Social Security Fiasco
by Shelley Pineo-Jensen, Ph.D.
2023-09-14
2023-09-14
Unbeknownst to me, sometime in April, SSI sent me a letter requesting an update on my increased in income from my teacher’s retirement (heretofore known as CalStrs).
Unaware of this demand, I blithefully went on a 33 day to the West Coast, getting back near the end of July. There was a letter from SSI about my failure to supply required information and a threat to halt my SS payments if I didn't supply the income information within 30 days of the receipt of the letter - dated mid-July. At this point, the first letter was brought to my attention.
With only a couple weeks to get this accomplished, I sent of the info that day, delivering it to a post office drop box.
In August, I got ANOTHER letter threatening me for not supplying the info, so I called my local office, where nice people had helped me set up the account a couple years ago. The agent said he could see nothing on my account indicating that it was about to be halted and that I could just drop the documents off at the local office, which I did later that day. I had wanted to see an agent, but the wait was over an hour, so I just dropped off the papers, assuming I was solving the problem. The person I spoke to on the phone turned out to one of the agents who helped me set up my account in the first place. He had seemed very confident that this would take care of my issue.
I heard nothing back. I tried to call SS back later to confirm that all was well, but the wait was long and my life was too busy. After waiting for 40 minutes, some real-life issue would demand my attention. Repeat as needed.
Then, in early September, I got a letter saying my SSI was now stopped and that I could appeal. So I spent a few hours on hold trying to contact my local office, thinking my odds were better with local people. After waiting for a long time, my call was dropped. Then, when I called, the message was changed to say that they were too busy and to call back later. It was now too close to 5:00 closing time to bother driving over then.
The next morning, after a night of little sleep, I got up early (early for me, anyway - I sleep a lot these days. I'm 72 so I get to) and got to my local SS office before it opened. There was already someone there waiting at the door!
I got in, got to see an agent. She called me to a window where I was going to have to stand up to have the meeting. Next to us was a window with a lower window and a chair. Perhaps my walking stick helped to agree to this ADA accommodation. The guard had to move the very heavy metal chair. I was still in a good mood at that point.
I explained that my docs did not seem to have been processed and she said that they had’ she'd reviewed my case before she called me to the window. She explained that I didn't qualify for SSI. She told me that my government pension precluded me from getting social security (off my husband's income . . . but that's another story . . . okay - my ten years of teaching went into one retirement and all my other work went into SS and I am one point short of qualifying for SS on my own income. All those years as a stay-home mom and low-income years while in school . . . I'm a patriarchal loser).
When I had objections, she then went away for a long time, to get me some SSI policy documents.
It was at this point that I started crying. I had gone in confident that I was going to clear up some mistake and now was processing the complete loss of my SS income. She was adamant that there was no mistake and that in fact, I owed money back from the August SSI payment that had been deposited into my bank account. Oddly, not from Jan, Feb, March, April, May, June, and July . . . all months that were involved in the original hate mail . . . or even more troubling, all the money I’d ever been paid . . . no, just the August payment needed to be paid back.
After a long time, she came back with two long government documents in small type . . . I wanted her to show me what part of the law was relevant and tried to hand her the paper back through the slot in the bullet-proof glass, but she resisted.
I asked why I got SS for two years under these same circumstances and she said that they must have not known about my pension. I said, "Whoa there, honey, that's not true!!!"
Okay I didn't say that. I said nice words about how the two agents who helped me in the first place (I knew their names by heart from the first time around) knew all about my CalStrs income and furthermore, the reason I had even applied was that my SIL had told me about her brother who had the exact same circumstances as me, retired teacher income with spouse on SS, and how he was getting spousal SS (SS minus pension = several hundred a month).
She went away for an even longer time. This time she had a different story. She skipped over the part where she was WRONG and moved on to the part where the documents I had supplied were inadequate and I need an original hard copy letter from CalStrs – an “Award Notice” going back to the beginning. She assured me there was no such letter in my file – she looked.
At this point I started to cry again, this time with relief. She handed me a box of tissues. I composed myself. I told her how difficult it was to call the office and she gave me her extension and that of the person who would be handling my case next. She said that she would come out to meet me to collect the document in person, and make sure that the new agent would get it. She assured me that this should solve the problem.
