Things are starting to scare me.

[murielm99]

Everything is going wrong at the same time. Most of you know I have cancer. Also, I had to take health care power of attorney and durable power of attorney for my mother. She is 94 and has dementia. She is living on her own under poor conditions. She refuses to move. She has a couple of friends who help her. They are church ladies who interfere with my care of my mother. I had to call the sheriff on them. I am trying to manage her care from four hours away. Now, I have to go to her house and get her checkbook. She is not allowed to write checks any more. I have to pay her bills and leave her some money for her expenses. I am in the process of looking for a guardian ad litem for her.

We will work on getting her into a nursing home.

Now, Social Security is threatening to take all my benefits. If they do that, my Medicare benefits will not be paid. I will lose Medicare, too. They told me that I am entitled to less money because I worked as a substitute teacher for a few years. I receive a lump sum payment for the amount that I paid into the teacher retirement system. No matter what proof I send them, they think I am getting a teacher's pension. They think that the teacher retirement system was paid money by the school districts for my retirement. They want proof that I do not get a teacher's pension within ten days or they are going to suspend my SS benefits. School districts in Illinois do not pay an employer's portion into the teacher retirement fund for people who are only subs!

The TRS retirement system sent me a lump sum payment. They took taxes from it. By the time they took taxes, it was under $5,000.00. Now SS is telling me that they will, at the very least, reduce the amount I get every month because of this lump sum payment. Everything is a mess in my life.

[Skittles]

1. you seriously need a lawyer

for both you and your mum

[murielm99]

2. I have the legal help I need for my mom,

but not for myself.

[marybourg]

8. I had a similar problem and found that the only

issue lawyers generally deal with regarding Social Security is disability. There are lawyers who specialize in this and there are regulations regarding their pay, but other S.S. problems are generally dealt with within the Agency, sometimes with help from Congresspeople or Senators.

My problem involved the possibility that I was receiving a federal pension, so they were able to research themselves and find out that I was not. But they can’t research a State pension.

[marybourg]

3. Call your congressperson on Tuesday. They have people on staff

to help with issues involving federal agencies. Sorry all this is piled on to you at once.

[murielm99]

4. My congress person is a republican idiot.

He knows I am a Democratic activist.

The earliest I could call him is Thursday or Friday. I have appointments to take care of things for my mother earlier in the week. I am going to send SS the paperwork they want, and then call the congress person. I hope he will help, even though he knows who I am. My previous interactions with him have been mild and polite, despite our politically opposite positions.

[marybourg]

5. How about your Senators?

[herding cats]

15. I'd still call them.

I'm a fireball activist where I am. Small town and active with my Congress critter. I've been in the local paper, etc. for my brand of activism. He (most definitely an aide) even wrote about how wrong I was was once in the local paper.

I had to reach out to my (old not my new Congress critter) whom I'd met with multiple times before because I apposed them publicly, for several years. They had no clue who I was. They helped me and asked me to remember to vote for them again. I kid you not.

Seriously, they pay no attention to us. They're all so busy now twisting themselves into pretzels to seem nifty to the DC lobbyists crowd we don't register on their radar anymore, sadly. We're all invisible to them.

[WhiteTara]

18. you will only deal with his staff

and they are usually willing to help anyone in their district.

[Prairie_Seagull]

29. One of my Senators helped me with an issue. If you call, ask for constituent services.

After doing so I got a phone call from the head of the department involved apologizing.

Go Patty Murry.

Very good luck to you and your mom.

[question everything]

6. Second this

[murielm99]

7. I am going to call him. Thanks.

[murielm99]

9. I am going to contact him anyway.

He might be good at constituent services. I am feeling better just knowing there is a direction I can take.

I will send all the requested paperwork to the people in Chicago, and also to the more local SS office in Sterling IL. I will let the local office know that I am contacting my congressman for help on this. I will do it in a non-aggressive way.

I knew that someone on DU would have good ideas.

Thanks to you and everyone else on this thread for their support.

[marybourg]

10. Good luck. Hope all is resolved soon.

[SCantiGOP]

17. Call your reps in Congress

House and Senator.
You will deal with a staffer. Their only job is to help constituents.
Years ago my brother was living in Africa and was having trouble (very long story). He and I called Strom Thurmond’s office, and in 48 hours things we had been told by federal agencies couldn’t be done had been done.

[cilla4progress]

11. Keep us posted, ok?

Thinking of you.

[brer cat]

12. I am so sorry you are going through all these issues.

I'm glad you have a lawyer to help with your mother. That is such an awful situation to handle. Stay strong and know that we are all here to support you.

[Hope22]

13. Are you able to go into the Social Security Office?

We have had good luck with in person meetings to straighten out SS/ Medicare issues. I hope things get in order for you soon. This Stress is really hard to deal with. My heart goes out to you! 💗💗💗🙏🏼

[Freethinker65]

14. This happened to friend of mine's Mom.

She had just lost her husband and had filed for and was receiving survivor benefits when SS threatened to takeaway all of her SS plus request back payment for money they said she was not entitled to for decades because of an Illinois teacher's pension. She was able to locate the marriage license and original SS documents indicating all employment history had been correctly entered at time of original submission for SS from the beginning.
SS eventually dropped the threat. My friend's Mom passed a few months later. That extra stress worrying about SS payments and frantically trying to sort things out wasted valuable time left.

