States are worrying that enhanced federal payments to help cover Medicaid expenses during the recession will soon end after the House opted not to include an extension of the funds in its recent jobs bill.  States are lobbying the Senate to put back a provision back into the jobs bill that provided funds for enhanced […]

A Texas pipeline tycoon who died two months ago may become the first American billionaire allowed to pass his fortune to his children and grandchildren tax-free. When John D. Rockefeller, America’s first billionaire, died in 1937, his estate paid 70 percent.  But Dan L. Duncan, a Texas natural gas billionaire who owns natural gas processing […]

North Korea claims to have developed a "super drink" that, it says, can multiply brain cells and stop skin ageing.  The secretive state's official news agency, KCNA, says the drink contains 60 kinds of "microelements" extracted from more than 30 species of plants.  It attracted "much interest from Chinese, German and other businessmen" at a […]

The Mississippi Division of Medicaid has repealed its earlier reduction of reimbursement rates for nursing homes, pharmacists, and physicians.  Link  Medicaid now says it has enough money to get it through the rest of this fiscal year through administrative cuts.   

An article in the LA Times reports: Mississippi is one of eight states that cut its Medicaid rolls between 2004 and 2008, according to enrollment data analyzed for the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. In the same period, the number of Mississippi children living in poverty increased. Enrollment in Medicaid has begun creeping […]

Many professionals that have attended my Boot Camps for Advisors have heard me discuss the benefits of operating their business as an LLC taxed as an S-Corporation and paying a portion of their earnings as salary, and the remainder as distributions, to avoid some self-employment tax.  That strategy may soon come to an end with […]

Although most of the coverage expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordability Act will come from adding to the Medicaid rolls, state governments will not have to spend much more on the program thanks to funding from the federal government, according to analysis from the Urban Institute for the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the […]

Recent estate tax negotiations led by Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) broke down on May 18 due to objections from several Democratic Senators who learned details of the proposal.  The collapse of these negotiations reduces prospects for action on the estate tax this year. 

The following post comes from the NAELA eBulletin:  Marriage is more beneficial for men than for women – at least for those who want a long life. Previous studies have shown that men with younger wives live longer. While it had long been assumed that women with younger husbands also live longer, in a new […]

With the passage of recent legislation, limited Medicaid funds will now be available to provide assistance for home care and assisted living care.  Link.  This is great news for both seniors, their children, and taxpayers.  While the program may, at first blush, appear to be simply another government welfare give-away, the fact is that many […]