Hands to Help Seniors

View From A Nonprofit Serving Seniors In Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

Surveys have shown that the vast majority of Americans are generous and want to give their time and money to charitable endeavors.  Some of us never get around to it, while others are missing opportunities to give to charity while saving significantly on taxes.  For instance, you can give stock which you bought many years ago and write off on your tax return the fair market value on the day of the gift without paying the capital gains taxes on the appreciation in the stock.  If you are thinking of making a significant donation to a charity, talk to your account or financial advisors.  There may be much more creative ways of doing it than simply writing a check.  If you have stock that is appreciated that you want to give to charity but don't want to spend it all in one year, consider starting a donor-advised fund.  This is an investment vehicle where you can transfer stock, cash and other assets and take a full deduction in the current year.  Then, at any time, you have the donor-advised fund donate to the charity of your choice.  This leaves you with a lot of options.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.

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Monterey, CA  Homeless Population Dropping Nationwide, But Not In Monterey : View From A Nonprofit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

The homeless population in Monterey has been a big problem and thus far the City Council hasn't found a solution to the problem.  I was glad to read that nationwide, the number of chronically homeless has dropped 25% over the past six years and the number of homeless veterans has declined 24%, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  "We've seen that in one of the most difficult economic periods in this country, we've made remarkable progress to reduce homelessness, particularly among veterans and the chronically homeless," HUD secretary Shaun Donovan told USA Today.  In addition to an improved economy, he attributed this progress to the HUD giving out more housing vouchers and increased funding for a program called Rapid Re-Housing which helps with rent and utility costs.  I hope something can be done to get a positive trend line like this in Monterey County.  We are lucky to have great non-profits here like Dorothy's House, which helps a number of homeless senior citizens, to pitch in and help the government with their efforts.   

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View From A Nonprofit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

The recession is still taking its toll on many Americans, and seniors have suffered a disproportionate amount.  Social services programs have been cut, and many baby boomers have been laid off and are still unable to find a job.  Although employers are not allowed to ask your age, a recent Los Angeles Times piece noted that age discrimination is not uncommon.  Many employers will casually ask you if you have kids or grandchildren, trying to mentally figure out the potential employee's age.  Nearly 2 million people aged 55 and older are still looking for a job, twice as many than were prior to the recession.  Since a growing number of baby boomers are falling into the 55 plus age group, this number is expected to increase.  I hope the job market picks up shortly.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.

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View From A Nonprofit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

There have been terrible stories in the press about the Affordable Care Act (Health Care Reform) and the truth is, demand was so high for insurance that the government web site www.healthcare.gov was not designed for the volume and essentially has been shutting down.  The good news is that California has had the highest enrollment rate of any other state for Medicare recipients (called Medi-Cal, in California).  Eventually, I think that the system will work.  There are 48 million Americans with no health insurance, that's a huge number.  House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Isaa (Republican, California) told USA Today that "This was a monumental mistake to go live and effectively explode on the launch pad."  He has a point, however, we have gone through a great recession and we just do not have money to spend on new initiatives.  So, while I agree with his points, there is not a great solution other than diverting more funds to this program.  President Barack Obama has a number of high profile consultants so hopefully the web site will be on track soon.

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Salinas, CA  Medi-Cal Expansion Helps Millions Of Low Income Residents Get Insurance : View From A Nonprofit Serving Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

In California we are lucky that the state government agreed to enact the Affordable Care Act, which will allow millions of uninsured low income people to go on Medi-Cal.  The New York Times did a major piece explaining that despite the fact that the Medicaid expansion was largely funded by the federal government, many states decided to opt out of the Affordable Care Act because they couldn't afford their small portion of the cost.   The Supreme Court last year gave states the right to opt out, saying the federal government wasn't able to mandate something which would increase the state budget.  Most Republican governors decided to opt out leaving about half of the U.S. not impacted by the Medicaid expansion.  To add insult to injury, a federal subsidy which helped defray some of hospital costs for treating the poor was eliminated under the assumption that it would not be needed because most low income patients would be covered by Medicaid.  Some hospitals are expected to close or reduce services because of this cut.  What a sad situation many states are in.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.

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