I'm Confused

Can I just say that this whole Social Security thing is one of the most confusing things in the world?!?!?

It seems that every other day we are getting a letter in the mail about a change in some way to the original benefits that have been awarded to Bill. And each more confusing than the next. One day, we get a letter that says he is getting a certain amount of money and so much in back pay for the next year. We think great! This amount will be enough to afford a place that costs this amount and make a plan to look for something in that price range. But wait! Two days later, there is another letter saying the amount that he is going to get is actually more so we look for a little nicer place. But then a few days after that, there is another letter that says they are reducing the amount for one reason or another and now he is getting less than what they originally told us. No joke!

Then, for every letter that they send, we get two. One addressed to Robert in regards to Bill and one addressed to Bill. Considering they are sent to the same address, why not save a few trees and send only one? Plus, make up their minds and decide on the actual amount they will be paying him and send only one letter instead of a different one every other day.

As of right now, we cannot make plans for his future because we don't really know what his incoming money will be each month. It is very hard to make plans about where to live when you don't know what you will have to live on each month. Plus, to make matters worse, he is supposed to spend all the money in the account every month and not have more than just a few dollars left in the account at the end of it. But, on the other hand, he needs to save some money up as extra so that he will have money for all of his needs beyond the roof over his head. I mean, he does need to eat and take a shower on occasion, right?

It is getting to the point where we are almost afraid to even check the mail because we are worried we are going to get a letter saying the SSA has changed their minds again and they aren't giving him anything. After all, one of the letters they sent us said they had reduced his back pay because they show he received income up until July 2012. Unless he is walking to a job when we are not around, I don't know where that came from. The people at Social Security say it has to do with the fact that part of the money comes from disability income and some it comes from supplemental income. They both work together to pay so much each month and the share of each seems to change frequently. Bill gets very confused by all of it. We get confused by it, too. Robert has made several calls to the social security office for explanations. Some days, he hangs up and understands it all, but he may be confused by what he hears the next day. If it wasn't for Robert being here to help, I am not sure Bill would really know or understand what is going on. If we are confused by it, imagine how it is for someone who is not of complete sound mind and doesn't have family to help muddle through it all.

And, that doesn't even cover the whole Medicare/Supplemental Insurance and Medicaid side of things.  We are still trying to figure that one out as well.

I guess the  bright side is that learning all of this now will be good for a few years down the road when we have to start this process for Robert. But today, I am quite confused,