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petnews2day · 1 year

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Almost everyone has some form of debt, but when does it become a problem?

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Almost everyone has some form of debt, but when does it become a problem?

“The person can get angry and uncooperative. So being a friend or being a family member, (you) really have to be very patient,” she said.

She added, however, that one way families can help is to take care of household expenses so that the debtors can dedicate their earnings to clearing their debt.

What’s the worst that can happen if I don’t repay my debt?

A creditor that is owed can issue a writ of seizure and sale. When this happens, someone appointed by the court will go to the debtor’s house and mark items that have been seized.

If no payment is made, the items will be sold away, she said.

“It could be very traumatising because this is done at home. If you have neighbours, it’s possible that your neighbours may see it,” she said.

The other possible action is to sue the person for bankruptcy, she said.

Should I resort to declaring bankruptcy?

While declaring oneself bankrupt is an option, Ms Tan said that it should be viewed as a last resort, after exploring all other solutions first, including discussing with creditors.

“Some creditors may offer you their own in-house debt relief plan. If that helps, then there’s no need to go for bankruptcy,” she said.

She added that firms like hers that can help with a debt management programme are another avenue. Her firm has a support programme for bankrupts and their families, she said.

People with money issues, especially those who are newly bankrupt, experience a lot of stress, she said.

“There’s probably a lot of emotional turmoil and relationship issues so we have taught these people how to better manage their relationship problems, their mental stress and psychological stress,” she said.

If need be, they will be referred to other agencies that can help as well, she said.

She noted that bankruptcy records are publicly searchable. Even after being declared bankrupt, the individual will need to pay at least a fraction of the amount, she added. Bankrupts cannot travel without first getting permission, she said.

“There are responsibilities expected of a bankrupt on top of making the monthly contribution and target contribution in order for me (him) to get discharged and record removed,” she said.

What kind of debts are considered good?

A debt that can help generate income or build human capital, for instance, is considered “good” debt, Ms Tan said. In the case of an education loan, one can earn more after graduation; while loans for property investments can allow for rental income, she said.

But still, people need to be mindful about how much debt to take, she said.

“No doubt there is potential, but I still have to think of ‘am I able to service?’ I think that is a very important question to answer before we apply for a loan,” she said.

One way to assess the need for a loan is thinking of its purpose – whether it is needed and whether it is needed now, its affordability – based on an individual’s monthly cash flow, and whether there are options to taking a loan or installment plan.

What can I do if I am in debt or prone to debt?

If a person is impulsive in making purchases, he should not have credit cards, she said.

“If you don’t have the cards with you, you can’t buy things that you don’t have cash to purchase and the worst scenario is that you use up your savings because you still have a debit card. But at least you don’t have a credit issue,” she said.

While they may have to figure out how to stay afloat until they get their next pay, this is a “smaller problem to address than having a S$10,000 credit card bill outstanding to address”, she said.

She added that her firm holds free-of-charge weekly talks on how to manage debt problems, the dos and the don’ts and the options available to debtors. If engaged, the firm will draw up a family living expense budget and work on a repayment arrangement with the debtors and give creditors a proposal, she said.

“If the creditors accept what he (the debtor) proposed, now the ball is in his court. He just needs to make payment according to what he has proposed, and as long as he makes the payment in full, on time, every month, he can see himself become debt free in a few years down the road,” she said.

#Pet Financial News

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blcssed · 2 years

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semi-hiatus/hiatus

i need to personally just take a step away from this blog due to things going on irl. it’s just too stressful to really be thinking about being here and writing. because of that, at the very least for 30 days, i’m likely not going to be on at all.

i am on discord if you’d like to keep in contact, but i don’t think i’ll be finding myself on here much. starry night 🌠#3003

an explanation is underneath if you feel curious to know.

i’ve been jobless for three months now, and all my savings has been wiped out due to rent and paying back a loan i pulled specifically for my mother. rent is 1.4k, i owe about 500 a month due to only working part-time when i was working. i owe about 200 a month for my loan on top of that, at my old job that would basically be my entire paycheck and i got paid biweekly.

on top of that, my medications are running out and i don’t have the means to see a doctor, find one, and my mom also cannot find one due to only having half a day of time off that she can afford. i said i was okay with going without them till the beginning of next year because it’s basically just a month because i have at least one more month of birth control and left that’ll be used starting sunday. my anxiety medication, i’m sure is the same, if not i have a little more. regardless, i’m still running out and it’s more of my anxiety medication that i’m concerned about over my birth control because i use it to regulate my periods.

just this morning we were given a notice to owe back about 4k to my old landlord and i am in on that debt despite i wasn’t part of the lease, and we have 30 days to pay it off. again, i am all wiped from my savings, i can’t afford to take from my credit card because i still owe on it, and i cannot take anymore from my bank without it costing me. i already have seen the list and about half of what he’s making us owe is bullshit, but i don’t know if we’d be able to fight with it, and even if we could, we could probably only cut it down half. that’s still 2000$ owed on top of rent and other bills that need to be paid. i don’t even want to deal with the drama that’s going to happen when my mother gets home, because i know she’s pissed, i know she’ll be screaming and mentally i can’t take anymore of the pressure of the environment i’m already living in.

