Back in February of this year, I posted the following gripe to my personal facebook page (as opposed to my public facebook page):
I am fortunate to have a rather decent long-term disability policy with Mutual of Omaha, which I, thankfully, purchased through my former employer prior to the diagnosis of my cancer.
One of my frustrations (of several) with the policy is, though, that Mutual of Omaha required/forced me to apply for federal Social Security disability compensation at the onset of my claim. Once approved, Mutual of Omaha then began deducting the amount the federal government pays me from what they pay me.
That seems like such a scam to me; however, from what I have been able to find out, it appears to be a legitimate scam.
Legitimate does not always equate to being right.
Regardless, since the American federal tax payer is providing nearly 33% of my disability compensation, I suppose it is incumbent upon me to say thank you to them for their support.
Thank you, American federal tax payer.
I would like to add an update to that gripe:
Back in May of this year I found out that, because I had been collecting Social Security disability payments for two years (which I was forced to apply for—see above), I would now be forced to apply for Medicare health insurance. Well, technically, I wasn’t forced to apply for the government-sponsored program, however, if I had chosen not to, I would have been dis-enrolled from my primary insurance program, Tricare, which is administered by the US Family Health Plan.
So, of course I applied for Medicare.
The fun part is, not only do I have to pay an additional $100.00 a month (well, technically I am not paying out the funds; they are automatically deducted from my monthly Social Security Disability payments—six in one, glass half empty in the other) for the government program on top of the premiums I still have to pay for Tricare, I am not allowed to use the government benefits which I am forced to purchase.
Ah yes. I must always remember…pain is just a loving reminder that I’m still alive.
Okay, I’ll admit—maybe Medicare will come in handy some day as a backup for Tricare.
But still…it’s all a little too hokie and borderline scam for my taste…