The impending sequester...do we still get social security checks?

nerfherder

Active Member
Governor Sandoval here in NV released a statement that soon as the sequestration was announced last year, the state budgeteers started setting funds aside and planning on the assumption that it would happen, just in case. Because of that, while NV is in fairly tight shape in general (due to tax and income losses from the recession) we're not going to have it "as bad" as states that just went humming along lalalala can't hear you can't hear you.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/feb/28/sandoval-says-no-immediate-impacts-nevada-sequeste/

I feel for the friends and neighbors at the military bases here who will lose income. Fortunately the sequestration won't affect our garden, or our goats. :)
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
nerfie, that was smart. Our gov., who I can't say much about here because it would be censored, thinks the sequester is great and turned down the extra medicaid because "Everyone can afford $19.00 a month for insurance!" What he isn't thinking about is the huge $5000 deductibles for all of those in the family and, frankly, he is one who believes that healthcare is a luxury. If you can afford it, like he can, GREAT. If not, well, go to the emergency room and they'll take care of it. So we are the only midwest state (I believe) that has to deal with this mindset, leaving it tempting to move across the state lines to MN or IL. Or, heck, cross the border in Canada :) If my kids weren't here, hub and I would probably see if we could retire to Canada or even Mexico, which I hear is a nice place to retire to. I have lost faith in the country I loved with all my heart. I always felt we were the greatest country in the world...(sigh).

by the way, they say one of the biggest hits will go to our kids who have special needs. Ain't that grand?
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
MWM, I think you are very wise to keep up with the news about this but perhaps you are worrying a bit too much. Like IC said, Canada isnt in any better shape than we are, especially concerning health care. Why do you think so many Canadian Dr's flee to the US to practice and very sick patients come down to the states to get health care when they cant stand the long wait periods to get seen in the Canadian health system? Nothing is perfect. They do have some parts good but then that makes other parts very hard. We have to wait this out and see where it falls. I dont know what happened in your state with medicaid. Heck I have no idea what is happening in my state with Medicaid. I hope it is staying the same! I have too many medical bills for anyone to go messing with my medical insurance. I tend to think the consumers wont feel it, only the doctor's will.

I know you really dont want to go to Mexico. They are having a drug war down there and the military wont even cross the border without heavy artillery right now. I dont think that is a good retirement community. We were looking for a place to get Cory's tooth pulled down in El Paso and a guy said he could do it right over the border for twenty bucks but he would come get him in a van but he couldnt get out of the van because of the danger. He would pull the tooth in the van! Americans are getting killed on sight.

One thing to remember. Economies are cyclical. They run on an 8 to 12 year cycle. Go read a really good book on macro-economics. It explains a whole lot.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Janet, we'll see. It sounds like it is going to hit anyone whose not rich. We'll see if anything really happens. As for the Medicaid, I do want it. Husband has no insurance through work and once Jumper turns nineteen, husband and Jumper will not get any insurance unless the Medicaid is allowed to happen in WI (which is why I said we may have to move). I get it and Sonic gets it from SSDI, but I don't think it's safe for my hub or daughter to be without health insurance and may as well move down to Illinois where my other daughter lives and where they do have expanded Medicaid. This doesn't change anyone else's healthcare. It just gives more people access to it. Almost every govenor accepted the fed money for Medicaid, but not our govenor. Anyhow, thanks for trying to calm me down. Actually, I'm more angry than afraid...although if SSDI was touched, I'd be pretty frantic.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I think you must get more disability than I do (not hard!) because I get the feeling you dont get medicaid the way I do. I have managed to slide into what I consider actually the perfect place on the income limits considering that I have very high medical and pharmaceutical bills. I am over the limits of SSI so I get actual disability which brings Medicare as my primary but I am also just under the Medicaid cut off amount for a single person so it picks up everything else for me. It pays all of my copays, the payment for the Part B, the 200 dollars and the 20%. Picks up the donut hole. I couldnt afford to be sick without it. Now I also cant afford to even have a job that pays even a few dollars a month though. I would go over income.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Janet, it is income based here and we don't make much, even when I was at Head Start. I also had a limit though as to how much I could make, which is fair in my opinion.

Here in WI, once your child is 19 though, unless you are disabled, you get thrown off of our form of Medicaid regardless of your low income. I think every state is different :/ That's why I said we may have to move to Illinois or hop next door to MN. It would be so dangerous for either my husband, who has needed so much eye surgery, or my daughter not to have any coverage at all. We'll see though. I agree with you about the worrying part being futile and waiting to see if all the hype even happens. You did calm me down and I greatly appreciate it!!!! Thanks! :)
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
I am worried about law enforcement because I can see animal control as being something they think is a place they can cut. I hope Jamie's job isnt on the line because he isnt the newbie anymore and as far as his bosses, they really like him and he has the credentials to slide over into the regular sheriff's department. I dont think they would want to lose him.

I have heard that unemployment has been cut, at least in my state, in amount and length of time you can get it. I believe they took a hit for the highest paid people of almost two hundred dollars a week. Thats quite a bit of money. I did hear about Head Start but Im not sure about any of the preschool programs associated with the public schools.

These are Federal cuts, not local cuts. IOW, the FBI and TSA may have problems, the Sheriff and local police will not.
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
I know you really dont want to go to Mexico. They are having a drug war down there and the military wont even cross the border without heavy artillery right now. I dont think that is a good retirement community. We were looking for a place to get Cory's tooth pulled down in El Paso and a guy said he could do it right over the border for twenty bucks but he would come get him in a van but he couldnt get out of the van because of the danger. He would pull the tooth in the van! Americans are getting killed on sight.

