2B
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL April 20, 2016
Do You
Owe Taxes
on Social
Security?
One of the perks of retirement
for many seniors is not having
to pay taxes any longer ... except
when we do. And sometimes
when we discover that we have
to pay taxes after all, it’s a tough
situation.
According to a Social Secu-
rity assistant deputy commis-
sioner in a recent newsletter,
one-third of seniors receiving
benefi ts have to pay taxes be-
cause of disability and survivor
benefi ts, as well as income that
is in addition to Social Security.
You’ll need your benefi t state-
ment (Form SSA-1099), which
you likely received in January,
to calculate whether you need
to pay taxes. This document is
similar to a regular Form 1099
in that it’s used to send informa-
tion about your income to the
Internal Revenue Service. The
amount listed is what you re-
ceived the previous year.
Specifi cally, if your benefi ts
and any additional income ex-
ceed $25,000 (or $32,000 for a
married couple fi ling jointly),
you’ll have to pay tax. Depend-
ing on your income, you might
be taxed on up to 50 percent of
your benefi ts. You’ll never pay
taxes on more than 85 percent of
your Social Security benefi ts.
If you didn’t get your benefi ts
statement in the mail or have
misplaced it, there are two ways
to fi nd out the amount of your
benefi ts. You can go to your My
Social Security account (if you
don’t have one, you can open
one online) and select “Re-
placement Documents” to get a
new form, or you can call Social
Security at 1-800-772-1213 and
ask that one be sent to you.
Even if you don’t have to pay
federal taxes on your Social Se-
curity benefi ts, beware of state
taxes. There are more than a
dozen states that may tax that
income.
Virtual Medicare
Seniors are clipping along
at a fast rate when it comes to
being involved in new technol-
ogy. However, just because new
things are available doesn’t
mean we should participate un-
til we check them out.
Tele-visits for medical prob-
lems are one of those areas
where the idea might be bet-
ter than the actual execution.
For someone who’s ill, how-
ever, and can’t get a same-day
appointment with the doctor, the
idea of going online for medical
care might be appealing.
A recent study looked at the
results of telephone, webchat
and videoconference medical
visits to test the level of care
and the accuracy of diagnoses.
The illnesses were limited to
fairly simple complaints such
as lower back pain, sore throat,
sinus infection and strep throat.
Nearly 600 “virtual” online
medical visits were made to
eight websites, and the results
were checked.
Here’s what researchers came
up with:
* Doctors asked the correct
medical history and did physical
exams 69 percent of the time.
* Patients were given the cor-
rect diagnosis 76 percent of the
time.
* Out of 101 complaints of
ankle pain, only 17 recommend-
ed X-rays.
* Only 83 patients were re-
ferred to a health provider, and
that was because follow-up care
could not be provided on a web-
site.
* Researchers found no big
difference between the methods
of communication, such as vid-
eoconference versus telephone.
Before you decide to use an
online site for medical care, de-
termine whether your Medicare
Advantage plan will pay for it.
Some of them will. If you have
an online medical visit, have
your fi le and diagnosis forward-
ed to your regular doctor.
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How Healthy Is It
Where You Live?
Social Security Strategies Change
Starting in May 2016, there
are some changes to Social
Security that will eliminate
strategies seniors have used
to maximize benefi ts. Unlike
what some doom-mongers have
said, Social Security isn’t going
away, our benefi ts aren’t being
cut ... there’s nothing radical go-
ing on here.
Tucked into the Bipartisan
Budget Act of 2015 was lan-
guage that covers three strate-
gies many of us have used in
collecting Social Security:
1) File and suspend -- In this
strategy, the full retirement-age
spouse (age 66 for those born
between 1943 and 1954) fi led
for benefi ts and then immedi-
ately suspended them. The oth-
er spouse then claimed spousal
benefi ts while the initial benefi ts
accrued for years at an 8 percent
annual increase.
No more. Now if one spouse
fi les, he or she must take those
benefi ts or the other spouse
can’t claim spousal benefi ts.
2) Restricted application -- In
this strategy, the retirement-age
spouse fi led for spousal ben-
efi ts, but didn’t collect his or
her own benefi ts, letting the per-
sonal benefi ts sit for years and
accrue.
Per the new rules, you can
claim one or the other, spousal
or personal benefi ts, but not
both. You get the larger of the
two, with no changing back and
forth, and no deferring benefi ts
until age 70.
3) Suspended benefi ts -- In
this strategy, the recipient fi led
and then immediately suspended
payments. If these benefi ts were
suddenly needed down the road,
he or she could collect them in a
lump sum, but not at the higher
monthly rate that the extra time
would have afforded.
Per the new rules, there will
be no lump-sum payment.
Monthly payment will be made
at a higher rate.
If your future retirement plans
included any of the above strate-
gies, consult with your fi nancial
adviser about alternative op-
tions.
The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services has unveiled
a new online mapping tool to
show the levels of health in vari-
ous parts of the country. Medi-
care benefi ciaries are grouped
by geographic location, race,
health outcomes, sex, age and
more. Eighteen health condi-
tions are defi ned, as well as
use of hospitals and emergency
rooms, rate of readmissions and
mortality rates. The best feature
is that the mapping tool can even
be broken down into the county
level of each state.
While the map developers
planned to use it to identify ar-
eas where there are problems
(below-average health because
of lack of access to health care,
for example), the tool is also a
good way for us to compare our
own health to those around us
and around the country.
To use the map, go online to
www.cms.gov and put Mapping
Medicare Disparities Tool in
the search box. Then click Get
Started. Using the dropdown
list, put in your parameters. Se-
lect year, state or county, condi-
tion, sex, age, race and more.
At that point you have a choice:
You can either click Download
or mouse over the various states
or counties, depending on which
you selected. (If you chose the
county level, you can expand
the screen to make it easier to
see.)
For more help, you also can
click the Quick Start Guide.
Under Other Resources (be-
low the Get Started button),
look for County Health Rank-
ings and Roadmaps, and click
on your state. You’ll fi nd rank-
ings for your county for health
factors and outcomes.
If you haven’t retired and plan
to move, this tool can help you
decide if the areas you’ve con-
sidered living are more or less
healthy than where you cur-
rently live.
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