Save Your Home?

Before you pay anybody for loan modification counseling or assistance, please consult the governmet website : Making Home Affordable. It tells us that the Obama’s Mortgage Help program provides free counseling by HUD approved specialists. If you do not want to use the internet, you can call this toll free number: 888-995-HOPE. There is government help for qualifying homeowners who are in distress, and you should stop there first.

I spoted this advice here: Avoid Mortgage Loan Modification Scams. It is part of a new website which is aimed at helpig consumers trim bills. It does this with practical advice and offers for free competitive quotes on major services like insurance and credit.  The main website address is Save-Elot.com.

How to Avoid Home Mortgage Help Scams

It is hard to believe how many snakes crawl out of the woodwork when people are in trouble, but apparently con artists and scammers will always be with us. Some of these people even have licenses and diplomas on their walls, so I urge caution.

• Be wary of anybody who asks you to pay them to help you or provide advice.
• Do NOT get pressured into signing papers, especially if they want you to transfer your home to them! The only time you should transfer your deed is when you are actually dealing with the mortgage company. Sometimes you may choose to do this to get your debt forgiven.
• There are also services charging high fees, from the hundreds of dollars a month, for help with so-called structured defaults. If you want to walk away from your home, look for advice at websites like: LoanSafe.org. They have a large and active forum there where you will probably find some real information.
• This is no time to panic!
• Please call the free HUD counselors first. We posted the toll free number above.
• If you do not care to read, you can watch an FTC Video on distressed homeowner scams.
• Not every service is a scam, but an awful lot of people have been taken advantage of lately. Again, just make sure you check out anybody who wants to help you with your loan modification or structured default.

If any readers want to point out justifications for paying high fees for home loan modifications, we would be happy to view it in the comments.  Registration is free, but we do hold comments for editorial approval.

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As we wait for President Obama to sign the health care reform bill, it is time to look at the bill to see what will change for us now, and what will change in the future.

By the way, people over 50, but not old enough for Medicare, are the ones who can have a tough time when it comes to finding affordable private health insurance. We are older, so our premiums are higher no matter how healthy we are. And it is in middle age, when pesky health issues may start to arise that make it tough for us to find any good and cheap health insurance! So even though young adults may have a high percentage of uninsured people as a group, it is we older people who really have more challenges when we seek coverage!

Also, keep in mind – that even when the bill goes into law, it will only be the end of the beginning. The plan will be phased in over the next several years.

What Will Health Reform Change Right Away?

• The bill pumps $5 billion dollars into state high risk pools. People with pre-existing health conditions, and no coverage, will still have to pay premiums, but should pay less than they have to pay now. Many state insurance risk pools are very expensive! This is a double whammy to people who have health problems, and who have been declined for private coverage. This should help them.
• People with private coverage should have new safeguards that they cannot be thrown out of their plan if they get sick! This is already supposed to be safeguarded, but you can see many examples (i.e. Assurant and Jennifer Latham and the movie Rainmaker) of insurers trying to retroactively decline their own clients after they get sick.
• Grown children can stay on their parents health insurance, if they don’t have their own group health, until age 26.
• Children with pre-existing conditions must be accepted by private heath insurance.

Small Business and Self Employed Health Insurance

One great benefit I see out of this plan is a blooming of small business and self employment. Yes, we are free from the chains of worrying about jobs because of health care. Or at least, hopefully, we will be by 2014, when these chages will be put in place!

• Heath Insurance Exchanges – Self employed people, and small businesses, will be able to purchase medical plans in a health exchange, which is like a supermarket. The model is the current federal program which is what members of Congress use!
• Tax Credits That Work Like Discounts- Nearly 60% of people will get help paying for premiums.  People with lower to moderate incomes will get a tax credit. As they buy insurance, it will work like a discounnt. This should make premiums affordable for many more people.
• Medicaid Expansion – Medicaid will be open to more people who have very low incomes.
• Required Health Insurance – This is actually fair. Since people will be able to get policies, regardless of health, many would wait to buy until they got sick. This is NOT HOW INSURANCE WORKS! People will have to pay a fine if they don’t have coverage, and this will keep the risk pool large. Insurers need healthy and sick people in order to do business.

Group Insurance

If you already have a group medical plan, you probably won’t see big changes. But, if you lose your job, decide to switch jobs, etc., you do not have to worry about losing coverage. In my opinion, this can only be good.

