Healthcare Traveler - February 2009 - (Page 16)

Med Ec-cerpts HIGHLIGHTS FROM MEDICAL ECONOMICS Money Management » Secret warranties Now that the warranty on my car has expired, I’m facing a costly engine repair. An auto enthusiast I know says I may be able to get the manufacturer to cover part or all of the cost if the problem is because of a design flaw. Car manufacturers sometimes have “secret warranties” covering such problems, he claims. How can I find out about this? A: You’ll have to check the technical » Tax credits for children’s day camp My wife began working full-time again this year, so we sent our 8-year-old son to summer day camp. Can we include the cost when figuring our child-care tax credit for 2008? A: Yes, as long as your son didn’t stay service bulletins the manufacturer has issued for your car’s make and model. Manufacturers send these bulletins to their dealerships but don’t publicize them to customers, so you’ll probably have to rely on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s searchable database at www-odi.nhtsa. dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb. The database provides only cryptic summaries of the problem covered; for full details you must order copies of any bulletins that seem applicable. You’ll pay a labor charge of $45 per hour, plus perpage fees, for duplicating documents. If you find a bulletin that acknowledges the problem and details how to fix it, bring it to the dealership and ask for a goodwill adjustment. The service manager may oblige, particularly if you’re a regular customer. If he doesn’t, you can try contacting the manufacturer directly (check your owner’s manual for contact information). And keep in mind that with secret warranties, persistence often pays. at camp overnight. You can count up to $3,000 of unreimbursed child-care expenses for your son. (For two or more children under age 13, the expense cap rises to $6,000.) But if you receive taxfree, dependent-care benefits through an employer, you must subtract those benefits from your expense total before calculating your credit. Presumably, you and your wife will have more than $43,000 of adjusted gross income this year, so your credit will equal 20% of your expenses. That’s a maximum of $600 for one child or $1,200 for two or more children. Although the amount may not seem generous, keep in mind that a credit cuts the actual tax you owe dollar for dollar, unlike a deductible expense, which just reduces your taxable income. decision-maker. It lists what medical procedures you will and will not allow to be performed on you if doctors say you have no prospects for recovery. It can be as general or specific as you like. For example, if a tragedy leaves you in a persistent vegetative state, you might object to being hooked up to a ventilator or feeding tube. Before you draw up a living will, talk the situation over with your family. Once you’re ready to start, you can easily find any number of online guides to writing a living will via a web search. An attorney familiar with your state’s estate planning laws would likely be the most help. » Evergreen provisions My lease recently expired, and I intend to move, but my landlord said that the lease automatically renewed for an additional year. He mentioned an “evergreen provision.” What does this mean? A: It is common that upon the expi- » How to get started on a living will A friend has suggested that I create a living will. How do I get started? A: The purpose of a living will is to ensure that your wishes are followed if you’re incapacitated and unable to make decisions for yourself. A living will essentially acts as your Professional travel on the cheap A: First, try booking your trip using websites like www.sidestep.com, www.kayak.com, and www.mobissimo.com, which search hundreds of other travel sites to ﬁnd the cheapest available prices. It also helps to be as ﬂexible as possible in your ﬂight dates and times, as well as the airports you use. If rates at convention hotels are high, consider staying a little further away from the meeting site, particularly in cities with good public transit options. Food costs tend to eat up a lot of your budget at professional development gatherings, so grab inexpensive meals on your own and talk with colleagues over coﬀee. 16 Healthcare Traveler February 2009 Q ration of a lease, most state laws convert the lease into a month-to-month term that can be terminated either by the landlord or tenant with 30 days’ advance written notice. However, most leases have an evergreen provision specifying that if neither party notifies the other of its intention for the lease to end, it automatically renews for an additional year and then year-to-year thereafter, or for a term equal to the initial term. An evergreen provision overrides state law in this situation. It is important to mark your calendar to give proper notice if you intend to terminate the lease and avoid having it automatically roll over. I travel for conferences and other professional development gatherings. Do you have any tips that could help me stretch my travel dollars? » Taming winter heating costs I’ve read a lot about how home heating costs will be much higher this winter than in past years. Is there anything I can do to keep costs down? A: Natural gas and heating oil costs are expected to surge from 18% to 23% over last year’s prices, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. While electricity isn’t expected to rise www.healthcaretraveler.com http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb http://www.sidestep.com http://www.kayak.com http://www.mobissimo.com http://www.healthcaretraveler.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Traveler - February 2009

Healthcare Traveler - February 2009 Editor’s Desk Contents In a Flash Paws for Thought Field Notes Med Ec-cerpts The Economic Meltdown What Really is a “Tax Home”? Beach Therapy Drug Update Professional Update Advice of Counsel Cityscape Advertisers’ Index Name It Contest Rules On Assignment Tax Facts Dot.com Big Deals Allied Corner Going the Distance Classifieds Tales from the Road

Healthcare Traveler - February 2009

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