Help with Daily Money Management–InfoDoc, Inc.

Kemmie Turpin — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:26:59 +0000

It all started with a phone call. Ivor and Jean Jones had been living in an assisted living community in Baltimore, Md., for several years when one of their sons, Dr. Bruce Jones, received an unexpected call from their neighbor. “The neighbor had seen their condo listed in the paper as not having paid taxes. It was scheduled for tax sale,” Bruce recalled.

Bruce was shocked, but he soon realized that his father had not been managing any of the couple’s finances. “We discovered that my dad hadn’t been paying my mother’s Medicare premiums since May 2010, and the medical bills were piling up,” Bruce said.

: The Jones family no longer has to worry about sorting paperwork or paying bills. Pictured are fro left to right: Ivor, Tanya, Bruce and Jean Jones.

When Bruce’s wife, Tanya, read about InfoDoc, a company that offers estate organizing services, she knew they could help. “Mary Helen [with InfoDoc] has been a godsend,” said Bruce. “You read about this stuff and you think it wouldn’t be so difficult to handle, but it’s so much harder when you are actually trying to do it yourself.”

Although Medicare originally told Bruce and his mother they only needed to pay $300 and coverage would be reinstated, the check was never cashed and the family could not get any answers. When InfoDoc stepped in to help, they contacted Congressman John Sarbanes’ office, and his staff helped the family get Medicare re-instated; however, coverage would not start until July 2012.

Since this still left the family liable for old medical bills, InfoDoc continued to pursue complete coverage. Mary Helen reached out to Senator Benjamin Cardin’s office, and they ultimately helped get coverage re-instated and retroactive back to May 2010. Remarkably, Jean’s coverage was reinstated on a Friday and that Sunday she fell and broke her hip and had to have a hip replacement.

“Getting Medicare reinstated took a tremendous amount of effort on her part– letter writing and countless phone calls –and it saved us tens of thousands of dollars,” Bruce said. “Her services really have more than paid for themselves.”

In addition to helping the Jones family get Medicare reinstated, InfoDoc organized their files and helped to eliminate bogus charges coming out of the checking account. They are also working to get the medical facilities and doctors who were paid by the family to resubmit Medicare claims and reimburse the family.

“This kind of work takes a lot of attention to detail and a lot of creativity as well,” Bruce concluded. With a very demanding schedule of his own, Bruce is grateful that he can now spend his free time with his family– instead of reviewing, analyzing and paying bills.

A Daily Money Manager Acts as an Alter Ego

Lauren Searson — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:06:27 +0000

Boston native Vera Berne worked in different mental health settings inWashington,D.C. after moving to the nation’s capital in 1943. As a respected diagnostician, teacher and mentor to a number of mental health professionals, she helped several individuals throughout her career that spanned over 50 years. Now, at the age of 90, Vera has been needing assistance herself and is glad to have found a trusted daily money manger.

Over the course of her career, Vera never emphasized private practice feeling it was too isolating in terms of her capacity to effect change. Above all, she said she stressed the importance of distrusting simple answers and instead dealing with complexity in the area of human behavior.

After the passing of her husband, the nature of her work extended to a broader field as she did international consulting, establishing relationships in Europe. “I had the great opportunity to meet some extraordinarily gifted people from whom I did learn much,” she said.

According to Vera, her profession was interrupted almost overnight when she lost the capacity to read over two years ago because of a physical change in the structure of her eye. As her eyesight continued to diminish, she found it impossible to operate independently with certain tasks such as money management. Fortunately, she was connected to Kate Finan of Finan Financial Care, LLC, who has specialized in the daily money management needs of seniors in the area since 1993.

When Kate visits Vera, they consider the priority of items such as paying bills and making donations to charities; reconciling the checkbook; and reviewing and making decisions on how to respond to a fairly large volume of mail. Vera has also appreciated the focus on her need for legal help as they have established a will and other important documents. “She has been great in helping me organize the practical aspects of my life under the condition of diminished sight; she acts as an alter ego,” said Vera.

She also said she has found a connection with Kate as far as her capacity to see the complexity of what Vera has to deal with beyond simple solutions.

“In this relationship with Kate, what is paramount is the mutual recognition that the problem is not in a loss of mental capacity but rather in the capacity to deal with practical everyday problems,” said Vera. “Without her help, I would have been stressed and unable to manage my current life.”

Retirement Living » paying bills

Help with Daily Money Management–InfoDoc, Inc.

A Daily Money Manager Acts as an Alter Ego