What to Do When a Loved One Dies

"Settling a deceased family member's affairs is not a one-person task. You'll need the help of others, ranging from professionals like lawyers or CPAs, who can advise you on financial matters, to a network of friends and relatives, to whom you can delegate tasks or lean on for emotional support." Leanne Potts, writing for AARP, explains the process and provides a detailed list of tasks facing the survivors of the deceased. Below is the list; for full details: https://www.aarp.org/home-family/friends-family/info-2020/when-loved-one-dies-checklist.html

To Do Immediately After Someone Dies

Get a legal pronouncement of death

Tell friends and family

Find out about existing funeral and burial plans

Within a Few Days of Death

Make funeral, burial or cremation arrangements

Secure the property

Provide care for pets

Forward mail

Notify your family member's employer

Two Weeks After Death

Secure certified copies of death certificates

Find the will and the executor

Meet with a trusts and estates attorney

Contact a CPA

Take the will to probate

Make an inventory of all assets

Track down assets

Make a list of bills

Cancel services no longer needed

Notify the following of your loved one's death:

• The Social Security Administration

• Life insurance companies

• Banks, financial institutions

• Financial advisers, stockbrokers

• Credit agencies

Cancel driver's license

Close credit card accounts

Terminate insurance policies

Delete or memorialize social media accounts

Close email accounts (& social media)

Life will be so much easier for our survivors if we gather this information, prepare a will and letter of last instruction and provide guidance on your wishes.

 

 

 

Need a passport or need to renew?

Plan at least 6 months ahead! Yes, the backlog is long so don't book your trip unless your passport is good for at least 6 months. Check the expiration date and renew early.

AAA rating of the United States government bonds at risk due to politics

"Fitch Ratings, a credit rating company, is considering downgrading the AAA rating of the United States government bonds. The problem is not the economy. In fact, the Fitch Ratings report praises the economy, saying it “has recovered much more rapidly than expected, helped by policy stimulus and the roll-out of the vaccination program, which has allowed economic reopening…. [T]he scale and speed of the policy response [is] a positive reflection on the macroeconomic policy framework. Real economic output has overtaken its pre-pandemic level and is on track to exceed pre-pandemic projections....” 

"Although the report worries about the growing debt, we also learned yesterday that the deficit for June dropped a whopping 80% from the deficit a year ago, as tax receipts recover along with the economy. Year-to-date, the annual deficit is down 18% from last year."

"The problem, the report says, is politics. And it is specific." “The failure of the former president to concede the election and the events surrounding the certification of the results of the presidential election in Congress in January, have no recent parallels in other very highly rated sovereigns. The redrafting of election laws in some states could weaken the political system, increasing divergence between votes cast and party representation. These developments underline an ongoing risk of lack of bipartisanship and difficulty in formulating policy and passing laws in Congress.”

Thanks to Boston College historian Heather Cox Richardson for this blog post. 

Hospitals Often Bill Uninsured the Highest Prices

Going without health insurance is NOT an option!

Insurers negotiate lower rates for same treatment, new data show, with the uninsured charging up to three times as much as patients with insurance. No wonder we have the highest bankruptcy rates in the world. My research at Utah State University on bankruptcy in Utah and that of Levi Pace at the University of Utah confirmed the role of medical debt in personal bankruptcy. Other researchers around the country reported significant decreases in consumer bankruptcy filings once the Affordable Care Act was enacted.

Writing for July 7, 2021 The Wall Street Journal, Melanie Evans, Anna Wilde Mathews and Tom McGinty provide details on a practice of multi-tiered pricing by hospitals. Those who can least afford the care are charged the most, while insured patients pay far less, depending on their specific insurance. This practice of charging wildly different rates based on insured status is nothing new. 

"Hospitals typically charge different customers different prices for the exact same service, with big discounts for some but not others. Those rates—and wide pricing differences—were confidential until Jan. 1, when a new federal rule required hospitals to make prices public. The newly public prices allow
for the first time a comparison of what deep-pocketed insurers pay hospitals versus rates that hospitals set for patients who pay cash. Time and time again, the Journal’s analysis revealed, cash payers are charged among the highest prices." You can't afford to be uninsured!

"Hospitals generally offer financial aid, but policies vary widely and can be poorly promoted, leaving many uninsured, who are often also low income, to struggle with unmanageable bills."

It may take the uninsured hiring a lawyer or professional patient advocate to negotiate an affordable repayment plan.

Hospitals within the same county charge wildly different rates for the same procedures. While that suggests shopping around, ending up in the emergency room with a heart attack or stroke doesn't allow such prudence.

Just one more reason why we need universal, single-payer health insurance like the rest of the industrialized world.