Twila Van Leer

Emergency Savings Tips

July 7, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Make sure you rebuild your emergency savings if you've had to use it. — Make sure you rebuild your fund if you’ve had to use it.

Using your emergency savings to pay off credit card debt may look like a good idea at first glance, but there are some things to consider, according to Jean Chatsky of Bankrate.com.

Size Of Debt

If the size of the fund meets or exceeds the amount of the debt, it may be all right, but you should then begin to rebuild the emergency cushion. Then if the emergency comes, you are still ready.

Use Fund Not Credit Card For Emergencies

Using the emergency stash is preferable to having to meet an emergency with a credit card, Chatsky says.

Rebuild Fund When Used

If for whatever reason, paying off debt or meeting an actual emergency, your cushion is depleted, start immediately to build it up again. Set a goal and faithfully infuse new funds into it. Think of three categories: minor emergencies such as small car or home repairs and health care deductibles. Major repairs and having to meet a health care max would fall into the second category. Job loss is the third unexpected calamity that might demand that you dip into the emergency fund.

Emergency Savings Calculator

The old goal of saving enough to pay expenses for six months is a rule of thumb, but you may want to assess your own situation and make an upward adjustment. HelloWallet has a calculator to guide you if you need help making an analysis. Bankrate also has an emergency savings calculator.

Automatic Transfers

If you use a calculator and the recommended savings seem beyond reach, begin with the small emergency category, then move up as you are able. Reaching small goals gives you incentive to work for a higher level. Automatic transfers from your bank account into your emergency fund is one way to alleviate some of the pain. Don’t give yourself the opportunity to spend what you intended to save. If you wait until the end of the month to cough up the emergency fund payment, it is less likely to happen.

Bottom line: An emergency account is essential to a healthy personal finance scheme. Give it some priority.

Save Money For Important Things

July 2, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Save Money

Some say that saving money is difficult. You make personal finance choices every day, most likely without any conscious thought about the end result. Whatever you choose, it is going to use more of your money or less. If you begin to make conscious choices, you can take the steps that will put more money in your pocket.

The truth is that having more money means spending less.

Setting Money Goals

If you are determined to add to the asset side of your ledger, it is wise to choose a specific goal that requires more money. What you really want can be the motivator to put your dreams into action. And you’re the only one who knows the purpose that will be worth the effort.

Think of the possibilities: Retirement needs, starting a business, buying a home or car, making improvements to the home you have now, making provision for future medical needs, planning a special event for your family, building your emergency fund. Your money, your choice.

When you have narrowed the list to one specific goal, it’s time to begin.

Analyze Your Financial Situation

Begin at the beginning. Analyze your current income/outgo patterns. Sometimes as life goes along, it is easy to lose track of specifics. Look at last month. Were all your basic bills paid in full? Look at your bank statement closely. You can’t start setting money aside for your goal if you are already losing ground.

Even families with healthy financial practices can find themselves in debt and needing to save money. Not paying off credit card bills monthly will build a negative balance faster than you would suppose. Habitually spending more than you earn is fatal. Debt is not neutral. It costs. Sometimes it costs so much that you sacrifice your ability to work toward your chosen objective.

Create A Budget

Set up a budget that will take care of your main living expenses. If you are serious and there seems to be no wiggle room in your budget, consider how you can cut corners. Find a cheaper place to live, if necessary. Brown bag instead of eating out for lunch and eat at home for breakfast and dinner. Plan less expensive entertainment and more cheap outings. Avoid payday loans and tax refund anticipation loans. Live on what you have without mortgaging your future.

Start Saving Money Now

With a goal in mind and your finances under control, you’re ready for the next step.

Medicare Fraud Over $60 Billion

June 29, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Medicare fraud caused over $60 billion in fraud every year. — Medicare loses over $60 billion in fraud every year.

Medicare Fraud Extensive

Medicare fraud is a huge problem. Thousands of older Americans depend on Medicare to help them meet medical expenses, but fraudsters are taking a big scoop from the federal funds before they get to legitimate health care providers, a recent article in the AARP Bulletin says.

Medicare Fraud Causes Multi-billion Dollar Losses

Medicare fraud is estimated to cause more than $60 billion per year. In one very infamous case, a Texas thief methodically siphoned some $375 million from the fund over a five-year period, using a variety of methods. That man now faces life in prison, but the heavy toll taken by unscrupulous people continues to scrape billions from the heath care program.

Fraud Tactics

Fraud and abuse involves such tactics as phantom outpatients, “ghost” clinics, undelivered services, over-billing and identity theft using Medicare information, the AARP reported. The problem is so large the program’s administrators don’t even have a reliable bottom line or a methodology for arriving at the fraud rate. Many experts believe the $60 billion estimate may be too low. They say that fraud could suck off up to 30 percent of the $600 billion per year the program spends.

Large Size Opens Door To Fraud

The problem lies partly in the sheer size of the program, according to Shantanu Agrawal, who is quoted in the AARP article, He is director of program integrity at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He points out the number of claims made every day in the huge system – some 4.5 million. More than a billion dollars are paid out every day.

