ArcaMax

In last week's column, I shared the results of a survey I conducted with my readers in which I asked you to rate the service you got from the Social Security Administration using the ubiquitous star system: 5 stars for good service down to 1 star for poor service. I got more than 200 responses. And your responses averaged out to 4.5 stars.

Many...Read more

Dear Toni,

I need your help regarding my parents who are in their late 80s. My mother has been disabled with Parkinson’s for the past 3 years and my father has been her caretaker, but due to his recent heart attack, he can no longer assist her.

They do not have a long-term care plan, and discussing having live-in help or living in an ...Read more

Well, the votes are in. Several weeks ago, I asked my readers to rate the service they got from the Social Security Administration in the form of stars: 5 stars for good service down to 1 star for poor service. More than 250 of you responded. And the overall rating averaged out to a solid 4.5 stars.

This is much higher than I would have guessed...Read more

Hello Toni:

My husband, Steven, has been laid off from a company he worked with for over 20 years. His employer is downsizing due to changes in the economy and May 31 will be his last day.

Steve is 68, enrolled in Medicare Part A but never enrolled in Medicare B because he had employer benefits. He is stressed, wondering how to apply for ...Read more

A month or so ago, I wrote a column about people who mistakenly think they are being cheated by the Social Security Administration out of benefits they believe they are due.

But one group I didn't mention in that column are the biggest complainers of all: public employees such as teachers and police officers in certain states, many of whom don'...Read more

Dear Toni:

I am turning 65 in June, self-employed, and my income together with my wife’s is over $300,000. Recently I received a letter from Social Security telling me that my monthly Medicare Part B premium of $174.70 would double to $349.40 per month due to 2022 reported income. That was no surprise, but Social Security also said that ...Read more

Q: I am sick and tired of all these people who bring their parents over here from foreign countries and then immediately put them on their Social Security account. No wonder Social Security is going broke! I personally know two couples in my neighborhood who get Social Security. They brought their parents up from Mexico and now they are mooching...Read more

Hi Toni:

I’m turning 65 in July and not receiving my Social Security check. Last week I tried to open a “My Social Security” account to enroll in Medicare online and discovered that my Social Security account is blocked. Two years ago, someone falsely filed for a tax refund with my Social Security number. Now anything that involves me ...Read more

Over the 27 years I've been writing this column, I have probably written a hundred columns directed at divorced women. But after answering emails from men who had questions about benefits for divorcees, it dawned on me that I've never written a column for divorced men. Today, I'll make up for that.

I should point out that I will be ...Read more

Toni:

Why did a hospital medical claims division employee ask my husband James to sign a form stating that he is aware that he is now in his “lifetime reserve days” while he was waiting for his lung/heart transplant?

He went into the hospital in December of last year for congestive heart failure only to discover that his heart and ...Read more

I've been writing this column for about 27 years. And more than a few times, I took my former agency, the Social Security Administration, to task for sometimes falling down on the job. That's because I frequently hear from readers complaining about misinformation they received from Social Security representatives or about service issues -- ...Read more