Healthcare on my Mind.

While reading the Opinion section of the TEnnessean online last week, I came across this piece by a Hal Roberts of Franklin, TN titled, "Obama team turns its back on free-market principles."

Choosing to ignore the political sides Mr. Roberts has taken, I couldn't help but have my mind go back to the hottest topic of debate today - healthcare reform and health insurance and got to thinking: It amazes me on how everyone talks about how there are millions uninsured but no one wants to face that money plays a big part of how these programs work.

But let’s get the number right according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau’s report on Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States. The non-citizen rate of uninsured individuals clocks in at 43.8%, or roughly 9.4 million non-Americans. While the number continues to drop, it’s also worth noting that we’re not talking exclusively about the abject poor who can’t afford insurance, that same Census Bureau summary includes the following:

There are 8.3 million uninsured people who make between $50,000 and $74,999 per year and 8.74 million who make more than $75,000 a year. That’s roughly 17 million people who ought to be able to “afford” health insurance because they make substantially more than the median household income of $46,326.

Once you do some fairly basic math, you come up with the same figure that the Kaiser Family Foundation arrived at: The liberal Kaiser Family Foundation puts the number of uninsured Americans who don’t qualify for government programs and make less than $50,000 a year between 8.2 million and 13.9 million.

If we are to provide 14 million people with insurance don’t you think it would be better to just change the systems we already have and provide those people with the needed care along with the other people that are already in the system? This would put less of a burden on our budget and still provide the help that people need. What we do not need is too many people living on the system and see to it that everyone takes personal responsibility so the system is not abused and is used for those who truly need it. We must balance the budget in this country or we will all be facing a country in bankruptcy and that is not going to be pretty.

I know you're wondering

People ask me, "Why 'Dr' Friday?" Well, I'm a tax guru, I am the doctor of money
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My company is a family run business and as much as it prides me to follow in my dad & mum's footsteps, I do this mostly because I like helping people. The way I see it, we're already losing our hard earned money in so many different ways to the various ways we're taxed by the government. I would be doing people a disservice if I couldn't help you minimize your losses and maximize your money. My focus is mainly on small businesses - the industrious people who deserve to reap as much as they sow. I love helping them from the get go and seeing them build their dreams and hold on to those dreams.

There's several ways you can get to know me and what I do better:

On the telly: I'm on the panel for the Retirement Report with Hank Parrott every Friday morning at 8a.m. on NewsChannel 5+ here in Nashville. I also have my own show on NewsChannel 5+ called In Your Prime that airs everyday at 1p.m.

On the radio: On Saturday nights, if you're not out on the town, catch Barry Burke, Mr. Free Enterprise (you'll have to ask him why that's his name!) and Myself on our radio show The Money Doctor on WLAC 1510AM (Podcast available after the show here) . It airs from 7p.m. till 10p.m. The show spans 25 states.

I'm a busy girl, and on Sunday, I will be partnering up with Hank Parrott again for the Financial Lifestyle Show also on WLAC at 10a.m. This show kicks off this Sunday so if you missed me on Saturday, there are plenty of other opportunities!

While you're at it, please do follow me on Twitter. I'm always open to questions so feel free to drop me a line and ask away - don't forget, I like to help! I am, after all, the Tax Doctor!

We Are An Innovative People

Surely we can come up with good ideas and better ways to make some extra cash?

As an apropos follow up to my last blog post about the unemployment rate in TN costing hardworking taxpayers and employers more unemployment tax money, the Tennessean had another article: "Stimulus keeps checks coming as job hunts fail."

Here's my question: Why haven’t these people tried self employment going and cutting grass, housecleaning, handy man services... Like that 52 year old man who worked in the printing business - with that experience he could write and print on his home computer. Take small orders or help companies print and package material. What about a hobby like gardening? Then he can sell his veggies at the farmers market. People could bake, or a tutor kids etc.. these take little to no money to start up just your time and, let's face it, the unemployed have a lot of that.

This article (and also Sean Hannity) says people are giving up but you know in the Great Depression we did not have unemployment and those people had to find ways to support their families. And they did it without computers and the internet. But they were unemployed, and they did it. And it was the self employed that pulled us out of those hard times, instead of causing more strife.

This weekend, let's think about the talents we have that we haven't put to full use. It all starts with a simple thought of "what if" to take us to "maybe I could try..." to take us to the next level to where we become our own best resource.

Solution? Or Problem?

Earlier this month I saw an article on Tennessean.com about the jobless’ taxes putting a strain on business. Every single one of my 250-odd clients are affected by this - because of the ever growing unemployment claims here in Tennessee, because of new legislation being passed, employers here will have to cough up millions in unemployment taxes to cover benefits for the growing population of the unemployed.

In May this year, the TN Department of Labor did their annual evaluation and most of my clients had a increase of almost 1.5%, then in July they made the change to increase the bases to $9000.00 and charge every company another .06%.

All of this because of the huge burden the unemployed have put on the system.

Unemployment benefits provide temporary compensation to workers who meet the eligibility requirements of Tennessee law. The key word here is “temporary.” In December 2008 the average unemployed person collected 13 to 26 weeks of unemployment benefits. We have now seen as many as three extensions so that person can collect up to 79 weeks of unemployment - talk about milking the system!! And, let’s not forget the stimulus package and how that adds another $25.00 a week (for families. It’s $13 a week for an individual).

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with unemployment benefits - we all need some help staying on our feet as we try to find new employment in these trying times. But it doesn’t change the fact that people need to be prepared for situations like this. In my humble opinion, if more people learned to look to themselves and depend less on government handouts, maybe we’d see more jobs available now.