[sheshe2]

16. I don't have answers for you.

All I can do is give you a hug right now.

[ancianita]

19. I'm so sorry, muriel. I worked in Illinois, too. Now they call it an "offset." They used to call it

"double dipping." If you get a state pension in IL, you can't get social security, though many states allow it in addition to teacher pensions. I'm pretty sure this has always been legalese bs and needs an attorney. In the meantime...

Your local district's central records office can and should immediately certify a letter to SS that you are not receiving a teacher's pension. Have it dated within the ten day deadline, and send the certified letter by certified mail overnight. Make sure you take a time stamp photograph both the letter and the post office's certified tracker bar code form before handing it all over to the USPS.

It's SS's mistake and the state's, and you can sue both govts for that.

[LeftInTX]

20. Believe it or not John Cornyn's office got my son his SSI! or SSDI...Can't remember which one.

My son was only 19 and his diagnosis was substance abuse secondary to other psychiatric issues. (Mostly depression). The state then paid for his bachelor's degree. Seven years later, my son was no longer eligible because he was gainfully employed and going to graduate school.

My son wasn't that bad off either. I wasn't going to fork out money for his college education based on his condition at the time though.
However, Cornyn's office was pretty aggressive about helping us out. You never know!

A senator who is actually anti-social security was the main reason my son received his benefits.

About 30 years ago, progressive stalwart Henry B Gonzalez was my congressman. I kept trying to get help from his office and trying and trying. I got nowhere. I eventually got help from Republican Sen Phil Gramm.
___________________

Are you retired or are you disabled? Your medicare shouldn't be removed if you are retired. Even if you are disabled, you should still be eligible for medicare for a certain amt of time if you are working.

[NBachers]

21. Can you appear at the SS office; your congress person's office; and the school records office

in person?

[mopinko]

26. my experience- showing up

i just wanted to make an appt, cuz it’s so hard to get them on the phone.
was told i’d have to take a number just to get an appt. 2-3 hr wait. for what?

trying to get my spousal bennie, switching from individual. lordy what a damn hassle. i have to produce paper copies of blinkin public records.
about ready to talk to my rep.

[BadgerMom]

22. Likely as a sub you weren't a union member.

However, the union has experts on the ins and outs of the retirement plan. Perhaps someone with the union could offer some advice or direction?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. WHY is Social Security trying to take away your benefits?

Do get an attorney.

I can only offer you sympathy about your mother. So many old people absolutely insist on staying in their home long past the time they should be in some kind of assisted living or nursing home. I'm completely exasperated with that.

My sister and I spent a year getting our brother and his wife out of the home they'd lived in, and hoarded, for some 40 years. It was grotesquely difficult, far more than it should have been. People need to be aware that THEY CANNOT EXPECT TO LIVE IN THE SAME HOME FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES!! Yes, I am shouting. I need to shout because people just don't get it. They need to be realistic -- you need to be realistic -- about how much you can actually care for yourself in old age.

I am 75 years old. I live alone, and so far everything is copacetic. However, I fully expect to move into independent/assisted living reasonably soon, probably by age 80. I am more than willing to give up the responsibility of home ownership. I want things to be taken care of for myself. I recognize that not everyone is in a financial position to do this, but I am, and I will do so.

[murielm99]

24. They are trying to take away my benefits because

I worked for a few years as a substitute teacher. Teachers don't pay SS. They pay into a teacher's retirement pension system. The TRS sent me a lump sum payment in 2020. It was money I had paid in. They gave it back. They took out taxes first.

To my knowledge, school districts and/or the state of Illinois do not match retirement fund payment to subs. They are happy to take something from each of our paychecks and pay it into the retirement system. However, they did give it back in a lump sum. I did not ask to be reimbursed. They did that on their own. Now SS wants to punish me for that one time lump sum payment. Illinois does not allow teachers to receive SS and TRS pensions at the same time. I need to get someone to help me with this. I will, but it might not be until next week. I have obligations already to help my mother with her mess.

[murielm99]

25. Listen to this:

On the second page of this letter, it says, "Please submit a response with proof within 10 days of the date of this notice. If no response is received or submitted without proof from the agency that issued the lump sum, your wife's benefits will be suspended beginning in September 2023."

I don't have a wife. I have had the same husband for 45 years. These people are messed up.

I will send them what I have. TRS has sent me some information. I will let them know that I was a sub, not an employee. There were no employer contributions as far as I know, because I was a sub for a few years. The lump sum was, as far as I know, money that I paid in. They returned that money to me when I was 70.5 years old.

I will have to overnight this if I want it to get there within the ten day deadline they have given me.

[calimary]

27. I'm so sorry to hear of the uphill battles you're stuck in, murielm99.

Damn! It’s just flat-out WRONG.

Seems like there are good, or at least usable ideas for what to do.

Whatever you do or what happens, please keep us posted! I hope if some of us keep this thread kicked, more people will see it, and somebody in there will know more of what to do.

[AwakeAtLast]

28. Illinois needs to stop doing this to teachers!

If two teachers are married and one dies, the other is not entitled to any SS death benefits coming from any work done outside of teaching. It's ludicrous!