Not old enough for Medicare and going broke with company insurance

Except for food, they tax just about everything and they still want more. Even the state legislature can’t stop the flood of money needed. That’s because they’re the 2nd largest one in the entire United States. Even the judicial system gets in on it, they get an automatic pay raise every year. It just keeps going on and on and on. Come back to Pa, we need another taxpayer to shell out their hard earned money. That proverbial grass always seems greener in someone else’s yard!!!

Hi JoJo, I am 63 now and was able to get Medicare early due to disability. Have you tried to apply for Social Security Disability? After 2 years of being on SSI your eligible for Medicare. It sure helped me with my ongoing follow-ups after a heart transplant. If you haven't it may take a few tries to get a yes from SS but at least it may help down the road. I actually was very surprised I got it the first try and at the time inwas 58. It will require a statement from a doctor probably but with back issues it sounds possible.

@jojo58

May I recommend looking into getting a social security lawyer to enhance your chances of a faster , usually, first time resolution. These lawyers work on a contingency basis and really know their stuff. They don’t get paid until you get paid and you can get a free consultation. A friend of mine went that route years ago and also had someone from social services with her when she was negotiating a buy out from her employer. I was surprised at how fast it occurred. If can get a name from someone who has used one, that’s a plus.

FL Mary

That sounds like a good idea. I just thought once I had the divorce decree I could apply for my deceased husband’s social security. I didn’t think much about it. I will definitely look into that. Thank you very much!

Sadly, you hit the nail on the head. To many poor people play the lottery to bank their future instead of using it today to live, especially if they have children. We were dirt poor after my daddy was killed in a coal mining accident when I was 7yo. I went to bed hungry many time. Did you ever hear the saying “Lick the plate clean?” My mother lived during the great depression in the United States as a young girl and you never wasted any food, so you licked the plate clean of any morsel of food. That habit was passed along to us children after my daddy was killed. To this very day, I never leave any food go to waste. If I make it, I eat it, all of it. And at almost 80, I still catch myself licking the plate clean. Yes, life is cruel and it’s not worth living it anymore. Thankfully, my body is so ravaged by diseases, I count my life in seconds. Each day, each hour, each minute, each second is like a miniature lifetime flashing by in my brain. But here I am, trapped in a time warp, unable to escape this world that is literally tarring itself apart. Thanks for chatting. @becky1024

Because of having so many health issues, I was also denied SSD at 42. I swore the government was going to pay for not being able to get some of my defects looked at back then. In the 60’s and 70’s they didn’t have specialist for everything like today. So the damage done to my body got worse. My medical bills have spiraled to somewhere between 3 & 4 million dollars from neglected treatment. Right now my blood is turning cancerous, my birth heart defect is monitored by a $25,000 heart beat recorder 24/7. My kidneys are headed for dialysis, my nonexistent immune system has allowed me to catch 19 lung infections in 9 years besides the 5 cases of Covid 19 I’ve suffered through. And those are just some of my health problems, with more and more being added with each passing year. Oh for hindsight huh!!!

THEY RE GOUGING US TO DEATH HAVING A HARD TIME GETTING GROCERIES AND NEEDED ITEMS I PAY A HIGH RATE AT AGE 77 AND MEDICARE DOES NOT COVER ALL OF THE EXTRA FOR MY MEDICAL ITS A TOUGH WORLD TO KEEP UP WITH IT AT ALL PRAYERS FOR ALL OF US FOR A CHANGE BARB BAKER NORTHERN MN

Becky, I am heartbroken for you.

Life is so terribly unfair and your story is an all too perfect example. I send you the wish for relief from all your pain and the hope for some kind of joy to comfort you.

How amazing that you have lasted so long with all your maladies. You must have a will of solid iron. What courage! I can't imagine how some petty clerk saw fit to deny you SDI. Can't help believing a few more tries (SO exhausting for the applicant!) wouldn't have succeeded in winning you your so deserved assistance.

I know personally (and about), a great many people who game the system and collect SDI while working under the table. There are many lawyers who specialize in getting even the most unworthy clients disability support - they know all the tricks, and get rich from their speciality. They are only one example of the corruption that siphons off much of our national budget from the needy. And it not only goes into the pockets of the rich and uber-rich, but sets an example of cheating that "inspires" ever more cheating, top-down. It seems almost everyone feels entitled to rip off whomever they can since "everyone's" doing it, and without their particular racket, they figure they couldn't keep up.

You shame me with your frugality with food. I was born into a highly dysfunctional family, but money was plenty (my father was a self-made artist who became famous in his lifetime – quite a rarity) . I confess , though, that I wasted quite a lot of it not understanding my good fortune in that regard, and never having been taught the value of money.

I'll bet your life story would make a salable though tragic novel/autobiography.. So sorry you had to live it, though.

I send you a hug and much admiration.

You shame me with your frugality with food. I was born into a highly dysfunctional family, but money was plenty (my father was a self-made artist who became famous in his lifetime - quite a rarity) . I confess , though, that I wasted quite a lot of it not understanding my good fortune in that regard, and never having been taught the value of money.

I'll bet your life story would make a salable though tragic novel/autobiography.. So sorry you had to live it, though.

Sorry for accidental repeat above.

Indeed, as long as you were married for at least ten years (and haven't remarried) you can collected on his benefits - 1/2 even he's still living and remarried, and 100% if he's dead. (I couldn't manage without that! The only help he ever provided, having cheated me out of my legal share of his pension!)

His lawyer was a whiz, while mine was a dud. Our settlement was being drawn up when our son had a terrible breakdown. I was focussed on trying to insure he graduated from High School (he had begun the year as Valedictorian!) and didn't lose his acceptance to Harvard.

For the first time ever I didn't double check such an important contract (written in legalese). Since his father didn't care about his son's crisis, he was able to work brilliantly with his lawyer. Quite a trade-off!

Son's academic stuff was salvaged, but my financial survival was trashed. I didn't even discover it until years later when applying for second son's financial aid to his university.

Thank Heaven for Social Security! I hope future retirees don't lose out on that payback for their long years of labor, during which they paid heavily into the system. I'm still amazed that former spouses are eligible for so much reimbursement - even more if the ex has died - as mine just did. (I had been unable to work while our first son was growing up, as he was seriously mentally and physically disabled, requiring my full attention). Because of his high intellect and academic success, though, he did succeed in acceptance to Harvard - completely paid.
It took everything I had to guide him, though (spending every dime on therapy, special camps, and more), Meanwhile my own life - economic and social, was cancelled.

It seemed his opportunities had been salvaged, though, by my dedicated work with him (he was in super Special Education, beginning with four preschool expulsions and more. He couldn't even attend kindergarten.) That extreme (still unexplicable) breakdown threw everything back into chaos., however.

Somehow I managed to rescue it working with the school and Harvard - at the expense of my rightful share of his father's pension, though - on which my own survival as an elder depended.

And there I am now (but with serious medical disabilities - mobility limits and even looming blindness.) .

Again, my infinite gratitude for the Social Security program!