writing just isn’t on my mind right now, talking is barely on my mind right now, but i know i’ll at least talk to people when i can. right now, with no one hiring me between the multiple jobs i’ve applied to and it getting to the holidays, i just feel like i’m slipping. i’m wanting to just stop, invasive thoughts are intruding and i need to stop them as much as i can.

right now, i’m burying myself in trying to create items for purchase, because if work’s not coming to me, i’m going to simply go to it. if anyone’s interested in purchasing some art, or even obtaining a new character to their selection, i have my art blog. i have commissions up and i have a few adopts up for sale. they all go directly to my paypal. i even have a ko-fi, if my prices are too high but you still want to support me. or, even if it’s just a penny at this point, my paypal is open for anything.

i don’t know how long i’ll be gone, but like i said, at the very least it’ll probably be a month. until then, be positive, know i love you.

#shout it to the sky !! ( psa. )

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dumb-naive-bitch · 4 years

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I'm kind of really glad that nobody reads this page of mine anymore, so then I can vent to myself about how I'm truly feeling at this moment, and put it into words without being judged or told to stop complaining.

I know 2020 has been rough for a lot of people, but its extra hard on us who thought every other year was rough to begin with. Im sick of waking up every day knowing I have to go through the same fucking motions over and over and feeling like my life is going nowhere and yet I'm just getting older, fatter, uglier, etc. Its depressing on top of my depression. It doesn't matter if you have a decent job in this day and age because you still won't be able to afford shit. You won't be able to live in a house or apartment by yourself unless you want to be mortgage/rent poor. Im going to school and I dont even fucking want to because what's the point? If you don't have a doctorate, you once again wont be able to afford shit even after you have a degree. Im over 70 thousand in student loan debt and I have absolutely nothing to show for it, with roughly 30 to 40 thousand more to go to get a basic degree that will probably increase my current pay by 5 dollars an hour maximum. How fucking exciting and motivating is that? Like what is the point of living if you can't afford to do anything or have anything despite working hard for years and years? I'm honestly so over this fucking mundane every day bullshit that has no purpose because why even bother staying alive to not be happy? I dont know what is more annoying then people saying "money can't buy you happiness" because I would slap the fuck out of that person right now. Money would keep me from wondering if I'm going to be able to pay my car payment, or the 10 credit cards I racked up because buying small things like clothes/shoes is one of the only things that makes me happy and gives me something to look forward to. Other than that, I have my dogs which I would die for, but honestly that causes me more stress and anxiety than I ever care to admit.

Its exhausting feeling trapped in a mind full of stress and worry and no light at the end of the tunnel because no circumstance in my life can ever change drastically enough to erase the despair that has become my reality. Ten plus years of major depressive disorder and anxiety with no relief because of once again not being able to afford the proper resources to get better, well that just sounds like a full circle, never-ending fuck of a life doesn't it? People out there who have it good just say shit like "start over," "find what you like to do," "get a different job," like how does any of that sound possible when you have no money to do any of those things? I'm so tired of everything being hard for me. Every fucking thing in my life is hard, yet other people get everything handed to them. Why? Do I want everything handed to me, fuck no. I rarely take help when offered because I'm not a charity case. I want my hard work to pay off, but you cannot get ahead in a society such as ours because everything costs so fucking much that you have to pick and choose between necessities. So basically, as a lower-middle class citizen its impossible for me to be happy and also live within my means, and in SC I make more than double minimum wage. How the hell to people who only make that afford to live? Or have anything nice? They will never be able to be independent, because affording housing for yourself with that salary is damn near impossible.

This short release of emotions I had planned in my head turned into a much longer bitchfest then I intended, but its just hard to go to bed every night knowing I'm still going to be me when I wake up. I truly cannot do it anymore. Im also so sick of worrying about how others will feel if I just die. They never say "I understand it must be hard for you to have to live like this every day, so I respect your decision because it is your life." Nope, they say shit like "just think how I would feel, or how so and so would feel if you were gone." Like why am I the selfish one in this situation? Because I don't want this life for myself? So fucking sorry your lives are so fucking great that you couldn't possibly see this through my eyes. No amount of telling someone how you feel is going to change how bad they truly want to hear it. Sick of trying to explain my feelings to people who don't really care to hear it, and definitely not understand it. Probably why I need a therapist. Oh wait, can't afford one so I will continue to suffer within my own thoughts and feelings.

