dont let them do it

DONT LET THEM DO IT
like reagan use to say
there you go again

those congress folks are after us again
cant they leave us along

i know i know he said i wouldnt be touched
but
weve been here before

why cant they just do tax change stuff that
mainly affects all those rich folks like
the president
and
most of congress

back in the 90s this word popped up
on my radar
401k
my rainwater brother who is a certified financial planner
explained it all to me
of course
as he talked my eyes got real blurry
my mind started to wander
what the heck he is talking about

but
over time i read more about it
he talked to me more
i gradually started to understand it better

basically
i knew we couldnt live off social security
we needed more money
pension for teachers wasnt an issue at that time
since my wife she hadnt made that
i wanna be a teacher movement yet

it really didnt matter as it turns out
the teachers pension
since she is getting from the pension
what she lost from the social security that she earned
in the preteaching era and from my paying in it over the years

bottom line
teachers pension minus her would be social security equals zero

so i knew we needed more

investopedia.com

my rainwater brother finally got me to understand
how to do this
maximum how much you can put in in your 401k
so i did
make sure you put enough in to meet the match from
your employer
so i did
then
on the teacher side you have this thing called a 403b
just think of it like its a 401k
put as much in there as you can

i must add that most teachers dont make enough to put in
a 403b
very few do

so
over 25 years thats what we did
so when i had to quit and she retired
we have enough in our 401k/403b to live comfortably
when you add in our
well my social security
and her teachers pension

if that 401k had been not there
i am not sure all that incentive to make you save
make me save
would have been there
we would be hurting in retirement without it

so it is with a lot of folks

now
again
like i said the other day
this affects all of us
whether we are democratic republican independent
no matter our race
no matter our politic
no matter our religion
whether we are rich
whether we are poor
well
maybe not if we are rich
as this probably dont affect them much

so no matter your politics
you should be ticked at these congress people
trying to take this away from us
the only vehicle that many folks have to provide for
their retirement
i you are promised a pension by a company or government agency
be aware that some have stopped paying the pension
or greatly reduced it

so eg the texas teacher retirement doesnt give any
cost of living adjustment so thats their way of
reducing the payout
even then it can be reduced easily by a vote from
the legislature

we shouldnt let these folks do this to us
there are probably very few if any congress folks or cabinet members
or presidents or vice presidents that will be affected if they do

i think
congress if they want to cut things to save money
they might look at their own pocketbooks and financial statements
to find areas that really need to be cut
just leave us regular folks along

maybe we just need a regular folks movement

the organicgreen doctor

teacher gonna teach

TEACHER GONNA TEACH

yep
thats what they are gonna do
teach
and
do it well i must say

here is the link to the article some of this info was obtained from
if you are a texas teacher
you should probably read it

texas is if it was a country would be one of the largest economies
it has 6 of the top 50 fortune 500 companies headquartered
in our state
it has 51 of the top 500 fortune 500 companies headquartered here
texas is third behind new york and california

it has more exports than california and new york
if it was a nation it would be the 12th largest economy in the world
based on gdp

it is ahead of south korea and australia
however
south korea is number one in education
australia is number four in education
the us is number seventeen in education
texas would be way down at the bottom if it was a country

so texas is a wealthy state
it would be a wealthy country

right
well sort of wrong

it ranks 43rd in education in the us
it ranks almost at the bottom for childrens health
thank goodness for mississippi

it ranks at the bottom in overall health care for its citizens

its a bottom feeder when it comes to childrens poverty

some of this is almost 3rd world like
no it is 3rd world like

seems shameful

north of texas and northeast of texas
are two states
that well those folks there in arkansas and oklahoma
well they dont really like texas much

so it seems
that texas dont like their teachers either

if you retired as a teacher in 2000 at say $1000 a month
you would still make in 2017 the same $1000 a  month
their buying power would be greatly reduced
there is not a cost of living adjustment provided
inflation slowly like a cancer eats away the teachers retirement

add to that
the fact that most districts in the state dont pay into social security
which means
those teachers may not get any social security
or
if they do it will be greatly reduced

my wife she will get less than half the social security that she
would have gotten if she didnt teach or lived in those other states

yes those texas hating states around us
their teachers get all their social security benefits

their state legislators did their jobs
they took care of their teachers

texas is a wealthy state
it has no excuse

now
they
the state of texas
plans to remove the pensions all together
to change to a 401k program

now i realize that that is what is happening all over the country
its probably going to happen
but
hopefully at least they will reinstitute the paying into social security
requirement for all the school districts

at least the blow
the amount of poverty that retired teachers will live in
will be blunted some

