[Nfbmt] SSDI & SSI guidelines & information for 2014

[Edward Robbins]

>From some of the comments made, I feel that the following article, copied &
Pasted from the December 2013 Braille Monitor might help clarify information
concerning SS earnings while working.

Ted

***

Social Security, SSI, and Medicare Facts for 2014

by Lauren McLarney

>From the Editor: Every December we publish the Social Security figures that
have been announced for the coming year. Here is the 2014 information as
prepared by Lauren McLarney, governmental affairs specialist, NFB Advocacy
and Policy Department:

Another year, another set of annual adjustments to Social Security
Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and
Medicare programs. The updated amounts for 2014 are listed below. These
numbers include new tax rates, higher exempt earnings amounts (substantial
gainful activity), and cost-of-living increases. They also include
deductible, premium, and coinsurance amounts under Part A and B of Medicare.


Tax Rates

FICA and Self-Employment Tax Rates: The FICA tax rate for employees and
their employers is a combination of payments to the Old Age, Survivors, and
Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Fund, and the Hospital Insurance (HI)
Trust Fund, from which payments under Medicare are made. In other words, the
tax rate is the combined rate for Social Security and Medicare. The total
tax rate for 2013 was 7.65 percent for employees and their employers and
15.3 percent for self-employed workers. These percentages are unchanged for
2014. Please note that as of January 2013 individuals with earned income of
more than $200,000 ($250,000 for married couples filing jointly) pay an
additional 0.9 percent in Medicare taxes. The tax rates listed above for
2013 and 2014 do not include that additional 0.9 percent.

Ceiling on Earnings Subject to Tax: In 2013 the ceiling on taxable earnings
for contributions to the OASDI Trust Fund was $113,700. For 2014 the maximum
amount of taxable earnings will be $117,000. All earnings are taxed for the
HI Trust Fund.

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)

Quarters of Coverage: Eligibility for Retirement, Survivors, and Disability
Insurance benefits is partially based on the number of quarters of coverage
earned by any individual during periods of work. Anyone may earn up to four
quarters of coverage in a single year. The rationale behind the
quarter-of-coverage concept is that a person must have contributed to the
system before being eligible to collect benefits from it. The quarters of
coverage are a way of measuring how much one has contributed to the system.
In 2013 a quarter of coverage was credited for earnings of $1,160 in any
calendar quarter. Anyone who earned $4,640 in 2013 (regardless of when the
earnings occurred during the year) received four quarters of coverage. In
2014 a quarter of coverage will be credited for earnings of $1,200 during a
calendar quarter. Four quarters will be credited for annual earnings of
$4,800. 

Trial Work Period Limit: The amount of earnings required to use a trial work
month is subject to annual increases based on changes in the national
average wage index. In 2013 the amount was $750. This amount will increase
to $770 in 2014. In cases of self-employment a trial work month can also be
used if a person works more than eighty hours, and this limitation on hours
worked will not change unless expressly adjusted.

Exempt Earnings: The monthly earnings exemption is referred to as
Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA). This is a measurement used to determine
whether a beneficiary is earning enough income that he or she may be deemed
ineligible for benefits, and is calculated as a person's monthly income
before taxes, minus any unearned (or subsidy) income and any
impairment-related work expense deductions. In 2013 the SGA for a blind
person receiving disability benefits was $1,740. In 2014 this number will
increase to $1,800 per month. This means that in 2014 a blind SSDI
beneficiary who earns $1,801 or more a month (before taxes but after
subtractions of subsidy incomes and impairment-related work expenses) will
be deemed to have exceeded SGA and will likely no longer be eligible for
benefits.

Social Security Benefit Amounts: There will be a 1.5 percent cost-of-living
adjustment (COLA) for beneficiaries in 2014. Increased payments to
beneficiaries will begin in December of 2013 and will apply to everyone
receiving benefits in 2014.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Standard SSI Benefit Increase: Beginning January 2014 the federal payment
amounts for SSI individuals and couples are as follows: individuals, $721 a
month; SSI couples, $1,082 a month.

Student Earned Income Exclusion: In 2013 the monthly amount was $1,730, and
the maximum yearly amount was $6,960. In 2014 the monthly amount will be
$1,750, and the maximum yearly amount will be $7,060. The SSI program
applies strict asset limits of $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for
couples, which can be changed only by Congress.

Medicare

Medicare Deductibles and Coinsurance: Medicare Part A coverage provides
hospital insurance to most Social Security beneficiaries. The coinsurance
amount is the hospital charge to a Medicare beneficiary for any hospital
stay. Medicare then pays the hospital charges above the beneficiary's
coinsurance amount.