Senior Citizen Health Insurance

Seniors are one group who are already covered by the national health system of Medicare. They are, of course, concerned abut their benefits. Right now, the federal government pays more for Medicare Advantage plans than they pay for traditional Medicare.

This may stop, and these plans may have to raise premiums. Right now, many do not even require an additional premium, over traditional Medicare, and some even rebate part of the Part B premium most seniors pay in their social security checks.

On the other hand, preventative care services will be raised, and eventually the gaps in the current Medicare prescription plan will be closed.

Doctors

Doctors, in some areas with fewer medical professionals, would actually get a ten percent payment boost for Medicare claims. In addition, Medicare will start by trying to develop a model that rewards doctors for keeping patients healthy, and not only for treating the sick.

Large Employer Groups

Employers still do not have to provide affordable group coverage for employees. But they will be encouraged to do so because they will get hit with stiff penalties if employees seek federal policies. While small business will be exempt, large employers will probably work hard to provide group plans that are at least as good and affordable as the federal plans, or they will accept the fines for failing to do so.

Many large companies only give a nod to health insurance by providing plans that are not really major medical policies to most employees. Again, they will either improve their offer, or they will accept the fines as their lower paid employes seek federal plans and tax credits to help them pay for it.

Health Insurance Companies

It is going to get a bit tougher to do business as a health insurance company. Premiums would have to be set so that a fixed percentage (80-85%) of the income would be spent on medical care. The rest would have to cover operating costs and profit. By 2014, private insurers will not be able to turn away people with health conditions, and they won’t be able to charge more for them.

To benefit the health insurance companies, they should have a larger group of people to insure os they can spread the risk. This is because health insurance will be mandatory for Americans, like car insurance already is for drivers. In addition, many health insurance companies already say theyoperate on a lower margin than the guidelines we outlined in the paragraph above.

Health Reform Update

Again, some changes will happen right away. Some will be phased in over the next few years to give all of the parties time to adjust and react. This is change that many progressives have been working on for 100 years. Let’s give change a channce.  If you have any comments, updates, or additions, please register and comment.

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President Obama had an ambitious agenda when he took office. A majority of Americans voted for that agenda. However, there are rules in place that give the minority some power, and one of those is the ultimate tool of obstruction – the filibuster. Right now, Republicans are using this tool at a record place. This means that a simple majority will not be enough to get legislation through Congress.

What it also means, in my opinion, is that we taxpayers are spending a lot of money to get nothing done. It is amazing that the wheels of our nation are moving at all with these obstructionist tactics. And what is it all for?

Well the concept arose from our national sense that the majority rules, but the minority must be protected. However, in this case, I hardly think it is used to protect some disadvantaged minority, but simply for political gain. The minority, in this case the Republicans in Congress, want to score political points by keeping the majority from getting anything done. They want to stall progress, and so they want to stop progressives.

Health Reform

If you are over 50, you should be concerned about health reform. Even if you have an employer plan, you know that costs are rising, and your own coverage is at risk.  A lot of large companies are asking their employees to shoulder a greater part of this burden, or they are cutting benefits. If you are a small business owner, you know how much more expensive it is to keep a good health care plan for your family and employees. This problem is hurting business! Many companies, large and small, are in favor of US health reform.

The only group that I can see to benefit from a lack of progress are the insurance companies. We need to look at our problems and will make sensible changes that will benefit health consumers (all of us) and medical providers.

The health insurance companies, in my opinion, should be at the bottom of our concerns. Why aren’t they? That is a question you should ask. One other question you should ask is how our representatives would be reacting if they had to purchase their own health insurance or depend upon Medicare.

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What is the Sandwich Generation? If you have not heard this term before, you can go right to the source and look at SandwichGeneration.com. It refers to late baby boomers (myself) and early Gen Xers. (Yeah, we know – sometimes that is called Generation Jones) who are caring for aging parents while still caring for kids at home. That includes many of us!

Anyway, let me get away from defining popular terms for different generations and back to the proposed tax changes. These proposals should be announced in President Obama’s State of the Union Address tomorrow (1/27/10).

According the New York Times, we may get help in a couple of areas.

Increased Child Care Tax Credit – The proposal may almost double this valuable credit for families that make less than $85,000. This is more incentive for both parents to go back to work, and it should help working families pay bills. This should be popular for families with younger kids.  I know that when my own kids were young, before child care tax credits, about 1/3 of my net income went for child care.