a teachers gonna teach

lets take care of these important folks in our lives
our kids lives

the organicgreen doctor

there you go again

THERE YOU GO AGAIN
those are reagans words he said during one of his campaigns

as a watchdog for social security benefits for all of us
remember most if not all of us pay social security taxes
or
as i read recently
they should be called
social security premiums

eg
i pay long term premiums each month
so if i need long term care
i can get most of it paid for
its a lot of money over years before i will need it
but
usually it pays to pay the premiums for the eventual benefits

i pay car insurance premiums to insure my cars
so if they are wrecked i can get the car replaced
or fixed

i use to pay term life insurance premiums for years
as you can tell since i am writing this
i have never had to collect on them
now if you keep life insurance long enough
you will need it or should i say your family will need ti

i paid premiums for years and years for long term disability
i after decades of paying
was able to collect payments after my diagnosis was made
i had a rider that required i be paid if i couldnt do my job
as a practicing family doctor

so
i look at the social security that i have paid into over the years
as premiums
since my income was over the upper limits of the income taxable
my premiums were more than say someone who was
a dishwasher or cook

the amount i am paid is based on the premiums that i paid in
which was based on my income

i believe they need to increase the premiums on those who make
over the upper limit of $127,200 the upper limit in 2017
since above that the premiums dont increase

several years ago they tried to privatize social security
as i have written before
when you see the word privatize
you are going to lose and someone is going to make a lot lot of money
off you

now enter reagans words
there you go again

now there is a movement to get rid of the social security premiums
we all pay now
so there would be no deductions from your pay check
we all get a rise of 6.25 or so %
be careful of what you wish for
nothing is free when it comes to politicians

so how will the premiums be paid
the plan is to take them out of the general fund

now
if you are a libertarian
if you are a republican
if you are a democrat
if you are an independent
if you have no label at all

you should be concerned about this potential proposal

the general fund
we know how well that works now
they cant even keep the government funded all the time
our social security premiums and benefits will be at the whelm
of whatever folks are in power

so be prepared
to harass the heck out of your congressperson

this is like having a good insurance policy
but
the insurance company is allowed to just cancel it out on you
at anytime

dont let them do it

the organicgreen doctor

i am done

I AM DONE
thats what i told my wife she last night
im through
no more
done

now
i know who i am going to vote for president
theres nothing that will appear in the news media
to make me change my mind

movietvtechgeeks.com
theres is nothing to convince me to vote for the other
person
no matter what is said i am not going to change my vote

this running for president has taken too long
seems like its been going on now for 5 years
i was thinking
how can those candidates hold up to all that stress
all that name calling
all that traveling
all those speeches
dont you get tired
i know i do just watching them
i am tired of watching them
trash each other

here is what i care about
that needs fixing
this is all i want to hear about
not someones tweets or their health or their emails
or their spouses
heck im glad folks cant see what i wrote in my emails
now my tweets they are out there though to read

just tell us what we can expect on these issues

social security and medicare
these are about to break the bank
a difficult decision needs to be made
do it and  move on

immigration
what we gonna do with 11 million folks
many provide the jobs that without them we would all be miserable

health care
if obamacare isnt the answer then find one
its not going to work where a large portion of the population
is carved out to get no care
ie
texas health care

race or racism
it could be what destroys our country

the federal debt is looming over us
our congress is doing nothing to address this
sorry but we cant file bankruptcy and start over
maybe dave ramsey could help congress

climate change
whatever the causes
it cant be good that all the glaciers are melting
and
russia and china can run boats across the north pole
thats not good
we need to do whatever we can to slow all this down

work together
we or they as congress people need to work together
to get things done

thats all i want
to hear them talk about

so
off goes my tv
click click as i change my news feeds
delete delete delete
if they arent talking about these important things

the organicgreen doctor

i worry

I WORRY

recollectionproject.com

this has bode me well over the years
being a worrier
many a patient of mine benefited from my worrying
about them
well sometimes it was mixed with intuition or 6th sense
eg for no good reason i ordered a test that came back
positive which saved their lives or shortened their illness

now i worry about
our future
when i write our i mean our kids and our grand kids
our great grand kids etc
what will their financial future be like when they
all get to our age

dim is what im afraid it will be
not all of them if any will read dave ramsey and follow
his steps to financial success

first it seems they and i guess all of us need more to live
on now
cable tv cell phones smart ones bigger more expensive
vacations bigger more expensive hobbies etc
now my hobby is gardening so i at least will break even
on that one
bigger more expensive vehicles
more bigger food bills since we eat out more

then
when they do reach retirement
their expenses are higher since we they need more

what will their source of income be


pensions
only 20% have them now
and
that number will drop
those that do are at risk of losing them
and
many of these pensions never increase ie no
col adjustments are done
eg
my wife she retires in say 2 years
her retirement checks will never increase
and
since the school district doesnt pay into social security
she nor the other teachers will receive social security
since there is this thing called offset they do
whoever they is
which wipes out most if not all of the social security
they get from their spouses

