Wrangling Bureaucracy. Advice?

[OldStrummer]

I know this forum is probably not the best place to post this, but I figure some of you are in the same age bracket, and may have gone through similar experiences. The back story, abbreviated:

• I retired last October, at the age of 72.
• The IRS recommended I start taking disbursements a year ago, due to having reach maximum benefit stage.
• I was automatically enrolled in Medicare Part A when I turned 65. I began the Part B enrollment last month (December).
• Day before yesterday I received a letter from the Social Security Administration (SSA) specifying my monthly Part B premiums.

I was aghast. It also happens I had lunch yesterday with my retirement planner (he paid), arranged before the letter arrived, but it was timely, so I asked him about it. He replied that it was not uncommon and that he'd advised numerous clients to request SSA adjust the premiums due to a "life changing event." In other words, my retirement. He explained that SSA determines premiums according to the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA). The value used is the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of the year prior, in this case 2022. Of course, my "life changing event" has the net effect of reducing my IRMAA, and I could request the SSA to review and adjust. Got that so far?

It's been years since I was subject to government bureaucracy. I'd forgotten how bad it could be. So, according to the letter I received, I decided to call my local SSA office to arrange an in-person appointment. Three times I went through the automated "telephone tag" only to get disconnected just as it seemed I was going to be put into the hold queue.

But on the SSA web site, it gives a different number if you specifically want to discuss a re-adjustment to IRMAA. Could it be? One hour and four minutes I've now been on hold waiting to speak to someone. And that's just going to be the beginning of this rathole. I'm holding on because I got in a 90 minutes walk, ate a nice, filling lunch, and now can just listen to the endless repeating, partly garbled monkey xylophone they're playing while I wait. I'm retired. I can be patient.

However, there are many far better ways I can think to pass my time. Sky-diving onto thumb tacks. Self-service root canal surgery.

What's your experience, if you've had similar? Do you often poke voodoo dolls with pins while talking with bureaucrats, or do you suffer in silence?

[phantomman]

I've endured the pleasure of all that PLUS the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and the VA, the latter two for my for my military pension and service-connected disability payments. It's all so byzantine that I'm certain that Rube Goldberg could learn some pointers from these bureaucrats.

Best advice I can give is to keep the bourbon handy.

[Bill Moore]

I know just what you're dealing with, hours on the phone listening to Muzak big band tunes on a loop!
I deal with the VA regularly with my medical issues, and (now settled) disability. It took five years of documenting, meeting with different "evaluators" at different locations, (why can't they come to my little town?), before I got my disability claims settled!
My beautiful bride now qualifies for ChampVA, and it is no different, they will deny/ask for more documentation, and after hours on the phone will pay a claim! They did finally start covering her prescriptions automatically, so that's a start!

[OldStrummer]

Thanks, Roger. I dodged a bullet today. I'm sure that won't always be the case.

I finally got connected after about an hour and a quarter (one of the repeated hold messages states they service 50 million clients, so they sometimes get busy). After giving up the necessary information, I had my answer in less than five minutes. Turns out SSA had sent TWO letters on the same day. The second was correcting the adjustment error in the first.

Unfortunately, I received the second letter first, so when the first letter arrived second, I read it that my payment amount had been increased. In actuality, it had been reduced, and now I'm at the standard premium, which is what I thought was the amount all along. Whew. No trip to the local office, and at least for now, no more phone calls...

[phantomman]

At least you got a breather and they didn't reduce your annuity. Not all shlubs are as lucky.

[OldStrummer]

+1

[Bill Moore]

Good news!

[ch willie]

I've not had to deal so much with government bureaucracy as much as with university bureaucracy, and it's a pita. It began when I was a student, and it ended 35 years later when I retired from teaching.

I learned a few things, and these have been the most valuable to me. And in no way am I implying that I'm giving YOU a lesson.

1). Nobody really gives a spit about you and your needs, no matter how urgent, so you have to be persistent, wade through the bs and see it all through to the end. It's best to not let yourself get frustrated by the delays and stops and hold times and one functionary transferring you to another hopeless functionary. Your anger and frustration do you more damage than it does to those who deserve your anger.

2). You're talking to cogs in a machine. Some of them are burnt out, some of them are jerks, some are good people who want to help but have to go through the process too, some are good but their hands are tied by rules and regs and policies, some are incompetent. No matter who you're talking to, most likely, none of them is in control. They're mostly just good folks who are as helpless in the face of it all as you are. Treat them as you would want to be treated. Even though people have screwed the pooch, they are human and do have feelings. Being nasty to them makes you a pile of shit.

3). When people are rude, be kind to them. In the South it's what we do when we say, "Bless your heart": If someone says, "Look, I can't help you, and I don't give a shit what happens to you and your case," You say, "Well, bless your heart" [eat spit and die].

[OldStrummer]

3). When people are rude, be kind to them. In the South it's what we do when we say, "Bless your heart": If someone says, "Look, I can't help you, and I don't give a shit what happens to you and your case," You say, "Well, bless your heart" [eat spit and die].

I'm a bit of a Southerner too, and I always address people as "Sir" or "Ma'am" no matter what role they're playing in my affairs. At this stage of life, I have learned patience and the old adage about getting more flies with honey than with vinegar. I've never understood why anyone would want to catch flies, but that's for another time...

Given the option: Go to the local office and wait in a government facility, or sit in my reclining sofa with laptop on my lap, AirPods in my ears, and biding my time until the connection happens, I think my choice was very clear.

[Laker]

I honestly do not understand what all the retirement wrangling is about.

My wife and I visited the local SS office before retiring and all questions we had were answered. We applied for benefits when we retired and we both worked to six months beyond max retirement age and we both drew our “civilian wage” plus our SSI benefit for six months. We both knew what the SSI benefit would be and it has been accurately delivered for the last (for me) ten years. With our SSi benefits plus our IRA withdrawals we live as comfortably as we did while working.

I am totally lost with what all the issues are with Social Security.

[OldStrummer]

I honestly do not understand what all the retirement wrangling is about.

My wife and I visited the local SS office before retiring and all questions we had were answered. We applied for benefits when we retired and we both worked to six months beyond max retirement age and we both drew our “civilian wage” plus our SSI benefit for six months. We both knew what the SSI benefit would be and it has been accurately delivered for the last (for me) ten years. With our SSi benefits plus our IRA withdrawals we live as comfortably as we did while working.

I am totally lost with what all the issues are with Social Security.

Since I am just embarking down this road, I can't really address your situation. Apocryphally, I've heard that navigating the bureaucracies such as VA, DMV and SSA (and pretty much anything that has a .gov TLD) is rife with error, mistake, misdirection and other Kafka-esque experiences. When I was first put on hold and was informed my wait time was approximately one hour, fifteen minutes, I thought to myself, "Well, here we go." So, I resigned myself to be comfortable during the wait, and the only negative to the time was the recurring mindless music I was subjected to during the, "We're sorry you have to wait so long" messages.

When I finally was connected to a live human, the person (a woman) was friendly, efficient, and had all of the information at hand needed to answer my questions.

During my working life, I often interacted with goverment agencies as a consultant, a trainer, a contractor, and a programmer. During those times, I frequently found bureaucrats deficient, egotistical, uncaring, and careless. Interacting with one as a client is a brand new experience!