social security and medicare thread

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i am asking all WPers who are on Social Security AND Medicare (especially Medicare)-

*what are your experiences?
*what pitfalls have you found?
*how much do you have to pay per month?
*income reporting requirements?
*are checkups free, or what are the deductibles and copays?
*which medigap plans did you choose? or did you choose an Advantage Plan?
*are you getting enough income from your Social Security payments to keep financially solvent? those of you who don't yet qualify for Medicare, just how are you getting your health care paid for?

i just started getting my SS this year, and although i don't get the full amount [about a $700/month penalty] i get just enough to finally pull me out of genteel poverty i'd been living in since 2008. i don't yet qualify for Medicare so i thank GOD ALMIGHTY for Veterans Administration Community Health Care. that saved me from blindness. so far.

thank you for your responses

I'm not at present, but grew up with a disabled parent and we had those things. Though I was a minor at the time, I may be able to offer a small bit of insight. Assuming things haven't changed a lot in the last 11 years.

*what are your experiences?
Stepdad was bedridden and paralyzed from the waist down, went to the hospital for an inpatient stay at least once a year. Usually more. We had a specialized hospital bed for him at home, had to have nurses come over every day to help care for him.

*what pitfalls have you found?
Mainly, if the government hears you have more money than they deem necessary.... you lose your benefits. Which nearly happened to us after the government was told by a little birdy that my mom had stocks and bonds.

*are checkups free, or what are the deductibles and copays?
Judging by a close friend of mine who lives on disability and Medicaid, he says he doesn't pay for routine visits. Said friend is "low functioning" autistic - lives on his own, but has a case worker handling his finances and stuff.

We had to pay for medications, I remember for sure.

I will say that we had thousands of $$ in medical debt that stuck around after my dad passed away. Very conveniently, my mom inherited $50,000 from her parents not long after dad died..... that wiped out the debt entirely. With plenty to spare.

My mom ended up using the rest of the money to help a homeless family friend get diagnosed with a medical condition and helped him get onto disability, which was a 2 year process. Those actions put us as a family back into poverty, but hey. I'm not going to ever say helping someone else who truly needed it was a mistake.


*are you getting enough income from your Social Security payments to keep financially solvent?
My dad was just about as disabled as it gets and by a miracle he got disability pretty much immediately, no rejections or lengthy process.
It was a struggle, especially trying to float a whole family on one person's disability check. We had pretty much constant strains and often used stuff like local food banks to keep food on the table. The fact that we have government disability available for those who need it is wonderful and all, but they basically lock you into poverty.

I'll have double answers, one for me and one for my disabled daughter ( I pay all her bills and help her manage her household in other ways)
For me and my spouse, he was employed all his life with a good steady income, he gets a larger check than I do, I have a spotty work record, never good income because I was the household caretaker and child care spouse.. traditional family. It would not be enough to live on without the fact that we have been very frugal all our lives and saved every penny possible. He got a retirement benefit. That is what saves us. We might be able to live very frugally on social security alone, if we were careful of every single penny. took advantage of local food and aid programs, and if we could find a cheap place to live. It would be enough to survive on, just barely.

We have medicare and a medicare supplemental plan. It covers almost everything with a reasonable deductible, even for emergency surgery and his complex shoulder replacement surgery. Yes, satisfied. Finding doctors is a problem for everybody in the country (USA) right now, and that is beginning to show in long times to obtain appointments for basic medical consults, etc. Rural areas far worse than urban, although it may be easier and cheaper to find housing in more rural areas.

Daughter has always been disabled,since childhood living on her own with a partner, barely making ends meet, and we help her with other expenses. She gets social security disability and is now on medicare since her father has retired, they cover her under his earned social security.
Medicaid alone was enough, constantly applying for various new programs, re applying for the ones as the state she lives in changes and changes rules again (and maybe this happens everywhere, the state in all cases runs "the system", Feds make the guidelines they must meet.)was a big pain, still is! Lots of paperwork and phone calls yearly.

Deductibles are still not bad, and waived in emergency situations and hospitalizations. She gets minimal care but it has been adequate, and she works hard to comply with requirements for treatment so she can continue to get aid, weekly therapy individually, monthly telehealth meeting with a psychiatrist for meds... She is doing well, mentally and health wise... considering her multiple diagnoses and all her struggles and her spouses' as individuals. It is possible for them to live independently, but it is getting much harder with the rising costs of rent and food, etc.
I think in many places the biggest problem right now is finding good safe housing, even one room... so many people looking and demand far outstrips places available.
Are you planning for retirement?

I like both very much. Before I qualified for Medicare I paid a fortune each month for health insurance. Before I qualified for Social Security I worked two full time low wage jobs to scrape by.

luckily the most i ever had to pay for health insurance on the private individual market was $350/month which was most of what i was making that time, but i had family help and owned my tin can i live in, so no rent worries thank god. that was in 2014. then washington state basic health took over after obamacare kicked in. that enabled me to have $50 copay doc's visits until 2017 when trump came in and kicked a bunch of us vets off of obamacare, i hadda go without health care for over a year, resulting in me almost losing the sight in my right eye due to uncontrolled hypertension. then the VA kicked in, finally.