Hard to believe it is 10 Years...

The artist captured my grief perfectly. 

10 years have passed without my daughter, Laura, in my life and
this is exactly how I still feel most of the time.
Especially around the holidays, when I am witnessing everyone
spending time together, having fun, and sharing love with their families.
It just doesn't get any easier. Life goes on and I cherish the good times and the love
that has been granted to me. Even though Laura is no longer here physically, I am
blessed by God to share my life with my husband, son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter
(who makes my heart sing with joy), and the rest of my family and dear friends.
Including my dog, Zoey.

(Picture copied from a Facebook post.)

The Dangers of Winter Coats and Car Seats

It has been a very long time since I posted something on my blog. My life has had some changes and I just haven't dedicated any time to  blogging. Will get back to it soon! In the meantime, here is a bit of  safety advice.

Reprinted from Consumer Reports, Emily A. Thomas, Ph.D. / Last updated: October 19, 2018.

How to keep your child warm and safe

Winter brings cold weather and potentially slick roads, but families still need to travel every day. We bundle up our children to help them brave the elements, but a bulky coat and a car seat can be a dangerous combination.

There are ways to safely transport children in child car seats while still keeping them warm. Here are some tips for parents to follow from the experts at CR's Auto Test Center.

Puffy Coat Check

As a general rule, winter coats should not be worn underneath a car seat harness because that can leave the harness too loose to be effective in a crash. Here's a simple way to check whether your child's coat is too big to wear underneath a harness:

Step 1: Put the coat on your child, sit him or her in the car seat and fasten the harness. Tighten the harness until you can no longer pinch any of the webbing with your thumb and forefinger.

Step 2: Without loosening the harness at all, unhook it and remove your child from the car seat. Take the coat off, put your child back in the car seat, and buckle the harness straps, which should be adjusted just as they were when the child was wearing the coat.

If you can pinch the webbing between your thumb and forefinger now, then the coat is too bulky to be worn under the harness.

How to Bundle Up Safely

If you find that the coat can't be safely worn under the harness, here are a couple things you can do:
For smaller children, put a blanket over them to keep them warm.Only use aftermarket covers, essentially fitted blankets, designed to give additional warmth that are approved by the car-seat manufacturer for your specific car seat. Such covers have been tested with the seat and won't compromise your child's safety.

For a bigger child, after securing him or her in the car seat, turn the coat around and put it on backward (with arms through the armholes), so the back of the coat serves as a blanket resting on top of the harness.
One of the most common problems with a child car seat is that the harness is left too loose, and wearing a big winter coat can be just one of the causes.                                                                                           

It's important that the harness is tight enough so that you can't pinch the webbing between your thumb and forefinger. Extra slack in the harness can let the child move to the point where he or she is beyond the protection of the car seat, perhaps even being ejected during a crash.

www.consumerreports.org/car-seats

What You Need to Know About Your New Medicare Card

Replacement cards start coming in April 

and are already triggering new scams

Reprinted from Facebook post: Consumer Reports / Donna Rosato / March 26, 2018

To better protect the 60 million people enrolled in Medicare from identity theft, the government will be sending out new, more secure Medicare cards starting next month.

Instead of identifying members by their Social Security number, the new cards will use a computer-generated series of 11 letters and numbers. The cards will also no longer include a person’s gender or signature.

The use of Social Security numbers on Medicare cards has long been problematic. Whether through theft or fraud, if your number falls into the wrong hands, it can be used to access your bank accounts, steal your Social Security checks, or fraudulently get medical care or prescription drugs in your name.

The change is long overdue, says Casey Schwarz, senior counsel for education and federal policy at the Medicare Rights Center, a nonprofit organization focused on helping older adults and the disabled access affordable healthcare.

“You show your health insurance card to a lot of people you wouldn’t share your Social Security number with,” she says. “The updated cards provide more modern privacy protections and lower the risk of identity theft.” 

Ironically, the change has sparked a wave of scams targeting people using Medicare.

The Federal Trade Commission says the new scams stated almost as soon as the replacement card program was announced.  

In one typical scheme, fraudsters call Medicare beneficiaries on the phone and tell them that in order to get the new card they need to provide Social Security and bank account information, threatening to cancel their Medicare benefits if they don’t provide both.Seniors, who account for 50 million of the 60 million people using Medicare (the other 10 million are disabled), are especially vulnerable to scams, says Brandy Bauer, communications manager for economic security at the National Council on Aging.

Bauer says older adults are targeted more often because they are perceived to have more money. But scams can have an outsized impact on seniors who live on a fixed income and who don’t have time to rebuild savings. 

