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Patty
Duke turns 65, applies online for Social Security and Medicare
benefits
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[December 19, 2011]
After
years of telling people they can apply online for Social Security in
their pajamas, Patty Duke has taken her own advice. Duke, who turns
65 today, applied online for retirement and Medicare benefits from
home at
www.socialsecurity.gov.
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“I had no idea this
would be such a momentous occasion,” said Duke, who for three
years has volunteered her time promoting Social Security’s
online services in numerous Public Service Announcements (PSAs)
and media interviews. In a new online
video, Duke puts
character acting aside and shows everyone what happened when she
and her husband Mike Pearce sat down at the kitchen table,
turned on their laptop, and applied for her retirement and
Medicare benefits.
“All of us at
Social Security wish Patty a very happy birthday,” said Michael
J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security. “She’s a Hollywood
legend and an American treasure who reaches a very important
milestone today. True to form, she is the one giving us the
birthday present by showing her fellow baby boomers the easiest
way to apply for benefits.”
In 2009, Duke
reprised her roles as the identical cousins, Patty and Cathy
Lane from the Patty Duke Show, for a series of
PSAs promoting Social
Security’s online services. In 2010, Duke teamed up with the
surviving Patty Duke Show cast members for
an additional set of
spots. Earlier this year, she teamed up with entertainment icon
George Takei to encourage people of all ages to “Boldly Go” to
www.socialsecurity.gov.
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In the three years
since Duke has volunteered her time with Social Security,
millions of people have visited the agency’s website and the
percentage of online retirements has more than doubled.
“While I just
applied for retirement benefits, I’m not retiring from being a
Social Security spokesperson,” Duke says. “I urge my fellow
baby boomers to go online to
www.socialsecurity.gov.
If you’re not sure how to get started on the computer, ask a
loved one to help you out. I did, and it was so easy.”
[Text from file received from
Social Security]
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