Helping out US vets
SSA denies late spouse’s benefits
Dear John: I have a question that I hope you can answer.
My late wife passed about 3 1/2 years ago from smoking for over 50 years. But that’s not the question.
I am a retired firefighter from the Trenton, NJ, fire department. I also served in the Marines from 1951 to 1955, and I am a Korean veteran too.
My question is: When my wife died I tried to get her Social Security payments. I went to their office two times and was denied. They told me that former President Reagan passed a bill that said the pension I get disqualified me from her Social Security payments.
When I retired in 1988, I made $20,000 a year, and, they said, I would be double-dipping. I hope you can give me an answer to this question. Please excuse the color of this letter. The pen I was using ran out of ink. Thanks. R.H.
Dear R.H. Hopefully someone from Social Security has called you by now. I was promised that they would.
The answer to this is complicated, especially since the Social Security Administration won’t discuss your specific case.
And don’t worry about the ink. I accept letters even if they are written in crayon.
What I think the Social Security people were talking about was something called the Government Pension Offset (GPO) that was
passed in 1997. Before that provision, a person who received a civil service pension (you) based on work they did but who did not pay into Social Security was also eligible for a Social Security spouse’s and widow(er)’s benefits in full. A great deal. It’s different now, according to my source at Social Security. Let’s say you work at a place that has a civil service pension, but you haven’t paid into Social Security. But your wife has paid into Social Security for 25 years.
In this case, Social Security would subtract two-thirds of your non-covered pension from the Social Security benefits you’d get under your wife’s coverage. You’d get the difference. But if the result is less than zero, you get nothing in Social Security benefits. That could be the problem. There are other things involved, so you really have to talk with a Social Security worker.
Dear John: I am a senior citizen and veteran who was, in my opinion, scammed.
I had a computer which I used only for e-mail and to pay
bills. All of a sudden my computer became blocked. On the screen appeared only a phone number to call to get help.
I called and was told that I would have it working again at the price of $699.99, and for this money I would have a threeyear protection.
I agreed, and faxed the check over. After that I was able to use my computer for a couple of months with minor problems. Then it happened again; I called and it was solved.
Finally, my computer had a complete breakdown.
So my computer was protected only one year. But even during this time there were frequent problems. I have two years left.
I think I should be reimbursed for two years. I made so many calls asking for money.
Would you please help me? I read The New York Post and know that you helped so many readers. J.M.
Dear J.M. Yep, you were scammed.
I’ll let Don Higgins, one of the top tech guys at our company, explain it:
“I’ve gotten this fake message from ‘Microsoft’ myself.
“There’s nothing wrong with his computer, it just needs to be cleaned to get rid of the cookies, etc. that cause the internet browser heusesto lock up and keep warning the user.
“He should get the Geek Squad (at Best Buy) to do the cleanup for him. It’s not difficult.”
The bad news is, you probably won’t see your money again. I called the numbers you gave me and got someone who seemed to be in India. He didn’t want to discuss the scam with me.