How the Government Knows if You Have Health Insurance

How does the government know whether you have health insurance? A lot has been made of the government mandate, under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), or “ObamaCare”, that everybody has to have health insurance, or pay a penalty. This penalty is known as the “shared responsibility penalty”. But how do they know?

I was very curious about this, and so I did some research.

As it turns out, starting next year (2015) there will be a section on your Federal tax return in which you will have to confirm that you have health insurance, or pay the penalty if you don’t.

In otherwords, it will be self-reported.

But before you think “Well, I can just say that I do when I don’t,”, bear in mind that your Social Security Number (“SSN”) is tied not only to your tax return, but also to your health insurance – it’s one of the first things that insurers (and indeed, medical providers) ask for these days. So, while you might get away with it, you might not – and especially if you are audited.

Moreover, employers are now required to report employer-provided health insurance on your W-2. Says the IRS:

The value of the health care coverage will be reported in Box 12 of the Form W-2, with Code DD to identify the amount. There is no reporting on the Form W-3 of the total of these amounts for all the employerâ€™s employees.

In general, the amount reported should include both the portion paid by the employer and the portion paid by the employee. See the chart, below, and the questions and answers for more information.

An employer is not required to issue a Form W-2 solely to report the value of the health care coverage for retirees or other employees or former employees to whom the employer would not otherwise provide a Form W-2.

It’s not too far of a stretch to imagine that for any return that does not have a value in Box 12 of the W-2, those returns will be flagged for closer scrutiny, looking specifically at the section on health insurance.

How to Make a Gorgeous Work-of-Art Necklace Hanger

I am still unpacking and organizing the house that I recently bought. Over the past week or so I’ve slowly been unpacking, going through, and organizing my jewelry. And while I have matching earring and necklace organizers, what I really needed was a way to organize my more delicate necklaces – you know the ones that always get tangled. Here is the solution with which I came up. It looks great hanging on my wall, and once you have the materials, it takes all of about 15 minutes to make.

You will need:

1 12 x 12 canvas artwork (they have tons of these at Target, and they’re cheap!)
1 package 12 x 12 cork tiles (also available at Target)
1 package of straight pins (also, you got it, available at Target)
Scissors

12 x 12 canvas artwork from Target
canvas-artwork-necklace-hanger

Now, take the cork tiles, and trim them to fit just inside the frame of the canvas. You want them to be a little bit wider than the inside of the wood frame, so that you can tuck the edges in between the canvas and the frame, so that the cork doesn’t fall out:

cord-tile-scissors-necklace-hanger

Next, insert the pins spaced an inch or so apart – I did two rows, staggered, to accommodate more necklaces.

necklace-hanger-pushpins

And that’s it!

necklace-hanger

necklace-hanger-multiple

Women Look at Men Who Drink as 1 of 3 Things

Last night I shared something with my husband which, as I was saying it, I realized that few men actually know. It’s another one of those woman-secrets which, being the mens’ rights advocate that I am, I delight in sharing with “the enemy”.

Here it is:

Women look at men who like to go out drinking as one of three things, and if you’re a guy who regularly goes out with the guys, you will be categorized in one of these three ways by most women who know you. You are either:

1. A drinking buddy

2. Rehabitable

3. Reprehensible

Of the three, being seen by a woman as a drinking buddy is by far the rarest of the three categories into which you will find yourself pigeon-holed.

If the woman wants to have (or already has) a romantic relationship with you, then you are “rehabitable.”

If, however, you fall into just about any other relationship category – including being romantically involved with one of her friends or relatives, or being a drinking buddy of someone else with whom she is romantically involved, then you will almost certainly find yourself slotted into the “reprehensible” category.

Now, how many of you knew that?

Please Take a Moment to Send Positive Thoughts for this Wounded Sea Lion

This is the quick and dirty post – just copied and pasted directly from what my daughter (creator of the awesome fashion shows to benefit animals organization, FABShows.org just emailed me. It’s heartbreaking but maybe – just maybe – our collective positive thoughts can make a difference. Please read on.

“There has been a sea lion here in the Sacramento River, he traveled from the San Francisco Bay. He has been hanging out on the Delta here outside of, of all places, Joe’s Crab Shack restaurant :). He kind of became known amongst the locals and I could even hear him vocalizing from my house when I lived in West Sacramento. Well anyways, he was shot by a fisherman here in Sacramento who claimed the sea lion was eating all his fish. Marine Mammal Center was able to finally rescue him on Saturday (after he had swam all the way back to the SF bay, and then all the way back up to Sacramento again). He’s in critical condition and has a 50/50 shot of making it at this point. So just trying to get as much positive vibe going for him as possible! Here’s the story: http://cbs13.com/local/sea.lion.shot.2.1360802.html
The fisherman, by the way, has been arrested and charged with felony cruelty to animals.”

