I'm confused. Does anyone have an explanation???

[spartan61]

Today while looking at my checking account transactions online, I saw that my Medicare payment for January (I pay by draft) went up to $110.50 per month for 2010. I went back and checked my husband's SS statement for 2010 and saw that he will be paying $96.50 per month. I couldn't understand why I'm paying $14 per month more than he is paying so I went to the government website to find the reason. I learned that because my Medicare isn't taken out of my SS check I will have to pay more.

First of all, I don't get a SS check so I can't have Medicare taken out of the check. I wish I did get a SS check but I was not afforded the opportunity to pay into SS. I taught school and retired from the state of Connecticut, one of the 15 states where teachers don't get SS. Yes, I paid into my pension and I'm lucky that I have a pension. Some states allow their teachers to pay into both their pension plan as well as SS. My husband worked in private industry for 25 years and paid into SS. Then he went into education and when he retired, he lost 60% of his SS because of the "offset." (I find it strange that the CT state workers pay into both and get both their pensions and SS with no offset, but that's another story.) We have accepted that this is the law in CT but I'm totally flabbergasted that now teachers in CT, who don't receive SS, will have to pay $168 more per year for Medicare than the people who have their Medicare charges taken out of their SS checks. I find this discriminatory. Can anyone in DU Land explain why the government has made this change?

[Motown_Johnny]

1. No idea... sorry to hear about this.

any chance you could have both taken out of your husband's SS check?

[virgogal]

2. I'll be damned. I just got my 2010 info today and I'll pay $96.50 and

I am on S.S.

Silly me,I thought we all paid the same thing.