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Show YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY Does Medicare cover acupuncture? Copley News Service Q. Does Medicare cover Chiropractor's services? How about Acupuncture? L.P. A. Medical insurance (Part ' B of Medicare) helps pay for only one kind of treatment furnished by a licensed and Medicare-certified chiropractor. chiro-practor. The only treatment treat-ment that can be covered is manual manipulation of the spine to correct a subluxation that can be demonstrated by X-ray. Medical insurance does not pay for the X-ray or for any other diagnostic or therapeutic services furnished by a chiropractor. Medicare does not cover acupuncture treatments. Q. Next December I will be 62. 1 would like to retire then and start drawing my Social Security. But I have a feeling that I might not like retirement and " I might want to return to ' work full time. Would I be 5 allowed to do this L.J. -A. Yes. All you have to do is notify the Social Security Office when you return to work. Your Social Security payments will be suspended until you quit work or reduce your earnings to the allowable limit, which is $2760 per year. Q. I receive Supplemental Security Income, Social Security and VA benefits, all because of disability. What happens if I marry a woman who is also entitled to Supplemental Income benefits? M.S. A. You and your new wife would qualify as an eligible couple for payment of Supplemental Security Income benefits effective with the month of your marriage. There is a basic Federal rate payable per month, but your VA and Social Security disability payments would affect this rate. The SSI payment would also depend on where you live. Some states pay a State Supplemental payment over and above the Federal SSI level. Talk it over with someone at your Social Security office. They can give you a clear picture of the effect marriage would have on your payments. pay-ments. (J. When I went to file for Social Security benefits I had several good documents my marriage record, my military discharge and an old Insurance policy to prove my age. They insisted, however, that I write for my birth certificate. Why? A.L.S. A. Over the years, Social Security has had a lot of experience in developing proof of age. Several studies have been made comparing documents recorded during the lifetime of individuals. These studies indicate that the most reliable documents are a birth or baptismal record established prior to the fifth birthday. Accordingly, if either of these documents is available, it must be obtained. Questions on Social Security may be sent to Copley News Service, In care of the newspaper. This column is based on information provided by the Social Security Office In San Diego, Calif. |