Posted by My girlfriend has reached her full retirement age for Social Security. But she wants to delay her application until she turns 68. The monthly payment would increase by $89. Since her ex-husband is still alive, and they were married for more than ten years, she could apply for divorced spouse benefits. The problem is that she can only get 50% of her ex-husband’s full retirement amount. Half of his full amount is less than her full amount. So, there is no “benefit” for her to apply for the divorced spouse benefit. I was hoping that the number would be more than her full amount. I reluctantly agreed that she should wait, knowing that it will prolong the strain on our finances.
Now that she is on Medicare, they take $202.90 out of her checking account each month. Without any income coming in, she could really use the money from social security to pay her premiums. But taking it now would mean that 24% of her social security check would go to Medicare. That only leaves her with $164 per week for other expenses. I then reminded her that Medicare goes up every year. Each year a higher percentage of her social security check would go to Medicare. Waiting another year isn’t going to fix that, but it would give her an extra $89 each month. Meanwhile, Medicare will take $2435 out of her bank account over the next year.
The one bright side is that eventually she will change from a divorced spouse to a divorced survivor. You guessed it, her ex-husband has to pass away first. When that happens, she can apply to get 100% of her deceased ex-spouse’s benefit. He did apply early, but the amount will still be double her full benefit. She tells me that he has had a stroke and has other health issues, so maybe she won’t have to wait too long. We don’t want to wish bad luck on anyone, but this may be the only way she gets some financial payback out of it. Medicare’s cut would change from 24% to 12% and give her $374 per week instead of $164.
Update: Last night we found her ex-husband’s PIA amount from 2022. It was $1654 at that time. I added the COLA percentages from the last 4 years (8.7%, 3.2%, 2.5%, 2.8%) and his PIA would now be $1955. Using 50% of that number would make her divorced spouse benefit $977.50, which is $118.50 more than her PIA. This would make it worth applying for. I also heard that if you apply as a divorced spouse, they automatically change you to a divorced survivor when the ex-spouse passes away. She would then start receiving 100% of her ex’s current benefit. The only way to verify this would be to make an appointment with the closest Social Security office.