn’t mention one vital point. Not only do they get paid after they leave office, they get their government health insurance for life. I’m sure it’s far better insurance than any of us recrive, too. One thing I’ve never understood about Medicare for those if who are under the retirement age who become disabled & forced to go on Social Security Disability Insurance: WHY is there a 2 year waiting period AFTER you are awarded your disability benefits before you become eligible for Medicare? Seems to me those people areally the ones who need Medicare most.
I was one of the “lucky” ones who got approved for SSDI on my first application. Thank God I filed right away and was able to keep my employer sponsored health insurance through COBRA (although it was by no means inexpensive) until I became Medicare eligible. What is the person who was not as lucky as I supposed to do? You can bet former elected officials will never have to worry about that.
mitch
the SSI and SSDI are a joke if you do not meet what they think are the requirments for help you go screw yourself is what you get. I been trying for 5 yrs. Doctors will not let me work with current back problem neck problem ( SPINE) yet the SS say i am fine. Ive tried 3 different law firms.
jack
3 strikes, your out!
Carol M.
No don’t stop or give up ask someone who gets SSI or SS what attorney they used to get there benefits, Everyone should be helped
Ana
Mitch,
Most of the time, ssi or ssdi give benefits based on disabilities that worsen nerve damage. It can not just be a pinched nerve or a disk or herinated disk.
You will need to provide proof of: A Personality disorder, PTSD or other depressive syndrome that shows you have suppressed difficultity with living on one’s own, or nervous disorder not because you are ‘nervous’ but because you have problems with nerves that can not signal well to the brain or body part, such as carrying or even walking due to your nerve endings / damage.
This is also called Fibro and MSD and sometimes RA as well.
For lawyers:
http://distgoogle.murphyandgarner.net is good. For you go on google and for your state google “state” ssi lawyers and you should find someone to help.
If not, talk to your doctor and see if they will put you in a hospital because the hospital will evaulate you, and help you get your ssi started for you to live on.
John
SS based their remarks on what the doctors told them. Often it is different from what the doctor tells you. Ask to review your medical file and then maybe you’ll see where the problem lies.
bettyg
mitch,
this is the most important paperwork to be completed by SUPPORTIVE drs. based upon how you are TODAY; not the day you last physically worked!!
8 pages now; i have NOT studied this revised form.
https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms/images/SSA4/G-SSA-4734-U8-1.pdf
yes, get a copy of the scanned disk of everything SSDI has on your case so you can see WHY they are turning you down based upon which papers/wording!
good luck! took me 5 yrs. of hell to be approved on 2nd ssdi claim (:
bettyg, iowa
Martin
Honestly Bruce, if you have a problem with Congress, address it to them! And what “lie” are you referring too?
Susan
This is an informational site for people who really need answers. Get a heart and maybe a head and stay quiet. No one needs to hear what you have to say.
Bruce M.
Give the gift of security?
You’ve given all of our SS tax withholdings to the federal government in exchange for an IOU. Their IOU is not secure…they’ve spend all of the money, and then some.
They owe a minimum of $20 Trillion.
Why are you lying?
R.F.
Bruce, Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system. Social Security taxes collected from today’s workers pay the benefits of today’s retirees. Any funds in excess of what is needed to pay today’s benefits are invested in special issue, U.S. Government, interest-bearing securities. This investment – the purchase of U.S. Government securities – is what constitutes the “borrowing” that people are sometimes concerned about. Any funds that have been “borrowed” from the Social Security Trust Funds have always been paid back in full, plus interest. Please check out our Trust Fund Frequently Asked Questions page for more information.
Deloris V.
Thanks for the info. It was very helpful.
Ernest L.
Thanks for the links and info, Mr. Fernandez. However, many of us collecting still worry about SS solvency, regardless of the promises or expectations of low, intermediate or high assumptions. For example, shouldn’t solvency be addressed immediately with our congressional leaders? I’m not talking about privatizing, reducing benefits, cutting recipients, or gambling with the fund, but maintaining and solidifying existing SS. A question that is always asked is why in the world is there a cap on taxable earnings? Why not make it unlimited for the taxpayer, and put limits on it for the shared contribution from employers? Some of the solutions seem so sensible, but our leaders can’t figure this out. It also might help seniors with a decent COLA every year, instead of a paltry three-tenths of a percent for 2017.
Marc P.
I can answer your question about why there’s a cap on earnings- it’s because the GOPHER have been and continue to protect their wealthy benefactors from having to pay taxes, period. Tax cuts for the wealthy started with GW Bush and the GOP-controlled Congress has fpught to protect those cuts.
Now Mr. Trump has won the elevtoon with vows to cut taxes, and if anyone actually looks at his plan and does the math, it’s crystal clear that only the wealthy will see very, very significant tax cuts, especially corporations who have already paid ZERO taxes while collecting millions in “tax refunds” for over a decade now. It’s all in the official records very easy to find if you just look.
As for solvency of Social Security, Congress hasn’t and doesn’t intend to address that, ever. In fact that’s the LAST thing we Social Security recipients should be sweating right now, especially if you’re on Social Security Disability Insurance from being unable to work anymore. Their plan us, and has been from the start, to ELIMINATE Social Security altogether. That’s what “privatizing” it would do; all the money in it and everything collected going forward would go not to recipients who worked and paid into it all our lives, but to their wealthy buddies who engineered the 2008 crash, the banksters and hedge fund managers who are now going to be, courtesy of Mr. Trump, the top men in charge of handling ALL the financial dealings for the United States, including the Treasury, the Federal Reserve.
Basically, the fox is running the hen house, and he’s illegal to with as many of his fellow foxes as he could find. Let the feasting begin. We are the meal.
R.F.
Thanks for your comment Ernest!
Carol M.
Why our president Roosevelt set up Social Security was to help all in need, the government should put the trillions of dollars back into the social security. I hope who ever reads these words will help. Every American person is important and our young are having it taken out of their checks deserve help when they get disabled etc…
John
What Trillions of dollars??
Jill b.
Ate we gonna get the stimulas checks if on ssi .