ArcaMax

Good day, Toni:

We saw your article about Medicare Part B enrollment in our local newspaper, but my wife’s and my Medicare enrollment situation is different. We will both turn 65 this year, me in June and Carol in September. I have signed up for Medicare Part A only and Carol will enroll for Part A soon.

I retired when I turned 63 with ...Read more

Whenever I see a parent with a disabled child, it tugs at my heartstrings. On the one hand, I can't imagine the hardships they must face almost every day. I think of our neighbors -- a retired couple our age (in their 70s) whose only child is a 40-year-old son with cerebral palsy. So much of their lives seems to revolve around the care for their...Read more

Hello Toni:

In September, I turn 65 with my Medicare beginning Sept. 1. I recently read your article from Greg in Texas who had received wrong information about enrolling in Medicare when self-employed. I am also self-employed and need your advice about enrolling in Medicare Part D.

Currently, I am enrolled in Amazon Prime’s Pharmacy ...Read more

I don't think I coined the term. But I may have helped spread it around the world of Social Security. I'm referring to the "spousal bump." Every time I hear it, it makes me chuckle. It sounds like some "dirty dancing" move by an old married couple in a shady nightclub! But of course, I know that's not what the spousal bump is. It is a term that ...Read more

At 95 years old, Catherine Kuehn wasn’t just lifting weights. She was a competing powerlifter — one worthy of her own documentary.

Presented by The New Yorker, “Strong Grandma” follows Kuehn as she reminisces about the love and loss of her husband while preparing for what may be her final competition.

According to Open Power Lifting, ...Read more

Toni:

I have been researching the changes to Medicare’s telehealth services over a computer video service that I saw on the news recently. I am concerned because my mother lives in an assisted living facility and her primary care doctor uses the telehealth computer service, so I do not have to take my mother, who uses a wheelchair, to the ...Read more

Sadly, there has been more than a little bit of "government bashing" going on lately. In addition to general rants about alleged government inefficiency, government employees come in for more than their share of criticism. All I really know is Social Security and the services provided by the Social Security Administration. So that's what I am ...Read more

Dear Toni:

I am self-employed with an individual health plan and confused about enrolling in Medicare when I turn 65 in July. I cannot find the answer to my situation in the Medicare & You handbook. A business associate who is also self-employed delayed his Part B because he is under his wife’s company benefits. He is sure that I can delay ...Read more

There has been a lot of talk over the years about Social Security being a "Ponzi scheme." I have addressed this issue many times before, so I don't want to bore my regular readers with another long dissertation. But since a certain billionaire friend of President Donald Trump brought it up yet again, I will make three quick observations.

One: ...Read more

On April 1, I went to the local Social Security office to apply for both my Social Security check and Medicare Part B, since I am turning 70 on April 20. On April 11 I received a letter from Social Security stating that the $3,200 Social Security benefit check will be issued in May to my bank account. To my surprise, the letter states that ...Read more

I doubt if any of you have ever bothered to count, but my average weekly column comes out to about 1,000 words. I bring this up because the other day, a national newspaper asked me to write a one-time Social Security column for them. They told me that wanted me to answer five questions (of their choosing) and that they would give me 500 words of...Read more