They wonder why suicide is so fucking common among young people. Like do you see what we have to deal with? Besides the topics I mentioned previously, what about constantly seeing celebrities flash their endless shiny and fancy shit all over social media and the instgram models making you hate your fucking self for wanting to eat. Don't follow them? It doesn't matter if you do or don't because you will see it in ads or on one of your friend's pages anyway. You basically need to live off grid, grow your own food, live in a cabin in the woods without any form of media or form of entertainment whatsoever to rid that shit of your life. I also do not want that, so here I am yet again stuck again. Pitty me, pitty me hey? I dont have it that bad people will say. I have somewhere to live, a car, a job, blah blah blah. Like they know a single fuck about what races through my head all day every day. The stress, the feeling of failure, the feeling of not being good enough, the feeling of being trapped, the feeling of whats going on behind my back in my relationship, the feeling of why don't I have the motivation to do my school work, or finish the 5 projects I started, or go for a walk or run, or workout, or eat better, or want to do anything other than sit on my fucking couch and watch TV while my brain continues to race subcontiously, or why the fuck I cant just be happy? It's because not everyone is satisfied with the "simpler things in life." I want to be able to have options in my life. Like if I see something I want thats going to make me happy, I want to be able to buy it. I want to be able to go and travel to do it. I want to be able to relax and not have to worry if I buy or do that thing am I going to be able to pay my bills or buy food. Its debilitating for me. I am controlled by this disease that never lets my mind rest or be happy. Life is simply not worth living if it has to be this hard every day with no sign of a possibility to be better because of the circumstances I have been exposed to. You can't change certain things no matter what and those are things that im not willing to live with anymore. Im suffering and thats not what I want for myself. I want it gone, and for me I only have one option and I'm okay with it. I've been okay with it for over a decade now and that's never going to change. Period.

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heather-in-heels · 4 years

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I’ve been working from home for about a week due to COVID-19 and practicing social distancing and isolation for at least a few weeks now.

I live and work in California where I work for a company that helps start up small businesses. Everything I write about now is about COVID-19. That’s it, and maybe a blurb about the tax deadline extension. In order to write about a pandemic, I spend a lot of time talking to small business owners and researching specific techniques (like the stress continuum) to manage fear, anxiety, and stress. This cannot be bullshit “take a nap if you feel tired!” generic advice. The advice needs to come directly from the people. We are the common thread. Most small business owners seem optimistic that while yes this is difficult, we will come together to get through it. Their words uplift me. At best, this is a curve we can flatten together.

At worst, when I stare the reality of this situation in the face, it feels like I’m sitting next to the grim reaper. My brain has long been hard-wired to believe the worst is yet to come and I know it’s almost here. There will be a day, very soon, when people are not going to the grocery store. They are going to the hospital and only the hospital. We’re going to see a lot of people die in the United States. Too many. I don’t think enough states have gotten on safety in place measures fast enough either. When California announced safety in place, I felt thankful for the leadership we have in Governor Newsom and Mayor Garcetti. When New York quickly followed, I thought yes! More states, let’s go! I caught up on the full list here and I am stunned. This is not enough. Every state needs to get on board... but unfortunately, knowing the politics of this nation some will adamantly buck against it is too late.

What we’re about to see is the beauty in truly compassionate people. We will need that beauty in light of the ugliness that is right behind it. We’re going to watch 1% individuals find some way to profit off this. We will see wealthy individuals do nothing as they self-isolate and do not donate to the causes or try to offer to help out. And we will see terrible corporations treat their workers like they’re disposable even though these are technically shareholders in their businesses because their leadership cannot, and will not, let go of money.

The real craziness is how fast the entire economy is about to collapse. If it takes a week to break a country, you know the foundation underneath is rotten. COVID-19 has put America in the harsh spotlight for the decaying country it has been for years, decades. Ordinary people are in terrible debt, ranging from student loans to mortgages to medical bills and credit cards. Healthcare and insurance providers are a nightmarish expense. Our education system is extremely poor. Everyone has to work a few jobs all at once to make rent and pay for basic needs. You built the house with a glass ceiling on purpose. It cannot go on like this. Nothing about this makes for a sustainable life.

So, it will break. Everything about this break will be awful. It will make you cry, despair, and feel utterly lost. It will last for awhile. It *could* be possible that we’re able to flatten the curve in the next two months, but even then the financial impact afterward will be ongoing. Nothing about this will be repaired overnight.

What I hope for, in the aftermath, is that we are able to remember what the American dream is all about. That dream will not be based on hoarding all the wealth and resources to any one person or establishment or pushing the mentality that money makes for a happy, healthy life. It’s about this country being a land of opportunity for everyone. And it needs to be refashioned into a world where there are opportunities. Buildings you can live out of for an affordable rate, the ability to get a good education without crippling debt afterwards, the caring of our physical and mental health without a blistering price tag attached to it.

Can you imagine an America like that? I can. I really can.

I hope everyone does not lose hope during this time. Let your feelings out when you can (it’s more than okay to cry), talk to your loved ones, and look after one another. The only way out of this will be with hard work and teamwork.

#covid-19 #personal

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thementalexercise · 6 years

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The Prison of Debt and Lower Earnings Potential (Part 2 of 2)

In Part 1 we discussed some good and bad uses of debt. In this last installment I will describe truly horrible results due to debt; homelessness, wage garnishment, and the job dependency.

Homelessness risk can be measured by how long will it take to become homeless if your earnings stop for some reason? We will take into account most states have an eviction process (let us say 45-days) and excluding any help from parents, siblings or friend.