Janet, I think you may be oversimplifying. There is indeed a drug war in Mexico. There's also a drug war in the USA. There are places in Mexico you shouldn't go and expect it to be as safe as the USA. Juarez, Tijuana, Monterrey, Chihuahua, Diego, the mountains of Sinaloa, etc. There is a list that can be checked at the State Department of places where you should be on heightened alert. That being said, I wouldn't go to certain areas of Detroit or Compton or Little Cuba in Miami.

The reason our Military doesn't go to Mexico (although I'm quite certain that there are LOTS of CIA troops there) is that it would be an act of war. We can't bring our military anywhere without the full vote of Congress. The reason their military doesn't go to certain parts of Mexico is the same reason that our military doesn't go to Compton, Detroit, or Little Cuba - the local government needs to ask for their version of "The National Guard". Sometimes they do, and it works quite well. Mazatlan being a very good example that I am personally aware of.

There are places that it might be ok to retire in Mexico, and you'd get a lot more bang for your buck. Chapala, Jalisco near Guadalajara is a perfect example of a Mexican town full of Americans living quite well on their retirement funds. Of course the question is, 'what will it be like ten years from now?' The easy answer to that being "I'm still an American Citizen 10 years from now and I can go home".

Here is a good link about retirement benefits for Citizens living in Mexico.

http://mexico.usembassy.gov/eng/eacs_fbu.html
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Cory was in El Paso and right across the border from Juarez. No one, but no one crossed into there without large groups and they were warned it was simply not safe at all. Most people who end up visiting TX want to take a trip over the border but they told them that was definitely not the place to do it.

MWM, I know all about the 19 thing. Before I got disability I lost medicaid for myself because the only reason I was getting it was because I had a child who was on disability and 19 and under. When he hit 19 I lost it. Medicaid is supposed to be a federal program....emphasis on supposed to be...and they are supposed to increase it to age 26 by 2014 I think. I also think (dont quote me) that because of this forcing of medical insurance on everyone, if you work for a company with much fewer employees to have to offer insurance and if they dont, I think you have to be able to buy into medicaid. Soon...somehow. I am hoping for that myself because Tony hasnt had insurance in years. I think he had it for maybe 2 years in the last 30. He could really stand to go to a doctor. He wont lie to go to the free clinic like Buck did. Thats how Buck got in with them. He was working the whole time he was going to them.
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
I've read it's common to retire to Mexico, only in certain spots of course and you get a lot more bang for your buck.

It is. We've met many folks who move into what were once the brand new resorts and stay most of the year there. They're still very nice places and have small kitchens and pools and staff. It's like living in a condo. It's just not as fancy as the newer resorts.
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
Cory was in El Paso and right across the border from Juarez. No one, but no one crossed into there without large groups and they were warned it was simply not safe at all. Most people who end up visiting TX want to take a trip over the border but they told them that was definitely not the place to do it.

That's Juarez, Janet. You can't judge all of Mexico by Juarez, any more than you can judge all of the United States by Brooklyn or Fargo.
 

nerfherder

Active Member
That's Juarez, Janet. You can't judge all of Mexico by Juarez, any more than you can judge all of the United States by Brooklyn or Fargo.

It stinks, too - when I was 14 or so we visited family in Albuquerque, and took a couple days down to Juarez. I could walk alone from the hotel to the little carneceria and buy a treat or two, and we were obviously touristas visiting the blown glass factory and the gorgeous old haciendas.

Stinks to know that sweet little town is all but a war zone.
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Witz, is right. We went to Cancun last year and stayed in a resort and felt perfectly safe. We enjoyed it so much we have already made plans to return this summer. You have to use common sense when you travel anywhere. A European visitor wouldn't want to plan a trip to Harlem.

~Kathy
 

recoveringenabler

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Just to throw my 2 cents in, I have two very good friends who've lived in San Miguel Allende, Mexico for about 25 years, it is a small town which is populated by many Americans. I've been there and it's beautiful. These folks can live there on their meager Social Security or a small pension and have full time help 7 days a week; rather then live on the fringe of poverty, they live an affluent life style. I flew into the the airport about 2 hours away and we drove through an area that was considered 'dangerous' because of 'banditos.' Once we got to San Miguel, that part was over.

I grew up in New York, so I was fully aware of places like Harlem or the South Bronx, or pockets of dangerous places you wouldn't want to be hanging out in. Like Kathy, I've been in resort areas like Puerto Vallarta, Mexico which were gorgeous, we took a bus to town, (for literally 10 cents) and walked around all day, it was perfectly safe. I've driven down to Mexico from California into Tijuana, which can be pretty dicey too, but once you get through that area, into say Rosarita, things begin to shift.
 

recoveringenabler

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I think as long as you are a citizen of the US you would still receive benefits if you're living elsewhere. They still worked in the US and paid into the system before they reached retirement.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
It is. We've met many folks who move into what were once the brand new resorts and stay most of the year there. They're still very nice places and have small kitchens and pools and staff. It's like living in a condo. It's just not as fancy as the newer resorts.

I heard there were spots where "foreigners" tend to hang out. While I was only half serious, if things get bad enough, who knows? You don't need much money there and they say they provide healthcare. Hub can alwaYs fix cars on the side. Canada is nice, but expensive.
 
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