You can reach my daughter on Twitter at @AnimalRescueGal.

A Response from Mother Earth News

A couple of days ago I wrote an open letter to Mother Earth News, complaining about the cigarette advertising in their magazine – a magazine I had previously considered a model of leadership for “good living”.

To their credit, at least they gave me a response, even if it wasn’t the one that I’d wanted:

“Thanks for writing.

Our many decisions regarding whether or not to accept advertising from any particular company are seldom simple. Our readers come to us for alternatives. Our advertisers, knowing this, sometimes offer â€œalternativeâ€? tools, therapies and appliances that I, personally, donâ€™t see as valuable and wouldnâ€™t, personally, purchase.

Our acid test is whether the add is, on its face, misleading offensive or exploitative. We reject advertisers on these bases regularly.

Cigarettes are harmful to people who smoke them. It states this clearly on the advertisement you mentioned. American Spirit makes only the mildest and vaguest of claims regarding how â€œnaturalâ€? the product might be. I cannot conclude that the advertisement in misleading.

The ad is, in our opinion, not offensive. However, this is the most subjective of our judgments and the one most likely to prompt a change in our position.

That leaves the question of whether cigarettes are, by their nature, exploitative. My colleagues include people who smoke, people who used to smoke but quit and people who never smoked. I respect the people in each of these groups for their decisions. Are the smokers being exploited by tobacco companies? I canâ€™t see how. They pick up and light each cigarette with the full knowledge of its effect. No one is physically incapable of quitting.

We respect our readers for their ability to make decisions of this kind and we have elected to run these legal advertisements for a legal product whose negative effects are (unlike many other productsâ€™) clearly described on the advertisements themselves. I believe the ads are, in this respect, superior to ads for automobiles with excessive horsepower; fatty, over-processed foods; and inefficient appliances.

Furthermore, obviously, these ads and all the other ads allow us to distribute important information to millions of people each year at an astonishingly low cost to the consumer.

Bryan Welch
Publisher and Editorial Director
Ogden Publications, Inc.
1503 SW 42nd St.
Topeka, KS 66609

12 North 12th Street
Suite 400
Minneapolis, MN 55403

785-274-4308
Fax: 785-274-4309

Mother Earth News, Utne Reader, Natural Home, Motorcycle Classics, Farm Collector, Gas Engine Magazine, Steam Traction, The Herb Companion, Herbs for Health, CAPPER’S, GRIT, American Life & Traditions, Brave Hearts Magazine, Good Things To Eat Magazine, Capper’s Insurance Service and Capper’s Reader Service.

www.ogdenpubs.com”

— —

P.S. If you want to tell Mother Earth News how you feel about this, you can do so here.

An Open Letter to “Mother Earth News”

Dear Mother Earth News,

I was shocked – and very *very* disappointed – to open this month’s issue and find a full page advertisement for cigarettes, of all things! I’m referring to the ad for “Natural American Spirit” cigarettes that appeared near the back of the August/September 2008 issue.

I have been a fan of Mother Earth News for more than 30 years – since the original publication of the magazine. I have turned more people on to M.E.N. than I can remember, and my husband and I have held M.E.N. up to our son as one of the few publications that is true to both the earth, and clean, honest, healthy living.

To now find you pushing *cigarettes* is so shocking to the conscience – so antithetical to all for which we believed you to stand – that it is all we can do to not cancel our subscription immediately.

However, instead we will wait for the next issue, in the dear hope that the offending – and so completely out of character – advertising will be gone.

If it isn’t, we will be, and you will have alienated and lost at least one very loyal subscribing family.

Do What You Love – Love What You Do

I found myself saying this to a friend today – I always say “do what you love, and love what you do”, but today what flowed from me somehow seemed more profound, and I felt that I should put pixel to screen, to make sure that I had it down somewhere, so here it is:

“You know you should do what you love, and love what you do, right? To truly become an expert on something you need not only the knowledge and information, but you need the passion. Then the opportunities don’t just flow to you – your very energy and enthusiasm creates them!”

The Smell of Books

I went to the library today – it was the first time that I’d been there in a few months, and when I walked in, I was immediately struck by the smell.

Now, I don’t mean that the library smelled bad. Quite the opposite.

It was the smell of books, and it was heavenly – almost heady.

There’s just something about the smell of books – it’s the smell of literature, the smell of information – it’s the smell of knowledge.

Walking down the stacks is a sensory experience to which nothing else compares. The smell of the books – the rows and rows and rows – the feel of their heft in your hands.