Update: Alabama has only a 7-day eviction process if rent is unpaid but it is easy for a landlord to refuse your payment to get you out. The costs of eviction are small to the landlord and the state takes the responsibility to move you out and you risk being imprisoned for a felony. (There are more details you can research if you live in Alabama.)

If your time to homeless is only the eviction process then you need to start an emergency fund. An emergency fund is critical to handle the unexpected necessities without stressing your regular expenses. I am not talking about that new phone or pair of shoes. I am talking about paying for rent or mortgage, car payments, car repairs, gasoline, food and utilities.

When I was in college I started at 45-days (the eviction period) from being homeless because I had no emergency reserve and I did not want to depend on parents for emergencies. I did have a roommate but his finances were more stressed than mine.

So I started by setting aside 3% of each paycheck (I worked part-time in college) into a savings account not tied to my checking account. Within a year I had enough saved to handle a car repair or other small emergency. Over the years I have continued to contribute to an emergency reserve, especially since my needs have change. I now measure the time to being homeless years. It will not happen overnight but with some effort you can have a safety net.

Now you may be asking, how am I supposed to do that when my current expenses are higher than my take home pay or I do not have a job? You will have to make difficult decisions like;

Can I afford where I live? Do I need roommates?

Can I keep my car for 7 to 10 years performing maintenance?

Should I make going out a special occasion and eat at home instead?

Can I lower the heater setting or raise the air conditioner temperature?

Do not make decisions that can put you at greater risk like canceling home, car or health insurance, getting a payday loan (do not do this! borrow from anyone else first!), buying more lottery tickets, or shifting necessities to credit cards and hoping for something lucky to happen.

Wage garnishment is when a court mandates taking money from your paycheck by your employer before you receive it. This is often due to a failure to pay an outstanding debt like student loans, child support, or a legal judgement against you. If you are at this point then you may need help from a reputable credit service. Check with your state government or local bank for assistance finding someone to help.

Where wage garnishment can hurt you is with your employer. First if you have wage garnishment then you likely have a low credit rating. If this occurred while employed then it could jeopardize your position especially if you handle money for the company. Remember that most employers can run your credit rating during the hiring process but also while you are employed.

Second, your supervisor may very well know about your situation and they could take advantage of it. Due to the wage garnishment you may have difficulty finding another job and your supervisor could put more work on you at the same salary because they know you are in a bind.

Job dependency is when you cannot afford to lose your job. Most everyone needs a job to earn a living but this entails that you cannot afford to lose this job. There are many circumstances that can lead to it but the fear (or reality) is that you will not be able to find another job with similar pay or none at all. The following are some circumstances that could lead to this concern.

Your debt burden is too great. If you are in the situation of barely making payments or in crisis now, then the fear of losing your job can keep you from looking for another one. Besides, companies may check your credit score and see your situation.

You are nearing or past 50 years of age. I will probably write another piece about this but age discrimination occurs in the work all the time. Many states will not even investigate the claim and suggest that you sue the company in court.

You or your dependents have preexisting conditions. While this is not the case at the moment with the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) in force, if it is cancelled or diminished then many families will be at risk.

Your employer may imply advancement, raises or some other benefit but never in writing and only on the condition that you remain with the company. Unfulfilled promises can keep most anyone in a bad relationship. Just remember, that is what your employer is, a relationship. They provide pay in exchange for work that you perform. They are not performing charity and they usually do not have your best interests at heart.

Your employer may work you almost to death. It is very hard to look for another and probably better job if your manager does not give you the chance. No time off not only makes your manager look better but it keeps you from getting a better job.

Your family was previously a two income earner and due to circumstances (maybe one of the above) you are now a single income family with all the burden and risk on you keeping your job.

Debt can be an effective force to keep you in a job. It can also be a force for your supervisor to take advantage of you. While some of the things I discussed are not a debt burden now, something like medical bills without insurance can put you in that place.

From my experience, once you are an employee the company is no longer making great offers to keep you, they will do that with the next new hire. You will get a small raise and maybe a promotion for a bigger raise and more work. If you really want to see your income grow then consider changing jobs to another company in a similar area of work to preserve your experience. Also, negotiate for more than two weeks of vacation and a week of sick time.

I hope you are not in a place of high financial risk but if you are then it may be good time to seek help to correct the situation.

Good luck and best wishes.

This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

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decordwertge1976 · 3 years

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can a parent be added to my health insurance

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What is Actually an Employer’s Group Health Insurance? An employer’s group health insurance policy covers you for medical services related to your health, such as doctor visits, emergency surgery, radiation therapy and, sometimes, treatment for cancer, neurological problems or stroke. You may have the option of covering yourself or your employer’s group health insurance, but there are many advantages and disadvantages to choosing your group health insurance plan. These disadvantages include some companies won’t let you buy your group health insurance plan directly to them, so if you choose to shop a group plan directly you’ll need to apply for the group plan through your employer’s group health insurance, then that’s when you will receive benefits at the employer’s facility, rather than a group insurance benefit. If you are planning on shopping for individual coverage for yourself or your plan‘s dependents after a job loss, it’s important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of individual health insurance plans before you consider buying one. Although group.

