Social Security Milestone

After 41 years of working full time I retired four years ago. That doesn’t include the odd jobs I had starting in high school and through college. Thirty one years were spent in heath care and ten years were spent in the federal government. At the time I didn’t really realize what the benefits would mean to us by working at the Library of Congress in DC. Back then, the idea was to find a job in DC, be able to walk to work, and live near our family. In the end it had a huge impact on our health care insurance because I continue to carry the self plus one option at the federal government rate - especially nice since I retired at 62 and didn’t have Medicare yet. But today is another big milestone for me. I received my first social security check! I didn’t start collecting it right away because luckily and with planning, we could afford not to. I waited four years and applied for it in October. That way, I’m in the middle of the time period that I can start collecting at 66. Waiting any longer didn’t seem to make that much sense given our personal circumstances. We had a lot of discussion about what would be the best way to go and felt it was finally the right time. Last year I applied for Medicare and now I have my social security. What sounds weird is that I’m talking about myself and not all those “old people” out there. I have to say I worked long and hard for this “benefit” and deserve every penny. Hopefully I will be able to keep it coming for many years to come. 

Applying for Medicare

A few months ago I signed on to the social security website to avoid missing out on paper mail updates. I also knew I would be needing to sign up for Medicare three months before my birthday and wanted to have things in order. Since I am not yet collecting social security, I wouldn’t automatically start getting Medicare. So yesterday was a good time to check out the Medicare website and sign up. It’s really hard to believe that I am already almost eligible for it. My head still thinks I am a lot younger, as everyone else always feels. Maybe it was that, or a lot of other things going on in my head right now - but it took me forever to finally get to the right place and start an application. I thought I would sign in to my social security page, find the Medicare section, and start there. No, you start with Medicare page, and after the application is complete, you can then check on your my social security page for an update. All I know is that when I was done completing the application I got an email saying they received it, and another email today with instructions on the timeline and how to get a status. If I’m already confused about this, I hope it gets easier once it’s processed.