CAN MY ASTHMATIC DAUGHTER GET DECENT HEALTH INSURANCE?
(MONEY Magazine) – Q My daughter, who has asthma, is covered under our health maintenance organization and receives treatment at a local HMO near the University of Vermont, where she's in graduate school. She ''aged out'' of our plan when she turned 22, however, and though we can continue her coverage until September '93 under federal rules, I don't know what to do then. The university health plan may not cover her asthma because she had it before enrolling. Will she qualify for affordable coverage? Maureen C. Gavin Shady Side, Md. A Not until our unconcerned President and wimpy Congress do something about the discriminatory practices of insurance companies. It was bad enough when many insurers refused to cover applicants suffering from cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Now they also exclude (or exact huge premiums from) those with high blood pressure, varicose veins, arthritis, asthma and other garden-variety ailments. In effect, the companies are turning their backs on as many as 81 ; million Americans, according to an estimate by Citizen Action, a Washington, D.C.-based health-care public interest group. Beginning in July, Vermont will require many carriers to accept applicants regardless of their health. But state regulators concede privately that some insurers may stop doing business in the state instead. Obviously, we need a federal solution. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Vermont, which traditionally admits everyone, would take your daughter -- and I do mean take her. She would have to pay $1,960 a year, and the policy wouldn't cover her asthma for the first 12 months. By contrast, the university's $351-a-year health plan doesn't look half bad: It will indeed treat her asthma, we found, though up to only a $1,500 annual limit. But there is an even better alternative: The Community Health Plan of Vermont, where your daughter is now treated thanks to the arrangement with your HMO, will keep her on as a continuing member for only $99 a month. Although the plan won't pay for her $180 a month in prescription drugs or the first $500 of any hospital bill, it sets no other limits. After she leaves Vermont, though, her only hope of affordable protection will be to work for an employer with a generous group plan -- or to marry a guy with same. Q My year-end statement from Prudential Utility Fund showed I earned $59.64 in taxable dividends with no capital gains. But when my 1099 form came, it reclassified 35 cents of those dividends as capital gains. Sure, this is a trivial difference. But can't it create a tax problem when I withdraw the money? Leonard Trout Mililani, Hawaii A Not likely, since the 1099 is the official (and only) document the IRS sees. So long as you report this obscene gain and pay tax on it (at the top rate of 28%, you'll owe a dime), you won't have a problem. Fact is, you could even skip reporting it because the IRS allows you to round to the nearest dollar, but I think you should fess up so that you have a clear record of the taxes you paid. And keep all your 1099s and tax returns from here till eternity. You'll need them to avoid getting taxed twice on your lifetime's worth of gains when you sell. Q My three boys, one 12 and twins who are nine, earn about $80 a month each from paper routes. Is there a mutual fund where all three could invest $50 a month? Thomas E. Peters Duxbury, Mass. A Thanks for telling me about your sons, whose example of enterprise and initiative I can now throw up to my own two slugs, whose only route is from the TV to the fridge and back. Don Phillips, publisher of Morningstar Mutual Funds rating service, recommends the Twentieth Century fund family (800-345-2021) because it accepts any amount -- no matter how eensy. You'll have to open an account for each boy under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act, complete with his Social Security number and an adult custodian -- most likely you or Mom. Phillips likes two of Twentieth Century's aggressive growth funds: Ultra Investors (down 8.7% this year, but up an average of 16.6% a year for the past five years); and Vista Investors (down 9.8% this year, up 8.7% a year for the five years). Both are quite volatile, though, and if a fall in share price would give your boys the PITS (permanent investment trauma syndrome), then consider the safer Balanced Investors (down 6.2% this year, but up 19.3% a year for the past three years). Q Residents of our town of 16,000 want to save some oak trees dating back to the Civil War that are to be cut down to make room for a development. Are there any federal, state or private resources that could help us? Fran Hesch Hopkins, Minn. A There is a plan afoot for the four neighboring families to buy the land (and trees) for its appraised value of $185,000, using a 15-year, $156,000 loan from the town (T-shirt and button sales helped raise the $29,000 down payment). At 8% interest, though, each family will owe $4,219 a year -- a big burden. Five foundations we canvassed were not eager to donate money for such a small bit of nature. But look into the 1971 Minnesota Environmental Rights Law, a so-called little NEPA law modeled on the National Environmental Policy Act that allows citizens to sue on behalf of the environment. (Similar laws exist in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.) You must prove that the trees are natural resources needing protection; the developer will try to present compelling reasons (other than financial) to raze them. Good luck . . . and don't let the buzz saws cut you down. Q Is there a market for my grandfather's World War I uniform, including sword, rucksack, knife and hand grenade -- all in top condition? Ray Brandon Memphis A Yes, but it's mired in the trenches. By the war's end in 1918, the U.S. had issued 12 million tunics and 17 million trousers and breeches to its men in arms, and they got to keep the stuff when they came home. According to Richard Keller of Great War Militaria, the nation's only exclusive World War I memorabilia dealer (P.O. Box 552, Chambersburg, Pa. 17201; 717-264-6834), your uniform would bring about $300, minus Keller's 20% commission. You could outflank that 20% by advertising in Over There, a journal devoted to World War I history (7641 Seine Dr., Huntington Beach, Calif. 92647; 714-842-6529; $1 for 20 words). But since your profit will barely pay for a one-way, off-peak, supersaver ticket to Armentieres, I think you should donate the uniform to the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville (615-741-2692) and take a $300 tax deduction. |
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