That volume inherently opens the door to fraud, he said. “We are larger than the largest private payers in the country.” In addition, Medicare is a much more open system than the majority of private payers. Laws required that Medicare admit providers who meet a base set of requirements. They are then allowed to treat patients and bill for those services.

Pre-paying

CMS is trying several methods to ferret out fraud. One approach is by making provider reviews on a pre-pay basis, withholding payment until the applicant has been approved. The agency has made tens of thousands of site visits over the past two years in an effort to close down “false storefronts.” Working with private payers by exchanging data that may identify irregularities has saved the program hundreds of millions, Agrawal said.

Identifying Fake Doctors

The agency also has been more successful in identifying fake doctors. New tools provided by the Affordable Care Act make inroads into the number of unlicensed fraudulent providers. Connections have been made among more than 100 different databases on the state and federal levels. More than 500,000 providers have been removed from the billing system through this effort, he said.

Effects On Medical Research

It is not only patients and legitimate health care providers who suffer from Medicare fraud, experts point out. Medical research that relies on billing data, hospital rankings and cancer studies can be skewed by fraudulent reporting. In some instances, patient deaths have been attributed to fraudulent care.

Legitimate providers are increasingly blowing the whistle on those that they are aware are scamming the system., but they take a risk of repercussions if a case goes against their charges.

Under pressure from critics, program administrators are tightening their oversight, but the challenge is huge and growing.

Medicare Benefits That May Help

June 28, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Medicare Benefits

Learning about the benefits of medicare can be a daunting process. In the words of Jaryn Laengrich, chief service officer at Cariloop, a Medicare service to help people caring for elderly persons, it is a “sprawling, complicated piece of law” that can be baffling. She notes these little known medicare services that the eligible may find useful.

Medicare Annual Wellness Screening

Medicare benefits allow you an annul wellness screening by a primary care physician. The objective is to prevent illness where possible. It includes an extensive appointment with a thorough review of the patient’s medical history. An Alzheimer’s screening is part of the exam if the physicians thinks it necessary. The wellness screening is offered through Part B.

Alcoholism Screening

Screening and counseling for alcohol misuse. Widowers over the age of 75 have the biggest problem with alcoholism, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. More of those in this demographic are hospitalized with alcohol-related problems than for heart attacks. Annual screening is allowed by Medicare, if performed by a primary care physician. Four counseling sessions will be compensated, as well.

Balance Screening

Falls are a serious problem among the elderly. Medicare B will pay for 80 percent of a thorough screening to determine if balance is a problem and what might be the cause.

Obesity Counseling

Those enrolled in Medicare Part B. who have a body mass index score of 30 or higher may receive counseling in a primary care setting. The program also will pickup a major part of the cost of bariatric surgery aimed at reducing obesity. The amount depends on a patient’s Medigap supplement plan.

Shingles Vaccination

Shingles is a painful and distressing disease that can strike anyone who had chicken pox as a child. The coverage is included in Medicare Part D, which provides for medications.

Diabetes Self-Management Training

Medicare pays 80 percent of the cost of 10 training sessions, including one one-on-one visit with a specialist. The remainder are small-group sessions. The intent is to improve diabetes management. The disease can be debilitating and cause severe effects.

Hearing Tests

Although Medicare won’t pay for hearing aids, it will cover examinations to determine hearing loss. Efforts to get hearing aid coverage have failed to pass muster in Congress because of the scope of the problem. An estimated 37 million Americans suffer some hearing loss, but only 30 percent need hearing aids.

Hospice Care

Many Medicare recipients are not aware that they are eligible for end-of-life care. It is focused on palliative treatment, and is available only to those who are believed to be within six months of death. The patient must agree to forego treatment aimed at curing. Care usually is provided in the patient’s home and involves a team that includes a physician, nurse, social worker, chaplain and volunteer. The objective is to provide as much comfort care as necessary for the patient in his or her final days.

Networking Vital To Job Search

June 24, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

When you are looking for a job, who you know can literally be as important as what you know. Eighty percent of jobs are discovered through networking, making use of people who might offer help in the search. The best jobs, those that last and become a career, come through this route, experts say.

Employee Referrals

Many employers actually encourage current workers to recommend new hires, creating what is known as the “hidden job market.” Employees establish a “circle of influence” that benefits those looking for work.

Acquaintances

The usual network includes family, friends, acquaintances, former co-workers and those who were your supervisors, school contacts, church associates and others in your circle of acquaintance.

Social

You can add to the network by affiliating with professional groups, volunteering in the community, attending job fairs and taking advantage of social networking sites.

If you are on the search, make a list, including contact information, and set a date to begin systematically contacting those on the list. Make notes as you interact with those you contact. Keep the list current.

Informal Interactions

You may find the list expanding just through informal interactions with people in your normal activities. Don’t hesitate to make it known you are looking for a job, without being pushy, of course. Word of mouth tends to expand as people mingle in all kinds of settings.

Employment Programs

State and local employment programs are a good source for information on listings. Local universities and colleges often have helpful resources as well.