LTC Bullet:  FEE for Service

Friday, October 28, 2016

Seattle—

LTC Comment:  Not fee, but FEE, or the Foundation for Economic Education.  Learn about this inimitable source of information on liberty and free market economics after the ***news.***

*** CLTCR Premium Membership  --  Center for Long-Term Care Reform premium members receive our full suite of individual membership benefits including:  our LTC Bullets and E-Alerts; access to our Members-Only Zone website and Almanac of Long-Term Care; subscription to our Clipping Service; and email/phone access to Steve Moses for 24-hour turnaround queries.  Our Premium Membership is designed to give you a competitive advantage in your long-term care profession. Your increased knowledge of the critical issues and challenges we face in the field of long-term care service delivery and financing equals improved professional success for you and better LTC services for your clients and for those who have no choice but to rely on scarce public resources.  Premium Membership is $250 per year, paid up front or monthly by automatically recurring credit card payments.  Contact Damon at 206-283-7036 / damon@centerltc.com to start your Premium Membership immediately or go directly to our secure online subscription page and sign up for as little as $21 per month. ***

*** 2017 LTCI TAX DEDUCTIBILITY LIMITS PUBLISHED: 

10/25/2016, “Increased 2017 Tax Deduction Limits for Traditional Long Term Care Insurance Announced,” by AALTCI

Quote: “The tax deductible limits for traditional long-term care insurance premiums paid in 2017 increased according to a just-released IRS announcement. ‘The tax deductibility of premiums when you purchase traditional long-term care insurance provides a real incentive for consumers, especially after retirement,’ explains Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI).   ‘The special tax advantages are not available when individuals purchase linked-benefit products such as life insurance or annuity policies that can provide a future long-term care benefit.’”

Attained age before the close of the taxable year

Maximum deduction for year

40 or less

$410

More than 40 but not more than 50

$770

More than 50 but not more than 60

$1,530

More than 60 but not more than 70

$4,090

More than 70

$5,110

LTC Comment: We’ve updated these numbers in our Members-Only Zone here, where you will also find tax deductibility limits for each year back to 1997. If you need your user name and password contact Damon at 206-283-7036 or damon@centerltc.com. ***

 

LTC BULLET:  FEE FOR SERVICE

LTC Comment:  Regular readers of LTC Bullets have probably discerned a tendency.  When we seek a cause for some problem, we tend to find it in one form or another of government interference in the marketplace.  When we recommend solutions, we tend to find them in reducing the role of government and unleashing the free market. 

Is this ideological bias?  Not if it is grounded in solid evidence and provable theory.

What is the evidence that free markets produce better results than centralized government planning and control?  All you need to do is open your eyes.  Authoritarianism fails to produce plenty everywhere it is tried.  Examples are legion.  The link between economic freedom and prosperity is well substantiated and undeniable.

What is the theory behind this link?  Pretty simple really.  Free consumers voting for what they want with their own money make better decisions for themselves and for the economy than government bureaucrats make when they’re spending other people’s money.  People spending their own money produce the information in aggregate that investors need to target their capital to projects and products that benefit everyone.  Bureaucrats spending other people’s money are prone to invest in boondoggles.   

If the evidence and the theory are conclusive, why do people and governments keep making the same mistakes?  Why do politicians keep promising something for nothing?  Why are people and voters repeatedly suckered by the same promises?  The answers inhere in the questions.  People want something for nothing and politicians are eager to benefit personally by promising it to them.

Are we doomed to keep repeating the same mistakes in perpetuity?   Probably, but not necessarily.  There are two ways to break this cycle.  One is to return government to its original limited role as prescribed by the Constitution.  Don’t hold your breath.  The other is to hammer home daily and persuasively the aforementioned evidence and theory about free markets and the freedom philosophy.  That’s where FEE comes in.

The Foundation for Economic Freedom (www.fee.org) is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching the principles of a free society.  Today, FEE focuses on bringing freedom as a life philosophy to a wide audience, striving to bring about a world in which the economic, ethical, and legal principles of a free society are familiar and credible. 

“FEE Daily” publishes several brief articles that substantiate the fallacy of relying on government and the power of freedom in all aspects of life.  This online resource is free for the asking.  Just go to www.fee.org, scroll to the bottom, enter your email address and click on “Subscribe.” 

Here are some articles featured in recent FEE Dailys:

“There Is No Such Thing As Trickle-Down Economics” by Steven Horwitz:  The point is not to transfer wealth up and down but rather to create universal opportunity. No market advocate ever used this phrase. That's for a reason. It's not what we favor.  Read Now

“Special Interests May Kill Free Online Courses,” by Walter Olson: The Berkeley case proves that there is nothing that is so beneficial that government won't try to ruin it. If the DOJ and special interest bullies get their way, MOOCs could become a thing of the past.  Read Now

“New Zealand's Remarkable Economic Transformation,” by Daniel J. Mitchell:  We so rarely see dramatic change toward freedom in modern democracies. New Zealand is a beautiful exception. New Zealand privatized, cut the budget, reduced taxes, and generally freed up enterprise, and just look at the wonderful results.  Read Now

“Politicians, Please Stop ‘Helping’ the Disabled,” by Jeffrey A. Tucker:  Government is the least likely institution to help the disabled. Indeed, the reverse is true, and a century of evidence proves it. Every new regulation, every new mandate, makes it harder for disabled people to live normal lives.”   Read Now

LTC Comment:  That’s enough of a sampling to give you the flavor.  These articles address critical, often politically sensitive, issues with ingenuity, evidence, theory and humor.  Whether you agree or not, you will find yourself thinking in fresh new ways.  If you pick one of the six articles on offer each day to read and consider, I believe you’ll find it harder and harder to accept promises from government or criticism of free markets.