my wife will get $200 a month from social security
then when i die she will get about 40% of my social
security instead of 100%
luckily we were able to invest over the years in her
403b to compensate for this loss of income  from
social security
many or most teachers cant afford to do this

i am sure the government will make this even worse
for folks who have government pensions


social security
we know this will still be there but it wont be as it is now
my guess is that it will be cut 25% or more
the col adjustment will get smaller
so the end result will be less income from this
source for our younger relatives


luckily for us we were able to put back enough in our
401ks and 403bs and iras to make ourselves comfortable
for our retirement
but it has taken
us downsizing
our life styles
our size of our house
our house is half the size of most physicians
our size of our cars
our cars are 5yrs 8 yrs and 17 years old
our vacations
our holiday spending
doing this a long time before we retired
and
now carrying that throughout our retirement

it appears that the amount of money left over for
inheritance to our younger relatives will diminish
even more
then they will have even less left over for their kids

now added on is a lifetime of school debt

so things im afraid will only get worse

the generation behind us
are not programmed to save at the rate they need to be
to be ready financially when they quit working

im sort of glad i wont be around to see what life will
be like for those generations

it seems the government isnt going to ever do anything
to help out
theyll just keep on fighting to get nothing done

so if you are a younger relative of mine and especially
if you have kids
you need to be thinking about this
or
your future will be dim

you cant really do anything much about social security
but plan on it being messed with

you if you have a pension realize it may not be there
for you when you retire or it will be reduced in some way

so it will be up to you
if you dont know who dave ramsey is then get acquainted with
him
i personally dont agree with some of  his religious and his political
views
i respect his beliefs but dont agree with many of them
but
his core message though is the one for all folks to follow

you need to know these terms
emergency fund
snowball debt reductions
no credit card debt

you must avoid debt and you must save starting as young
as you possibly can
the goal is eventually 15% of your earnings should be saved
then
you must downsize yourself
your cars your houses your vacations your expenses
to reach this goal
and
be happy when you do it

my wife she and i have done all this
and
we are happy
and
we do all those things we like to do

i see everyday when i work for habitat for humanity
and
meals on wheels
what poverty in retirement can look like

it aint purty

so yes i worry
please help me not to have to worry so much

the organicgreen doctor

care

CARE
this word care seems to be used a lot when its applied
to our health
theres obamacare healthcare.gov medicare
i think really it seems that our politicians dont care
about our health

i think back over the last year maybe last two years about
all the effort that was put into making our health care system
not work
what would have happened if that effort was channeled in
the other direction to develop a system that really worked

if we had one that worked we wouldnt have the worst statistics
for health care among industrialized countries
almost third world numbers in some categories
and
definitely third world numbers in some areas of the usa

we have the potential for the best health care system
we just allocate it so unevenly

ive worked with and through many of these care systems or dont care
systems this year

i started the year on a good health policy from my wife shes work
a good policy that spiked well it doubled in price this year
so i searched the obamacare policies and found
an equivalent one for about $200 a month less

i also helped several people from 4 different states to research
and find themselves a good health care policy
all found a policy that was cheaper than their previous
some were getting brand new policies

the care site that i used that worked the easiest was californias
in fact the person took just a few minutes to sign up using his
smartphone

another using the texas site which is healthcare.gov found a
policy for her teenage daughter that was $100 cheaper a month
with the same or better coverage

i think about texas a lot
we have such a bad record of health no care in our state
this state has worked so hard to make this not work
what if they had channeled that effort into a system to make
our health no care better

i was at a larger healthcare systems event yesterday
i looked at the massive building and saw all those patients
coming and going
and thought i bet these guys are big supporters of the
new healthcare law
since they are losing millions and millions each year from
being not paid for uninsured care

this year my long term disability company got involved with
my care
in the fine print it says you will file for social security disability
or lose your benefits
then they hired a lawyer to make sure i won my case
there was no benefit to me personally to do all of this
as it would cost me money if i won
so
they filed they appealed they won

so on social security disability i go which goes directly to them
with that also you get put on medicare a and b
whether you want it or not
you get it you pay for it each month
so
i started looking around
$850 a month for my private insurance with my wife she
$104 a month for my medicare a and b
that $954 a month for health care

so i checked out the next letter dealing with medicare
thats c which is the medicare advantage plans
i call them the disadvantage plans
you really have to watch and check each one closely
some are good and some are not
remember the feds are starting to defund these disadvantage plans
a little each year

no c for me i decided

then theres the d
thats medicare prescription plan
so i looked at all my drugs and put them into the plan
they actually pay better than my wife shes insurance
eg 90 days for $0 vs $30 for a  generic drug
that one looks good
i picked a value plan for $42 a month

