A Matter of Trust

“I've lived long enough to have learned
The closer you get to the fire the more you get burned
But that won't happen to us
Because it's always been a matter of trust.”

Billy Joel, A Matter of Trust

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters

 cannot be trusted with important matters.”

Albert Einstein

I recently asked my Garmin for directions to a prospective client’s farm in rural Monroe County, Michigan.  I asked for the shortest route… gravel roads acceptable.  Garmin took me at my word and sent me up a decent unpaved road about three miles short of my destination.  Halfway to the house I was stopped short by a missing bridge that was currently under repair, and I had to backtrack and reroute.

I expect my Garmin to shoot straight with me… to tell me what I need to know when I need to know it, and to get me where I need to go.  My Garmin is a valued advisor and things usually work out okay.  If I run across the occasional missing bridge or washed out road, if Garmin fails to provide me with vital tidbits of information… I am comfortable allowing that Garmin simply didn’t know any better, and would never purposely do me wrong.  It’s a matter of trust.

I expect at least the same level of service and reliability from the advisors at my local Social Security Administration Office when I ask questions about benefiting from; Social Security Disability Insurance, Social Security Retirement Income, or Medicare.  I hope for the shortest and quickest route to the answers to my simple questions and to relief from my problems, gravel roads acceptable, no missing bridges.  Again, a matter of trust.

My charity advises folks about Social Security and about Medicare rights and benefits.  I occasionally send a client to the Social Security Administration office to seek answers to important questions or to apply for benefits.  They too often return to me after a visit frustrated, confused, and missing important information.  Allowing that a trained advisor at the Social Security Administration office might offer incomplete answers to simple questions simply because he or she didn’t know any better… would be a generous assumption.

Consider a few examples from my current client list.

• A fifty nine year old man who was badly injured in a car accident was enrolled in Social Security Disability Insurance, and allowed to early-enroll in Medicare.  He was not advised that he was eligible to enroll in a supplemental Medicare Advantage plan that would cap his annual out-of-pocket Medicare expenses at sixty eight hundred dollars.  After several surgeries at the local hospital to correct his injuries, he accrued thirty three thousand dollars in unpaid Medicare co-insurances and co-pays.  He makes monthly payments out of his limited income toward his Medicare debt.  He is now enrolled in Medicare Advantage.

• A sixty three year old Registered Nurse spent her entire professional career caring for patients in Skilled Nursing Facilities.  After forty one years of service, she developed physical disabilities related to her work.  She underwent surgery that resulted in two total hip replacements and vertebral fusions in her lower back.  She has trouble walking without a cane and is unable to lift even the lightest of weight.  She was discharged from her job, and was unable to find other employment.  She was too young to apply for Medicare, so she asked the Social Security Administration for help applying for Social Security Disability Insurance.  She was told that her professional degree, combined with the fact that she has substantial personal financial assets, made it unlikely that she would qualify for help, and was advised not to apply.  She took the advice.  I met her when she turned sixty five, and helped her to enroll in a Medicare program.                           

 

• A sixty one year old businesswoman with severe osteoarthritis gradually lost full function of both hips severe enough to require hip replacements, and developed lower back damage.  She was fired from her job and was left without the medical insurance needed to seek proper surgical care.  She was too young to apply for Medicare.  She learned to drag herself around with the aid of two wooden canes.  She earned money collecting intermittent sales commissions on industrial equipment as an independent operator for a vendor who would not hire her as a sales employee.  When she asked to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance, she was told to come back when she was making less money.  She earned only ten thousand to thirteen thousand dollars in sales commissions per year at the time, but she took the advice and did not apply for help.  I met her also when she turned sixty five and helped her enroll in Medicare.  She will soon seek surgical help.

These are only three tragic examples out of more than a dozen similar clients who were given bad advice or incomplete advice after seeking help from a local office of the Social Security Administration.  I wish that these examples were rare or unusual, but they are not.  If only.

I currently advise new clients to seek advice from the Social Security Administration with a grain of salt.  I advise them that it is not unusual for answers or advice to be withheld from them in those instances when the information might cost the federal government money in the form of benefits.  I advise them that “no” sometimes means “maybe” or even “yes”.  I warn them to watch for missing bridges and for dips in the road.

It is never fair to paint any whole group of service professionals with a single brush.  It is likely that many, perhaps even most, advisors for the Social Security Administration do a terrific job for all of their clients; but it is important to realize that some advisors fall way short… with tragic consequences.

People expect trained counselors for the Social Security Administration to shoot straight with them… to tell them what they need to know when they need to know it, and to get them where they need to go.  People look to them as valued advisors who are employed to assure that things work out fairly for their clients… and who would never purposely do them wrong.  It’s a matter of trust.  Simple, decent, public trust.

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