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funkzpiel · 6 years

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Could you do something about Graves losing his job and everything going downhill from there? Maybe he ends up couch surfing or living off charity until Theseus comes to the rescue.

He knew it was coming. After all, a man who cannot defend himself can hardly defend America. Had he hold Theseus, he knew the man would no doubt tell him he was being too hard on himself. And due to his distaste of Seraphina and American politics, he would site that the move was more political and dirty than anything else. But Graves knows the game, and even if the decision was more to cast blame off MACUSA than it was to punish him, he gladly accepted the opportunity to assist his country. If he couldn’t protect it, the least he could do was pave the way for a new administration.

He knew it was coming. He just didn’t know it would be so hard.

His assets have been frozen for the duration of the ongoing investigation still taking place - to ensure he is who he says he is, a man who bleeds for America and not a turncoat. And that, more than anything else, hurts.

All at once he is cut off from every luxury his name and lineage has ever afforded him. No businessman will touch him, thanks to the papers and the headlines. No bank will grant him a loan with his assets frozen. And even though Sera is his friend, she cannot unfreeze his assets. She cannot break the law.

He is kicked out of his apartment rather quickly. Grindelwald had not being paying the rent or the utilities, and now that he could not afford to, he finds the notice on his door unsurprising. His possessions are seized to pay for the debt - after MACUSA makes them no-maj safe, of course, storing all of his magical valuables in a vault until his name clears.

He has only the meager things he managed to stuff into a case before they could stop him.

It’s cold, this time of year, and his coat quickly tatters from the elements. He uses charms, as subtle as he can manage, to insulate the space between his coat and his body and heat it, but the charms always diffuse the moment he falls asleep without foci, and the stress from his exhaustion begins to catch up with him.

Hungry, as it turns out, also blindsides him. He has never been a particularly food-motivated man. He often times forgot to eat at all, when too focused or preoccupied by work. But it’s a different matter all together when suddenly all he has is time. Time to think about the burning in his stomach, the empty ache of it. The way the acid seems to churn, chewing in on itself in search of anything to consume. The gnawing feeling quickly turns into spasms and sharp pains that leave him dizzy - and although he tries to avoid it, he does devolve to stealing from no-maj eateries with a wave of one hand to take meals that are not his, leaving the cashier thinking they fulfilled an order and the original purchaser believing they simply changed their mind or hadn’t been served yet.

But days without proper food, water or sleep begin to wear on him. One day, his charms are not strong enough and he actually has to run from a sandwich shop that catches him trying to snatch a meager meal.

Things go downhill from there. The winter grows colder, snow falling more and more commonly as the temperature drops. Grates and public areas like train stations are his only saving grace, and even those do not last long.

He begins to frequent soup kitchens and churches, but even those begin to grow tight in the beginning pains of a changing economy. So he struggles, but never once reaches back to the people and the old life he failed to live up to.

If he is to die like this, cold and alone, he thinks morbidly that he earned it.

When he’s finally found, he is barely recognizable. His clothing is a pale ghost of its former glory, and his face is hidden beneath a beard unkept and unseemly. his gloves do not match and some of the fingers are missing, leaving a few digits cold and barren and blue at the nail beds; dirty and chipped. His hair is longer than he’s ever kept it. Long ago someone had stolen his shoes and the ones he managed to get since are slightly too big, making him look small and withered in the clothing that once fit him like a glove.

He sits in a subway station, tucked away into an alcove where he can usually manage to enjoy the heat and a little sleep for at least an hour or two before someone will shoo him away. Sometimes when he wakes, he’ll find coins scattered at his feet. No-maj money, something he never thought he’d be grateful for. Sometimes he finds snacks or bottled water. Today, he finds nothing at his feet but a shadow.

He sighs and fights down his drowsiness as he begin to get to his feet, a murmured “I’m going, I’m going” already slipping past his lips in preparation for the inevitable shooing.

“Percy?” The voice asks instead, short and thready and shocked, and he stills.

It’s like hearing a name from a distant dream, and when he slowly raises his gaze, familiar hazel eyes are looking down on him.

Theseus is the anchor he has always remembered him to be. His uniform, rich and earthy, makes him look powerful and tall thanks to its crisp lines and smart badges. He has his hat tucked under one arm, his duffel over the other shoulder. His shoes shine even in the dimness of the station, and a man inside Graves from another life wonders about the brand he must use to get a shine as nice as that.

“T-Theseus,” he whispers back before he can stop himself, before he can try to pretend to be someone else – before he can save his dignity.

Hands take him by the shoulders and hold him tight, pinning him in place as he roves over him searching merlin knew what.

“You’re—you… Hells bells, Percival, you just stopped writing! And I heard what happened, but the Ministry wouldn’t let me get away. I tried to write to you, to reach you via flu – anything, but I couldn’t find you. Your President was bloody useless. I came as soon as I can, I–”

Graves let the words wash over him, eyes wide as they sunk in. Theseus had come for him. Not for Newt. Not for a mission. For him.