then theres the medigap plans
that picks up most of what medicare a and b doesnt cover
no letter is attached to them
price $147 a month

so i added up the medicare price
a and b   $104
medigap $147
d            $42
total $293 a month
subtract $850 for my wife shes policy
equals $557 a month savings on just my health care policies

then thats $20,000 saved over the next three years
wonder what i can do with that money

what ive found over the last year
is dealing with social security and medicare and the medigap insurance
company has been so easy and efficient
there is not all these complicated choices that had to be made like
with the obamacare care policies

the effect im sorry to say is the political influence of lobbyists
for insurance companies drug companies health systems
and
worst of all
the discord that exists in washington
and in some of our state governments eg texas

my solution for all of this
after spending hours dealing with this this year
hours on the obamacare sites
listening to stories from family friends expatients and people i
dont know

we need a medicare for all
one system for all of us
you sign up
price adjusted maybe for age
the same rules that exist now on medicare
dont listen to doctors who whine about medicare
its all about the money
there wouldnt be this mass confusion that exists now
you pick this one policy
called medicare
you want to practice medicine in the  us you take  medicare
until this happens our system isnt going to work

bump up the medicare tax some and increase it all the way to the
top of the income bracket
remember the system is paying for this anyway
just in hundreds of different programs both private and public

we have a system that works
let just use it for everyone
i care
medicares
do you care
lets fix it please

the organicgreen doctor

thats over with

THATS OVER WITH
when i switched or redirected this blog some almost
three years ago when i was diagnosed with
mild cognitive impairment amnestic type ie short term
memory loss
i wanted to write about everything that happens to me in
relationship to this diagnosis

part of the journey is the business or money side of this
story

when i was working i had a long term disability policy that
lucky for me was paid for with after tax dollars so that
when the insurance claim was paid out the monies paid would
not be taxable
what this means for me is that im paid equal to what i was
making until im 66 years old

many people dont have these policies so they have to depend
on social security disability for their income replacement
which can be good but it will not usually replace the income
that was lost

you have to be disabled for 2 years before you get paid
sometimes the system for some people takes longer to work
so that they may go 2-3 years without any money

for them this can be a financial disaster
especially if their initial filing is denied and they have to
go through a hearing to get an administrative judge to make
a decision on their claim

some diseases are treated on a fast track plan so that if the
diagnosis is firm and advanced some they only wait 2-3 months
before they get on social security disability and also medicare

one of these diseases is alzheimers disease
thanks to the alzheimers associations lobbying efforts

so what does this have to do with me
im not officially diagnosed with alzheimers disease although i
probably am in the early early early stages of the disease

when i had to retire i pulled out my long term disability policy
and read it
you know the small print stuff
there it was
you must apply for social security disability in order to continue
to receive your private disability insurance checks

why
i dont need my social security checks until i reach 66 when this
policy coverage ends
too bad
you have to file
so i did
it was denied
but
sorry we hire a lawyer for you and you appeal it
so i did

so after 3 years since i quit work
yesterday i had to go before an administrative law judge
with a lawyer
a nice guy by the way as was the judge
both spouted out numbers like code 789.10 exemption
what the heck that meant i didnt know and actually didnt care
since i have little or nothing to gain from all of this

the insurance company if the case is won on appeal gets my
social security check each month until i reach the age of 66
of course i get multiple times that each month from them until
that time
then at age 66 my insurance disability check goes away and i
then start getting my social security checks monthly

i really feel sorry for those people who dont have private disability
insurance and would have waited
for those 3 years to get their first checks

you yes you reading this blog should check out your disability
insurance status
never thought i would ever have needed it
but am glad i had it in place when i did need it

the only good thing that comes of this is that when the decision
is made i will be on medicare
and sad to say wont be able to get the obamacare  policy that
i had spent time researching
i will just add a supplemental policy to the medicare for better
coverage

the attorney said after the hearing that he thought from knowing
the judge and the process that my social security disability claim
will probably be approved

during the last 3 years there are times not many when i get this
melancholic feeling that people must feel when they get depressed

yesterday during the hearing when i was being questioned
and had to talk about how i was diagnosed and how ive done
since then
this melancholic feeling almost like a flush you women would
call it a hot flash hit me
but like a flush or hot flash it passed and i went on

its this feeling i dont want to have during this period of my life
staying busy talking freely about it volunteering reading writing
makes i think a big difference in keeping
that melancholic fog at bay

now that this hearing is over
as i had to put a lot of  time into it although i wouldnt gain much
from it
welll i guess i would have lost my disability checks each month
if i hadnt gone along with all this

its over
im ready to move on

the organicgreen doctor