Cap on College Loan Payments – This would cap college loan paymets to no more than 10% of income, and that is above a basic living allowance. This can help those of us who help our kids pay back loans, and of course, put less strain on graduating seniors.

Elder Care – If you spend money on caring for an elderly family member, you may get some help too. President Obama wants to provide more funding for adult care services from the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Retirement Savings – The proposal would make the credits open to more people. More savers would get a tax credit for contributing to an IRA or 401(K).  This should encourage savings and reduce reliance on social security for many of us.

When is the State of The Union Address?

The State of the Union Address for 2010 is slated to start at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, 8 p.m. Central Time, and 6 p.m. Pacific Time on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010. You can watch on any major network. You can also watch online at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/live

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OK, that was sort of a title and heading I crafted to get attention. But before you run off, it really isn’t that far off. The US federal government does want to help Americans with some New Year’s resolutions! USA.gov, a website run by the federal government, has information on such a variety of topics that I really am surprised that more of us don’t know about it. For one thing, I am all for having our government spend our federal tax dollars on something useful!

Happy New Year from The USA!

The New Years Resolution Page of USA.gov is here. This contains a variety of topics related to common New Year’s resolutions. Weight loss, quitting smoking, getting out of debt, finding a better jobs, or planning a great vacation are some samples. The website serves as a link between other government websites (state and federal) in order to make a central search location to use for all sorts of questions.

If you are a US citizen, visitor, business, or government employee, you can find your own section to review. Beyond that, find government resources on other government services, consumer protection, the arts, and many other topics. If you have’t been to the USA.gov website, surprise yourself by taking a few minutes to learn what a great resource it is.

The website describes itself as Government Made Simple. But it really is more than that. It is sort of a portal to government, but also a consumer, visitor, and business resources too. Here is how USA.GOV describes itself.

USA.gov is the U.S. government’s official web portal to all federal, state, and local government web resources and services. As the catalyst for a growing electronic government, USA.gov helps citizens navigate through government red tape. At USA.gov, you can apply for benefits online, contact a government agency, or use the Internet’s most comprehensive search of government websites—all from one easy location.

Anyway, I understand that our president (Obama or otherwise) did not build usa.gov, and it actually was probably started during the last administration, though I’m really sure about this. The title gets attention though, and gosh durn Happy New Year, that’s what we’re all about this year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM OVER50Web.net!!!

Anyway, if 2010 is the year you are going to lose 20 pounds, go on a cruise, or just try to get a handle on your bills, we hope to be there with you! We were happy to be with you in 2009, and we’ll see ya’ on the other side!

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Oh Hillary, I loved you well. I am here to tell you that I am a middle aged Texas Democrat, andI threw my support behind Hillary Clinton in the primaries. I was bitter when she lost the primary, but being a good Democrat, I realized that Obama was the future, and like me, Clinton came from the past.

Baby Boomers Did Well!

We had a good run. We did. I am, perhaps, too old to be idealistic, but not so old I cannot remember idealism. We are the children on the 60′s, and the early 70s. We did some good, made some mistakes, and earned our legacy. But I am reminded of the story of Moses, leading the children of Israel for 40 years, enough time for the odler generation to die off, and the next generation, who had not been slaves – at least as adults, take positions of leaderships.

Now I just read a post that some of the Clinton’s business dealings did not live up to the idealism we thought we still had. Poor working conditions in an ethonal company the Clinton’s invested in and a Chinese internet company who wanted to help the government find Tibetan protesters come to mind. Oh, Bill and Hillary, you are not worse than the rest of us, and perhaps, better than most.

But maybe it is time for us to step back and support the future, to admit that in our middle age we should be here to remind our children, but not to lead them. I love and respect Hillary Clinton, and the holes she punched in all sorts of glass ceilings, and the fighter she is. But maybe we should just relax, remind the new kids of the mistakes we made, and what we did right, and let them learn from us.

OK Kids, Go On and Change The World!

I think we did a good job, and when the Obama kids realize that they will not reach our age without mistakes, and would not be the great people they are without us to guide them, our job will be complete. So, kids, we are ready for change, and we aren’t gone yet! But we trust you too, So go and and be better than we are. We will be glad to see it.

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