He was going to be so disappointed when he realized Percival deserved what he got…

“Theseus,” he said, cutting the man off with a rough, disused whisper that silenced him easily. “She didn’t help because I’m not her problem. I’m lucky they didn’t throw me in jail. They have other things to worry about – like cleaning up my mess… I’m not surprised she couldn’t tell you where I was. I haven’t seen her in weeks.”

“Weeks,” Theseus gasped, and Graves blinked. What an odd part of the story to get caught on. “You’ve been out here for weeks?! She’s supposed to be your bloody friend, I’m going to–”

“I’m being investigated as a turncoat, Theseus. There wasn’t anything she could do.”

Theseus stilled, and finally Graves knew the truth had sunken in. He’d leave him now, as he should, to stew in the pissy-smell of New York’s underground. Where he belonged. He closed his eyes and waited for it.

Instead, he was drawn into a sudden and breath seizing embrace.

“You stupid sonofabitch,” he said into Graves’ hair, “I have so much to say about that. But this isn’t the place. You’re coming with me. I’m going to feed you, get you washed up. And then we are going to have a very long chat about what you do and don’t deserve, and what your President very fucking well could have done instead of throwing her friend to the wolves. Like, say, have your bloody back.”

“Theseus!”

Theseus shot him a sharp, dark look before winding an arm around his shoulders and quickly leading him away. Tired and starved as he was, he could hardly refuse - though he tried. And all around him, people looked at Theseus as though he were a saint for reaching so low beneath his station to raise another man up.

If only they knew the truth, Percival thought, and they’d realize Theseus was so much more than that. So much better.

Theseus takes him to his hotel. He shoves him into the bathroom while he orders entirely too much food service, and lets Graves bathe to his content. Graves has to drain the water twice to clear it of his filth. He falls asleep despite the fact he wanted to be back into his own clothing before Theseus could see the extent of his fall from grace outlined in his skin - and he startles at the feel of hands rubbing shampoo into his hair and scalp, working it into a lather.

“Theseus,” he gasps and tries to hide his body, but the water does nothing to hide the visible count of his ribs or the knobbyness of his spine. The thinness of his ankles or the brittle jut of his wrists.

“There’s food in the other room, I’ve got a charm on it to keep it warm,” he says softly, and Graves can’t help but feel guilty in the absence of Theseus’ disgust. “We’ll get you right as rain and then some. Fill all your old britches before you know it.”

Graves blinks.

“What?”

“If you think I’m leaving you here, you’re off your rocker, mate. I’m staying with you, at least until you can stand in a stiff breeze without fear of keeling over.”

He grabs Theseus’ wrist above his head, and the knowledge that Theseus lets him still his hand – that he is not actually strong enough – hurts.

“Theseus, I deserve this. I couldn’t–”

“Don’t you fucking dare get on your soap box and preach about justice, Percival Graves. You sit there and listen. This country failed you. You and your family have done nothing but sacrifice your blood and your families and your sanity and your dreams for it, and this is how it repays you? In your time of need they did not even notice you were gone. And instead of acknowledging its shortcomings, MACUSA threw a tortured and injured man under the bus – a man they should have noticed had gone missing. You’re just one man, Percival. You cannot bare a country’s mistakes upon your shoulders. And a good leader wouldn’t never have asked you to. This was wrong. And I’m going to use every day to prove it to you until you realize you deserved more, deserved better.”

But I don’t… he thinks, but does not say it. Instead he allows himself one day to be weak and give into temptation in the face of Theseus’ confidence and steadfast determination, and lets him pamper him. He lets Theseus run water over his scalp, gently cupping his face to protect his eyes. Lets him bathe his back, his arms, his legs, even though he already had. Lets him towel his hair dry and wrap him in soft robes. Feed him, tuck him into a warm bed and curl around him.

He lets him, because the director of magical security died a long time ago, and what was left behind is too tired to fight the lull of a full belly and the comfort of a friendly embrace. He closes his eyes, head tucked beneath Theseus’ chin, and wonders if Theseus is right.

Wonders if Theseus can convince him he’s worth existing. And as he falls asleep he thinks: if anyone can, it’s him.

#anon asks #Thesival #theseus scamander #percival graves #original percival graves #mini fic

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driggarssaleha · 3 years

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decreasing term life insurance rates

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lauramalchowblog · 4 years

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A Full-Scale Assault on Medical Debt, Part 2

By BOB HERTZ

The first section of this article stated that many forms of medical debt can be reduced or cancelled by stronger enforcement of consumer protection laws. These debts are not inevitable and are not due to poverty. It would not require trillions of federal dollars to cancel them, either – just the willingness to go against lobbyists.

Therefore I advocate the following attacks on medical debt:

Phase One

We must cancel balance bills and surprise bills if there was no prior disclosure.

In most cases, providers will not have the right to collect anything more than what the insurers pay them.

Phase Two

We must cancel the older, inactive “zombie debts” that are being purchased by collection agencies.

