Tomorrow, mom is going to go to Vietnam to visit her other half of the family. She has not visit them for over 5 years now. She has planned to go back in 2005 but then my step father fell ill. She has been looking forward to this trip for quite a while.
I've had the travel agent notify the airline to help her transfer between terminals and provide wheel chair service as needed. I hope this will work out.
Check list: Medication for 1 month, visa, passport...
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Signup for Social Security (SS) direct deposit
You would think this is pretty simple eh...
Go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/
Hunt around a bit to find the menu Question?->Checks and Payments->Direct Deposit
Found form 1199A. It said to fill it out then take it to your financial institution.
Filled form - no problem - Took it to mom's local Credit Union and here's where it gets dicey.
The form's instruction said "Financial institution should refer to Green Book for further instructions". It also said "The financial institution should mail the completed form to the Government Agency Identified".
The lady at the credit union did neither. She filled out the bank section 3 info then handed it back to mom. She said "we don't do direct deposit request" you have to do it! She did not fill in section 2, the government agency address that mom should mail the form to.
No problem, I can do that. I searched the web for the "Green Book" and found it at http://fms.treas.gov/greenbook/enroll/enroll-d4.html
It said to verify in section 2 "federal agency name and address" because this is where most errors occur. I followed contact list link. The contact list has misspelled link back to www.socialsecurity.gov where I searched in vain for several hours for an address to send in form 1199A. I gave up.
There is the telephone alternative.
I tried it and, after navigating through complicated button, voice and more button menus, it couldn't find mom's record. I gave up again.
There is the online alternative.
I did an online request for mom. She is now waiting for a letter from the SS office with instruction to create her online account. With this, she should be able to do an online enrollment. We'll see...
This is not good.
Go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/
Hunt around a bit to find the menu Question?->Checks and Payments->Direct Deposit
Found form 1199A. It said to fill it out then take it to your financial institution.
Filled form - no problem - Took it to mom's local Credit Union and here's where it gets dicey.
The form's instruction said "Financial institution should refer to Green Book for further instructions". It also said "The financial institution should mail the completed form to the Government Agency Identified".
The lady at the credit union did neither. She filled out the bank section 3 info then handed it back to mom. She said "we don't do direct deposit request" you have to do it! She did not fill in section 2, the government agency address that mom should mail the form to.
No problem, I can do that. I searched the web for the "Green Book" and found it at http://fms.treas.gov/greenbook/enroll/enroll-d4.html
It said to verify in section 2 "federal agency name and address" because this is where most errors occur. I followed contact list link. The contact list has misspelled link back to www.socialsecurity.gov where I searched in vain for several hours for an address to send in form 1199A. I gave up.
There is the telephone alternative.
I tried it and, after navigating through complicated button, voice and more button menus, it couldn't find mom's record. I gave up again.
There is the online alternative.
I did an online request for mom. She is now waiting for a letter from the SS office with instruction to create her online account. With this, she should be able to do an online enrollment. We'll see...
This is not good.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Preparing tax return for mom
Well, this is the first of what I hope to be many posts on taking care of elderly parents. So here goes...
I'm doing tax for mom and I thought it would be simple and easy. She has a small SS pension, interest income from the proceed of selling her home, a small IRA distribution, etc...
First, I neglected to have tax withholding on her interest income. I didn't think it would be so much! So it looks like she will own the IRS about $1000. No problem, she didn't own any taxes last year so there won't be a penalty.
Next, I see this 1099-R form that says mom earned $11000 from an annuity she had setup eon ago. She has just cashed it out to put into her bank to get better interest rate. This pushed her income over the $25000 limit so her SS income will be taxed! Now she own $4000 total tax! She is effectively paying 27% tax rate on that annuity income.
So the lesson here is: Watch out when your parents cash out any sort of saving. With our curious tax law, even a small amount may set off a chain reaction of tax rules that will just eat up their hard earned saving.
I'm doing tax for mom and I thought it would be simple and easy. She has a small SS pension, interest income from the proceed of selling her home, a small IRA distribution, etc...
First, I neglected to have tax withholding on her interest income. I didn't think it would be so much! So it looks like she will own the IRS about $1000. No problem, she didn't own any taxes last year so there won't be a penalty.
Next, I see this 1099-R form that says mom earned $11000 from an annuity she had setup eon ago. She has just cashed it out to put into her bank to get better interest rate. This pushed her income over the $25000 limit so her SS income will be taxed! Now she own $4000 total tax! She is effectively paying 27% tax rate on that annuity income.
So the lesson here is: Watch out when your parents cash out any sort of saving. With our curious tax law, even a small amount may set off a chain reaction of tax rules that will just eat up their hard earned saving.
Thursday, May 4, 2006
Mom took over my garden
Mom pretty much took over my back yard garden. She is planting and caring for various hot pepper and mint plants. I don't know if they will survive the 100+ Arizona summer.
Saturday, April 8, 2006
Mom first operation
I took mom to the Mayo Clinic today for her operation to remove an ovarian cyst. It has been detected back in Hawaii about 8 months ago. The doctor at the Mayo recommended removal and mom went along with this.
It was a short operation. The hospital wouldn't let mom go home until she can pee! She didn't get home until late afternoon.
She is tired but doing well.
It was a short operation. The hospital wouldn't let mom go home until she can pee! She didn't get home until late afternoon.
She is tired but doing well.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Don't depend on family doctor to refer mom to specialist
Mom's family doctor wants to administer regular PT-INR testing to adjust coumadin dosage for mom instead of referring her to a specialist. I didn't know any better and mom didn't understand what that mean.
Mom complained that the lab took too much blood and it took several days before she know what dosage to take. At first, I just thought that this old lady complains too much! Upon further research, she's right. It should be done like diabetic testing where only a drop of blood is required and the operator let you know the coumadin dosage right away.
After some searching, I found that Medicare allows you to do request referral and pick your own specialist. I made one last request to mom's family doctor to give her a referral to a cardiologist and I found her another family doctor.
My mom is please with the treatment by the cardiology office (Advanced Cardiac Specialists). They do it the right way.
Lesson learned: do more research for each condition to be treated by doctor. Specialist is probably better than family practice.
Mom complained that the lab took too much blood and it took several days before she know what dosage to take. At first, I just thought that this old lady complains too much! Upon further research, she's right. It should be done like diabetic testing where only a drop of blood is required and the operator let you know the coumadin dosage right away.
After some searching, I found that Medicare allows you to do request referral and pick your own specialist. I made one last request to mom's family doctor to give her a referral to a cardiologist and I found her another family doctor.
My mom is please with the treatment by the cardiology office (Advanced Cardiac Specialists). They do it the right way.
Lesson learned: do more research for each condition to be treated by doctor. Specialist is probably better than family practice.
Friday, March 3, 2006
Moving day
Mom is moving in with me and my wife today.
Check list:
Mom has heart / blood condition where she must take coumadin regularly to thin her blood. She must attend regular testing to adjust the level of coumadin intake as needed.
Check list:
- Appointment for new family doctor
- Change address for: Social Security, Tricare For Life DEER, Bank
- Get medical record.
- Make sure mom has prescription refill for 3 months or more
- See doctor about schedule of Coumadin testing, requirement...
Mom has heart / blood condition where she must take coumadin regularly to thin her blood. She must attend regular testing to adjust the level of coumadin intake as needed.
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