I’d like to be able to say that was the most grueling day of my life, but I’ve seen worse.
Unaware of this demand, I blithefully went on a 33 day to the West Coast, getting back near the end of July. There was a letter from SSI about my failure to supply required information and a threat to halt my SS payments if I didn't supply the income information within 30 days of the receipt of the letter - dated mid-July. At this point, the first letter was brought to my attention.
With only a couple weeks to get this accomplished, I sent of the info that day, delivering it to a post office drop box.
In August, I got ANOTHER letter threatening me for not supplying the info, so I called my local office, where nice people had helped me set up the account a couple years ago. The agent said he could see nothing on my account indicating that it was about to be halted and that I could just drop the documents off at the local office, which I did later that day. I had wanted to see an agent, but the wait was over an hour, so I just dropped off the papers, assuming I was solving the problem. The person I spoke to on the phone turned out to one of the agents who helped me set up my account in the first place. He had seemed very confident that this would take care of my issue.
I heard nothing back. I tried to call SS back later to confirm that all was well, but the wait was long and my life was too busy. After waiting for 40 minutes, some real-life issue would demand my attention. Repeat as needed.
Then, in early September, I got a letter saying my SSI was now stopped and that I could appeal. So I spent a few hours on hold trying to contact my local office, thinking my odds were better with local people. After waiting for a long time, my call was dropped. Then, when I called, the message was changed to say that they were too busy and to call back later. It was now too close to 5:00 closing time to bother driving over then.
The next morning, after a night of little sleep, I got up early (early for me, anyway - I sleep a lot these days. I'm 72 so I get to) and got to my local SS office before it opened. There was already someone there waiting at the door!
I got in, got to see an agent. She called me to a window where I was going to have to stand up to have the meeting. Next to us was a window with a lower window and a chair. Perhaps my walking stick helped to agree to this ADA accommodation. The guard had to move the very heavy metal chair. I was still in a good mood at that point.
I explained that my docs did not seem to have been processed and she said that they had’ she'd reviewed my case before she called me to the window. She explained that I didn't qualify for SSI. She told me that my government pension precluded me from getting social security (off my husband's income . . . but that's another story . . . okay - my ten years of teaching went into one retirement and all my other work went into SS and I am one point short of qualifying for SS on my own income. All those years as a stay-home mom and low-income years while in school . . . I'm a patriarchal loser).
When I had objections, she then went away for a long time, to get me some SSI policy documents.
It was at this point that I started crying. I had gone in confident that I was going to clear up some mistake and now was processing the complete loss of my SS income. She was adamant that there was no mistake and that in fact, I owed money back from the August SSI payment that had been deposited into my bank account. Oddly, not from Jan, Feb, March, April, May, June, and July . . . all months that were involved in the original hate mail . . . or even more troubling, all the money I’d ever been paid . . . no, just the August payment needed to be paid back.
After a long time, she came back with two long government documents in small type . . . I wanted her to show me what part of the law was relevant and tried to hand her the paper back through the slot in the bullet-proof glass, but she resisted.
I asked why I got SS for two years under these same circumstances and she said that they must have not known about my pension. I said, "Whoa there, honey, that's not true!!!"
Okay I didn't say that. I said nice words about how the two agents who helped me in the first place (I knew their names by heart from the first time around) knew all about my CalStrs income and furthermore, the reason I had even applied was that my SIL had told me about her brother who had the exact same circumstances as me, retired teacher income with spouse on SS, and how he was getting spousal SS (SS minus pension = several hundred a month).
She went away for an even longer time. This time she had a different story. She skipped over the part where she was WRONG and moved on to the part where the documents I had supplied were inadequate and I need an original hard copy letter from CalStrs – an “Award Notice” going back to the beginning. She assured me there was no such letter in my file – she looked.
At this point I started to cry again, this time with relief. She handed me a box of tissues. I composed myself. I told her how difficult it was to call the office and she gave me her extension and that of the person who would be handling my case next. She said that she would come out to meet me to collect the document in person, and make sure that the new agent would get it. She assured me that this should solve the problem.
I’d like to be able to say that was the most grueling day of my life, but I’ve seen worse.
