Benefits For Stay-At-Home, Non-Working Spouses
QUESTION: What benefits would a stay-at-home, non-working (outside the home) wife receive from Social Security and Medicare when she reaches the age at which she would be eligible? Would she receive benefits based on her husband’s work record or would she receive no benefits at all?
Would the wife be able to receive Medicare and how would the premiums be paid if she does? Would she be charged the same as people that worked and paid into the Medicare fund?
Please comment on the situation if the husband is living or deceased.
C.W.K., Spring Hill
ANSWER: Both the Social Security and Medicare programs provide for stay-at-home spouses.
Normally, Social Security benefits can not be paid to a non-working spouse until the working husband or wife begins receiving benefits, usually now at age 66 but as young as 62 if early retirement benefits (at a reduction of about 20 percent) are taken.
The non-working spouse must be at least 62 years old to qualify for benefits which, at full retirement age of 66, would be an amount equal to half of the working spouse’s full retirement benefit. The spousal benefit would be reduced by 25/36ths of one percent for each month he or she is younger than 66, up to 36 months, if taken before that age. The reduction is 5/12ths of one percent for each month in excess of 36.
Most often it is the husband who works and the wife who is the homemaker and caretaker of the children but the same rules apply when their roles are switched.
Should the working husband die, the wife would be entitled to a widow’s benefit if she is at least 60 years of age. However, if there are children under the age of 16 (18 if the child still is in high school) at home, she, at any age, and the children would be entitled to survivors’ insurance.
A widow’s benefit is the amount the husband was entitled to at age 66. The amount would be reduced by 19/40ths of one percent for each month she is younger than 66 when she elects to take benefits. Should she become disabled before age 60, the widow would be entitled to disability benefits equal to the amount of Social Security benefits she would receive at age 60
In any event, anyone who is entitled to Social Security benefits and is at least 65 years of age is entitled to Medicare coverage. (Those receiving disability benefits and have been disabled for at least two years are entitled to Medicare at any age.) There is no premium to pay for Part A (covers hospital stays). Part B (doctor and some procedures) coverage now costs $96.40 a month. That premium is the same for everyone. Part D (prescription drugs) coverage is additional, with premiums – which vary with the types of policies from different companies – averaging somewhere around $50 a month.
Even an individual who did not work at least 10 years in a job where Medicare taxes were paid and is not married to someone who did can still get Medicare Part A (hospital) coverage by paying a $204 a month premium. Like everyone else on Medicare, that individual can get Parts B and D by paying those premiums.
Should there be a divorce involved, all of the benefits mentioned for the spouse or widow would apply just as if the marriage were intact as long as the marriage lasted for at least 10 years and the woman was not remarried.
Adon Taft is a resident of Brooksville. If you have questions about any issues connected with aging, except medical conditions, please write to Life to the Fullest, Hernando Today, 13299 Cortez Blvd., Brooksville, Fla. 34613, or send e-mail to adontaft@ya
