What Medicare Needs?

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Most of you know that I believe in universal health insurance. Because in the long run it will save us (as a nation, and individually) money.  Notice, I did not say universal “free” health insurance, even though I recognize that about 10% of Americans can’t afford it, another 10% will need help paying for all of it, and about 15% of Americans think they don’t need it.  (Of course, about 15% – or more- of Americans don’t think they need car insurance, but that doesn’t mean we don’t demand they carry it.)

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Megavitamins are Megadangerous

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For decades, I’ve been telling my clients and friends that they are wasting their money buying vitamins. Because unless you don’t eat properly – or have a very specific condition (like the need for folate by pregnant women, calcium and vitamin D for some post-menopausal women, or those with macular degeneration needing antioxidants and zinc)- there is no value in taking these little pills (except to the manufacturers and vendors).

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There’s a New Tax in Town…

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For years, the one crucial question I had to ask my business tax clients was, “Can you be considered to be a real estate professional?”  (If you don’t recall my discussions on this matter, you can refer to my blog posts here and here.)  Because without that certification, it’s possible that all expenses involved in rental real estate operations may not be deductible on one’s Schedule E (1040).

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FOIA now works for Medicare, too!

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The Federal program we know as Medicare, became a reality on 30 July 1965, when it was signed into law. But, the first patients could not sign up for benefits until 1 July 1966. And, by 1979, the American Medical Association managed to get a ruling that the moneys paid to doctors under the program could not be revealed to the public. The reasoning (sic) was that this was an invasion of the physician’s privacy.

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Divorce- Technology Style

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I’ve written about family law before.  You know- the fancy term for divorce law.  I not only have experienced divorce (ok, I was one of the adults- I caused the divorce; my children experienced it), but I have served as the financial manager for a family law practice for more than a few years.  This is a big business- there are about 800,000 divorces filed annually in the US (compared to the 2 million marriages begun).

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Jumping Java?

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Since I’ve been 15.  Yup, while working at Arlee Cleaners, I was intimidated to switch from milk to drinking coffee.  Of course, that was in New York, where “regular coffee” came equipped with a pound of sugar and a quart of milk.  (OK, just two teaspoons of sugar and 25 ml of milk, in an 8 oz cup, but you get the idea.)

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Another Example of Unintended Circumstances

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While reading the New York Times (NYT) this past Sunday (What?  You don’t?), I was struck once again how the law of unintended circumstances comes into play.  [Ed:  This was written 3 June 2012.]  The Times’ front page article headline read:  “The $2.7 Trillion Medical Bill”, which really focused on just one medical procedure- colonoscopic exams.

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Decisions have Consequences

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We are having our babies older than we used to.   Which is why our population is not increasing.  (As a matter of fact, it was just announced that there were more deaths than births for soon-to-be minority majority Whites in America.)  Because the longer we wait, the less likely we will have our (old) average of 2.2 children per family.  Even that wasn’t “self-replicating”, with 2.33 children per family- which keeps the population stable.    Right now, US families are averaging just over 1.9 children per family. Continue reading Decisions have Consequences

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