The Part A hospital inpatient deductible was $1,184 in 2013 and will
increase to $1,216 in 2014. The coinsurance charged for hospital services
within a benefit period of no longer than sixty days was $0 in 2013 and will
stay at $0 in 2014. From the sixty-first day through the ninetieth day, the
daily coinsurance amount was $296 a day in 2013, and will slightly increase
in 2014 to $304 a day. Each Medicare beneficiary has sixty lifetime reserve
days that may be used after a ninety-day benefit period has ended. Once
used, these reserve days are no longer available after any benefit period.
The coinsurance amount paid during each reserve day used in 2013 was $592.
In 2014 the coinsurance for each reserve day will be $608.

Part A of Medicare pays all covered charges for services in a skilled
nursing facility for the first twenty days following a three-day in-hospital
stay within a benefit period. From the twenty-first day through the one
hundredth day in a benefit period, the Part A coinsurance amount for
services received in a skilled nursing facility was $148 in 2013 and will
increase to $152 for 2014.

Most Social Security beneficiaries have no monthly premium charge for
Medicare Part A coverage. Those who become ineligible for SSDI can continue
to receive Medicare Part A coverage premium-free for at least ninety-three
months after the end of a trial work period. After that time the individual
may purchase Part A coverage. The premium rate for this coverage during 2013
was $441 a month. In 2014 the premium rate for Part A coverage will reduce
to $426. 

The annual deductible amount for Medicare Part B (medical insurance) in 2013
was $147. That amount will not change in 2014. The Medicare Part B monthly
premium rate charged to each new beneficiary or to those beneficiaries who
directly pay their premiums quarterly for 2013 was $104.90 a month, and
again that amount will not change in 2014. For those receiving Social
Security benefits, this premium payment is deducted from your monthly
benefit check. Individuals who remain eligible for Medicare, but are not
receiving Social Security benefits because of working, must directly pay the
Part B premium quarterly-one payment every three months. Like the Part A
premiums mentioned above, Part B is also available for at least ninety-three
months following the trial work period, assuming an individual wishes to
have it and, when not receiving SSDI, continues to make quarterly premium
payments.

Programs That Help with Medicare Deductibles and Premiums: Low-income
Medicare beneficiaries may qualify for help with payments. Assistance is
available through two programs-the QMB (Qualified Medicare Beneficiary
program) and the SLMB (Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary program).
To qualify for the QMB program in 2013, an individual's monthly income could
not exceed $978 and a married couple's monthly income could not exceed
$1,313. A note on the Medicare website says: "These amounts may increase in
2014."

Under the QMB program states are required to pay the Medicare Part A
(Hospital Insurance) and Part B (Medical Insurance) premiums, deductibles,
and coinsurance expenses for Medicare beneficiaries who meet the program's
income and resource requirements. Under the SLMB program states pay only the
full Medicare Part B monthly premium. Eligibility for the SLMB program may
be retroactive for up to three calendar months.

Both the QMB and SLMB programs are administered by the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services in conjunction with the states. The rules vary from
state to state, but the following can be said: Resources, such as bank
accounts or stocks, may not exceed $4,000 for one person or $6,000 for a
family of two. Resources are generally things you own. However, not
everything is counted. The house you live in, for example, doesn't count;
and generally one car also doesn't count.

If you qualify for assistance under the QMB program, you will not have to
pay the following: Medicare's hospital deductible amount, which will be
$1,216 per benefit period in 2014; the daily coinsurance charges for
extended hospital and skilled nursing facility stays; the Medicare Part B
(Medical Insurance) premium, which will be $104.90 a month in 2014, unless
you are currently receiving benefits from Social Security and the agency is
automatically withholding your Part B premiums; the 2014 $147 annual Part B
deductible; and the 20 percent coinsurance for services covered by Medicare
Part B, depending on which doctor you go to (these services include doctor
services, outpatient therapy, and durable medical equipment). 

If you qualify for assistance under the SLMB program, you will be
responsible for the payment of all of the items listed above except for the
monthly Part B premium, depending on your circumstances.

If you think you qualify but you have not filed for Medicare Part A, contact
Social Security to find out if you need to file an application. Further
information about filing for Medicare is available from your local Social
Security office or Social Security's toll-free number (800) 772-1213.

Remember that only your state can decide if you are eligible for help from
the QMB or SLMB program and also that the income and resource levels listed
here are general guidelines with some states choosing greater amounts.
Therefore, if you are elderly or disabled, have low income and very limited
assets, and are a Medicare beneficiary, contact your state or local Medicaid
office (referred to in some states as the Public Aid Office or the Public
Assistance Office) to apply. For more information about either program, call
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on its toll-free number
(800) 633-4227, or go online to < <http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ContactCMS>
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ContactCMS>. 

 

***

 

EDWARD C "TED" ROBBINS

, CEO MBEI, Treasurer NFB of Montana & MANAGER MAB EQUIPMENT PROGRAM

PHONE & FAX:  406 453 6678, CELL:  406 799 6268

104 RIVERVIEW 5 E

GREAT FALLS  MT   59404

 



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