By Redmoonsong
Having been a war tax resister most of my life (and doing mostly unwaged work — mother, housekeeper, etc.), the IRS says I only have 27 quarters — not enough for regular Social Security and Medicare.
Well, if you wait till you’re 69 like I did, and are poor, disabled or blind, you can qualify for SSI (Supplemental Security Income). With that comes Medicaid/Medicare/food stamps — the whole ball of wax from the feds. I haven’t had a bank account since 1984. No credit, no phone, no electricity, no water, etc. Now they wanna give me everything. Should I take it?
In a quandary about health insurance, I had contacted the local county’s Council on Aging to get some advice. It’s these folks’ job to help us, and they want to be competent! Let ’em! They are connected to every resource you can imagine and want to share them. So I’m learning about local housing, medical situations, you name it. I’m also into networking: Who knows what? How can I help?
I never wanted a paper trail, so not having a bank account all these years was a choice. Now, if I’m gonna continue to get SSI, I have to have an account for Direct Electronic Transfer (or some such). I’m going to a credit union (the least offensive from my point of view) to see if they can manage this. The IRS can levy “regular” Social Security for back taxes, but they can’t take anything from SSI or other “poverty” funds. The IRS says I owe them, so we’ll see what happens now.