This line of business must terminate. Providers throughout the country are selling uncollected medical debt for pennies on the dollar to collection agencies, who aggressively attempt to force patients to pay the full amount due. These debt collectors harass patients at work and at home, deploying unscrupulous tactics even after the statute of limitations on the debt has expired.

Debt collection lawyers can file hundreds of suits a day, often with little evidence that the alleged debt is actually owed. Once a lawsuit is filed, the process is stacked against defendants, the overwhelming majority of whom are not represented by an attorney. And collectors have a big advantage in small claims courts, which provide very limited due process protections to debtors.

The Debt Buyer Industry has a bad reputation and for good reason. They are typically far more aggressive than the original creditors or their hired debt collectors. There is nothing redeemable about the junk debt buying business.

Per Senator Sanders: “Forcing additional stress and hardship on someone for the ‘crime’ of getting sick is immoral, unconscionable, and un-American. We will eliminate past-due medical debt.”

Of course, all cancellations of unconscionable debt must be income-tax free.

Phase Three

Debts can also be reduced by expanding the Affordable Care Act:

Subsidies should be tied to low-deductible gold plans

Subsidies should be available at all income levels – not just stopping at 400% of poverty

We can let families join the ACA exchanges if their workplace plans do not cover spouses and children (i.e. solving the ‘family glitch’)

Phase Four

We must create a subsidized, guarantee-issue “Cost Sharing Reduction Insurance” that would be available to any American – not just those who have low incomes and a Silver plan under the ACA.

This policy would cost about $125 a month and it would pay your deductibles – similar to the Medicare Supplement plans that seniors can purchase. Rates can be kept stable by government reinsurance – again, just like Medicare. The cost of reinsurance might be $50 billion a year… but we spend that much and more to lower the cost of Supplements and Drug Plans for seniors.

Low-deductible health plans have just become too expensive for many American businesses and consumers. Adding on a separate policy to pay deductibles is not a perfect solution, but it is a workable one.

Here are specific regulations to continue the assault on debt:

RULE #1: No balance bills or out-of-network charges will be valid without arm’s length prior disclosure.

If a procedure can be scheduled, it can be quoted. Every other industry gives price quotes that are the basis of a valid contract – with fees and charges spelled out, and remedies if unavoidable extra costs appear.

A medical provider who does not offer a quote when requested will not be able to enforce payment. No prior disclosure means no patient liability, for scheduled procedures. Of course this solves the surprise bill problem: if extra fees are not disclosed in advance, then the patient may not be billed extra.

Also—If an insurance claim is denied, the patient is not liable. The provider and the insurer can fight it out.

For emergencies — when no contract is possible — providers can only charge an average of what they actually collect from all insurers. Networks are completely irrelevant.

I would call this “statutory protection.” You shouldn’t need to buy expensive insurance just to be protected from price gouging.

These laws must be national and they must be enforced. Some hospitals will continue to send balance bills even if they are illegal. Therefore, we must have a “Patient Financial Protection Bureau” with the power to nullify price-gouging. We need officials who are willing to assess fines, harassment, audits, bad publicity and even federal takeovers if needed.

(Price gouging happens much less to persons over age 65, incidentally. Medicare Advantage (MA) patients are not responsible for out-of-network charges in emergency care settings. Federal law also limits how much providers can bill the patients in traditional Medicare, in most medical situations—although specialty drugs create their own bankruptcy issues )

RULE #2. Emergency care must not be subject to insurance deductibles.

Co-pays such as $250 for ER care would be acceptable, but nothing more.

In other words, even if you have a plan deductible of $4000 or more, any emergency will be covered at 100%.

Otherwise we get awful scenes such as occurred on the Boston subway. A woman’s leg got stuck in the gap between the train and the platform. It was twisted and bloody. She was in agony and weeping, but she begged that no one call an ambulance. “It’s $3000,” she wailed. “I can’t afford that, I have terrible insurance.”

RULE #3. The uninsured will be charged Medicare rates for hospital care.

All existing “chargemaster” bills must be cancelled, never to return.

The largest bills are almost never collected anyways. Wage garnishment generally doesn’t bring in very much for hospitals either. In a recent study of Virginia hospitals, the average total revenue from garnishment was 0.1% of the hospital’s annual cash flow. The average “award” for hospitals that won lawsuits against patients was just $1,400.

Hospitals who serve the poor and uninsured do have a legitimate problem, however. Hospital bad debts are running over $50 billion per year. Some hospitals do offer 70% discounts to the uninsured, and they still must deal with bad debt.

The solution is not meaner collections—it is more help from government. Medicare’s current aid to hospitals for patient bad debt are stingy and insufficient. (I would favor a small tax on the uninsured. The ACA mandate was not a bad idea, but the money that is raised should go toward hospital care. A person who has money but stays uninsured will still receive emergency care, and a tax to pay for this is not out of place.)

RULE #5 Limits must be placed on debt collectors:

Some non-profit and “public” hospitals aggressively sue low-income patients for medical bills. (At least until the media catches them doing it.) They sue people who would actually be exempt under their own charitable guidelines. Some have even filed lawsuits against their own employees to collect unpaid medical bills.