When I was at university, I did a research project for which I got to use original source materials. Where I went to university they had an amazing collection of old books, and when I tread – oh so lightly and in an almost euphoric state – among the stacks of the old book collection, it was like being in the presence of history itself. Books that I picked up and opened were from other centuries, and had leather bindings, gold leaf letters, and unslit pages.

I was humbled.

And they smelled divine.

Now don’t get me wrong – I really like my Kindle too.

But nothing – ever – will take the place of books.

Urgent Need for O Negative Blood Donors to Help Young Boy Scout

Here are the details on the young Boy Scout here in Colorado who desperately needs O Negative blood. He is in one of our local Boy Scout councils, and that’s how I got involved in trying to help find donors for him.

Justin was camping with his family a couple of days ago and was bitten by a Black Widow spider. When they went to the hospital they discovered his low white blood cell count, and he was diagnosed with leukemia.

Then infection set in.

Right now he is having the bone marrow test to determine what type of Leukemia he has, as well as the spinal tap to begin chemotherapy. Today is Day 0 of his treatment. The infection is “ravaging” his body and they said if they can’t get it under control within the week, they will probably lose him.

As it was told to me, antibiotics aren’t helping because antibiotics work with white blood cells and Justin has almost no white blood cells right now, which is why the desperate need for O Negative blood donors.

The hospital contacted registered blood donors (for O negative blood types) and have this week covered for donations but need people to sign up for next week and the week after that and perhaps beyond. I’m told that it takes three days to process the donation before they can give it to Justin, but they can’t keep the blood, once donated, for very long because the quality degrades – so they’ll need ongoing donations for a while.

If you or anybody you know can help, please email me here.

By the way, you can send Justin a card through the Children’s Hospital website. Just select the design you’d like to send, fill out the information, and the hospital will print it out and deliver it to Justin. You can send Justin a card here. His full name, which you need for the card, is Justin Campbell.

Searches that led to this article: mangemerde,

I Call 911 and Thankfully It Is Not a False Alarm

I was out with two colleagues last evening, turning what had been a pitiful excuse for an executive networking event into a very productive Internet and affiliate marketing business meeting. We were sitting in the outdoor dining area of 1010 in Boulder, on Walnut (it was quieter outside than in, so we could talk), when I realized I smelled….a lit fireplace? No, I was outside.

Then Gail, who was facing the street said “is that smoke coming from across the street?!” (I had my back to the street – I know, not safe given how many enemies I have).

We all look, and by golly it is. I reach for my phone, and Sopan gets up and goes into the restaurant and tells a waiter. Rather than calling 911, the waiter inexplicably comes out to the patio to look for himself.

There then ensues a debate about whether it’s a fire, or maybe someone is cooking up on the roof (not entirely implausible as the Med restaurant is on the ground floor of the building in question, and some restaurants in Boulder do have rooftop dining). Meanwhile smoke is clearly billowing, not just whisping as if someone were cooking.

Well, you all know me – I’m an action kinda gal, so I grabbed my phone, ducked under the railing while dialing 911, and ran across the street to the building, and went into the restaurant to ask them was there any known reason for the smoke on their roof. While I’m entering the restaurant, and quizzing a staff member there, I’m also telling the 911 dispatcher the coordinates – she is waiting to hear what the restaurant employee says.

“Smoke on our roof? That’s not good,” he says, and runs off to find the manager.

I relay to dispatch that the smoke billowing off the ceiling is not intentional, and she advises me to leave the building (I already am) and says that the fire department is already on its way.

I cross back over to the other side of the street to join my colleagues, turn to look..and..the smoke is gone. I kid you not.

Now I find myself in the unusual moral dilemma of wanting there to be a fire – or at least smoke – so that I haven’t just called in a false alarm, and, of course, not really wanting there to be a fire.

(Sidenote: I know a lot of people who face this same quandry in their dating habits.)

Fortunately, exactly the right thing happens to satisfy all requirements for moral and ethical serenity – the smoke starts up again (or maybe it never stopped, we just couldn’t see the smoke for the tree in the way), and there is fire but, as you’ll see, not one that had become serious.

The trucks arrive (3 of them!), and the firemen approach the roof – some by stair, and some in the cherry picker! That was very cool to watch!

They were there for well over an hour – maybe two – time flies when your enthralled, and eventually they all come down from the roof and start packing up. I’m still too embarrassed that maybe, still, I had wasted their time, and so despite the urgings of my colleagues, I don’t go ask one of the firefighters what it was. So Gail does.

It turns out that there was a fire – in the chimney – as a result of a not-entirely-properly-completed (?) cleaning of the wood-fired brick fireplace in the restaurant.’

So it was good that I called.

And it was good that it wasn’t actually a roof fire.

My colleagues also insisted that I take pictures – which of course didn’t come out as it was dark, and there were bright emergency lights, and it was a phone camera. But here they are.