"You have a lot of unscrupulous people preying on people in Medicare,” she says.

What to Know About Your New Card

You don’t need to do anything to get your card. Medicare won’t call you to ask for personal or financial information, you don’t have to pay get a new card, and your benefits won’t change. Just make sure Medicare has your current mailing address. If it needs to be updated, contact Social Security, which administers the Medicare program. You can update it online by creating an online account, or you can call 800-772-1213. You can also go to a Social Security field office. You can look up your local branch here.

You may not get your card right away. Delivery of the new cards is rolling out over the next year. Go here to see when to expect the card mailings in your area. You can also check out this page Medicare created with details on the new cards.

You can use your current card till 2020. There is a transition period during which you can use either your new Medicare card or your old card at doctors’ offices and hospitals. Both should work until Dec. 31, 2019. After that, shred your old card—don’t just put it in the trash. The new card is smaller, the size of a credit card, so it fits in your wallet more easily. Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, only the new card will be usable.

You should keep your other Medicare cards. About one-third of people get their Medicare benefits through private insurance plans known as Medicare Advantage. Your Medicare Advantage card—which like the new Medicare cards uses a unique identifier, not your Social Security number—will not change and will still be your main card for Medicare. But you may be asked to show your new Medicare card, too, so keep that with you. Same goes if you have a separate plan for prescription drug coverage, Medicare Part D.

You can get help if you are scammed. If you think you are a victim of identity theft or Medicare fraud, contact your state’s Senior Medicare Patrol, a federally funded program to help Medicare beneficiaries, their family, and caregivers. You can also call the Medicare fraud tip line at 800-447-8477 or the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at 800-633-4227. Unlike a Social Security number, which is difficult to change, you can get a different Medicare number if needed.

How Long to Keep Tax Records and Other Documents

You'll also want to safely keep other documents 

for the right amount of time

From FB: Consumer Reports / Last updated: March 08, 2018

Tax season is the perfect time to start culling your paper piles and computer files and getting everything in order. You've already delved into your financial records, so you might as well take the time to organize them. 

There are plenty of good reasons to do this. One is that if you haven't yet completed your taxes, getting your paperwork in order will reduce tax-preparation stress. And if you have already filed your taxes, you'll want to know how long to keep tax records and other financial papers in case you're audited.

There are other instances when being organized can pay off. If you're meeting with a financial adviser or an attorney, you don't want to spend hours wading through clutter to find the documents you need.

If there's a fire, flood, or theft, you'll need access to essential documents quickly. And if you become ill, well-organized paperwork will make it easier for your loved ones to find your healthcare power of attorney, insurance policies, medical records, and outstanding bills.

So what should you do? Divide your financial papers into four categories: papers that you need to keep for the calendar year or less; papers that can be destroyed when you no longer own the items they cover; tax records (we'll tell you how long to keep tax records), and papers to keep indefinitely.

How to Organize Your Records

Keep for less than a year In this file, store your ATM, bank-deposit, and credit card receipts until you reconcile them with your monthly statements. Once you've done that, shred the paper documents (to avoid ID theft) or securely trash electronic files unless you need them to support your tax return. Keep insurance policies and investment statements until new ones arrive. 

Keep for a year or more  You'll want to hold onto loan documents until the loan is paid off. That will often be for more than a year. Then toss those papers. If you own one or more vehicles, hold onto the titles until you sell them. If you have investments in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or anything else, keep the investment purchase confirmations until you sell the investment so you can establish your cost basis and holding period. (If that information appears on your annual statements, you can keep those instead.)

Keep for seven years  If you fail to report more than 25 percent of your gross income on your tax returns, the government has six years to collect the tax or start legal proceedings. So when it comes to determining how long to keep tax records—electronic and paper—we recommend seven years, just in case.

Keep forever  Essential records such as birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, divorce decrees, Social Security cards, and military discharge papers should be kept indefinitely. Also hold on to defined-benefit plan documents, estate-planning documents, life-insurance policies, and an inventory of your bank safe deposit box (share a copy with your executor or your attorney).

How to Store Your Files

• Use a fireproof safe or password-protected electronic file for the following: Bank and investment statements, estate-planning documents, pension information, insurance policies, pay stubs, tax documents, and your safe deposit box inventory list.                                                                                                                               
• Invest in a safe deposit box for papers that can't be easily replaced: Original birth and death certificates, Social Security cards, passports, life-insurance documents, marriage and divorce decrees, military discharge information, vehicle titles, an inventory of your home's contents (in case you need to make an insurance claim), and loan documents.