Charity care guidelines should be national, universal, and generous, with harsh punishments given to hospitals that ignore them.

The National Consumer Loan Center has made a good start in their proposed Model Medical Debt Protection Act, which would ban the following:

Any action causing an individual’s arrest;

Causing an individual to be subject to a writ of body attachment [or similar term such as “capias”];

Setting a lien, or ever foreclosing on an individual’s real property;

Garnishing the wages or state income tax refund(s) of a patient who is eligible for financial assistance.

Lawsuits for medical debt must disappear. No more attorney fees would be allowed, and no interest charged either.

Under our new laws and regulations, here is a sample of what will happen to individual medical debtors

#1 – The debtor brought their child to the Emergency Room, and was billed $25,000.

Hospitals use a complex, confusing chargemaster-based billing system to get more money from insurers. The list price is set unreasonably high; then the insurers negotiate a discount up to 80%. (Some insurers even bill for this ‘re-pricing’ – which is pure financial waste.)

In any event, when some hospitals see a chance to collect their invented “rack rates” from the uninsured, they go for it aggressively.

It is true that a stubborn patient can sometimes reduce their debt through negotiation… but no one has to negotiate with the fire department. Americans are used to posted prices, not haggling, and especially not haggling in medicine.

This bill for $25,000 should be denied at the state health agency. The hospital can collect on the Medicare fee schedule.

#2 – The patient had to use an out-of-network hospital due to complications after surgery, and was billed $50,000 extra.

This event could not have been scheduled in advance. The patient had no choice in the matter.

Therefore no extra fees are due. The out of network provider must accept the standard insurance reimbursement as payment in full.

The out-of-network providers — especially the ones owned by Wall Street — use a predatory price-gouging business model. The medical profession itself should have cracked down on them long ago.

#3 – The debtor is being harassed by debt collectors over a $40,000 hospital bill from six years ago

There will be a firm statute of limitations on medical debt. After a fixed period of perhaps five years the debt must be legally cancelled, so it can never be sold or re-sold to anyone. All interest and legal fees will also be cancelled. Lawyers who enforce medical debts can find honest work instead.

#4 – The debtor put $100,000 on high-interest credit cards to pay for cancer drugs, and now cannot cover the charge card payments.

They will probably have to declare bankruptcy. The pricing practices of Big Pharma unfortunately needs a more complex reform—and not a moment too soon. Very high drug costs are a major reason for the rising premiums (and resulting high deductibles ) in comprehensive health insurance.

However, bankruptcy only works well for one-time high medical expenses. If you have a chronic illness that will cost $1,000 a month for the rest of your life, bankruptcy is only a temporary reprieve.

#5 – The patient received a hospital bill for $50,000—after their insurance company already paid the hospital $100,000

The hospital cannot bill extra, if they did not allow the insured to approve the extra fee in an arm’s length quote and transaction. No extra payment need be made here.

#7 – The patient had a battery of tests of investigate his dizziness, and now faces a hospital bill of $15,000.

These tests could have been performed in a much cheaper location. The hospital should only be allowed to recover what an outside clinic would charge. We can go much further toward ‘site-neutral’ reimbursement, which hospitals violently resist.

#8 – The patient had a successful surgery, but the insurance claim was denied due to coverage issues. The hospital is now pursuing them for $35,000.

If a claim is denied, and the patient could not have known this was likely, the patient will not be liable. (This has been true in Medicare for decades.)

Right now, patients are often asked to pay disputed medical bills while insurers and providers attempt to resolve the dispute. If an individual does not pay the bill during this time, it can be turned over to collections. Before receiving medical care, most consumers sign consent forms agreeing that they are responsible for any medical bills their insurance company does not cover in full – this must end!

#8 – The patient needed an ambulance after a stroke, and was billed $2800 for a 10 minute ride.

Ambulance service should be a government function, paid for by taxes, no different than fire or police. This applies to air-ambulances also.

The taxes required would be about $15 billion a year, which is a rounding error in federal health spending.

Ambulance fees must be capped at the standard Medicare amount of $450, perhaps with an increase of about 30%, all of which should be paid by government.

#9– The debtor did not pay a $600 medical bill while they were unemployed. They were sued for the debt but did not make a court appearance. Next time they got a traffic ticket, they were put in jail until they paid the medical bill.

No lawsuits should ever occur on small medical debt, and no arrests either.

#10 – The patient owes their dentist $2,500 for past treatments, and needs addition dental care that they cannot pay for at this time (or ever).

This is a major area of medical debt – at least 12% of overdue bills — but unfortunately we do not have a quick solution. The patient must look to the following safety nets:

Dental schools – Most of these teaching facilities have clinics that allow dental students to gain experience treating patients, while providing care at a reduced cost.

Dental hygiene schools may also offer supervised, low-cost preventive dental care as part of the training experience for dental hygienists.

Bob Hertz is a retired insurance broker. He learned about health care from Uwe Reinhardt, Joseph White, Dr. Robert Evans, and George Halvorson a fellow Minnesotan.

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kristinsimmons · 4 years

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A Full-Scale Assault on Medical Debt, Part 2