Business Insight presented by Arlington Dermatology We need to self-educate better I love seniors! If you ever visited my practice, you can see it immediately. About half of my patients are people over 62, which is what an early retirement age starts at. I love young people too. The pool of my employees seems to be younger every year. I'had to learn how to work with millennials but it can be a lot of fun and definitely, I can learn from them, especially on the topics of new technology. What I am finding to be my concern is that both, seniors and millennials and younger groups, and perhaps all the age groups, know very little about our healthcare system, our social system, and our social benefits. Compared to the rest of the world, we are far behind when it comes to social services and healthcare. As a matter of fact, we are the only top economy country with no public safety net when it comes to basic healthcare. The recent events of pandemic and overwhelming of the health care institutions has been a very good example of how our communities suffer due to that issue. But this is not the only lacking point. We just heard about a new decision from the administration to defer and eliminate payroll medicare substitute plans advertised on TV. tax starting September to the end of the year. Wow, less taxes! But what is actually promising'gold'and free services but not really that payroll tax? When you ask any random 10 people, eight of them will not be able to educating seniors on limitations of those plans define it. That is 80% of our population! So, 80% of people really do not understand if and how they will benefit from the decision. They Remember, nothing is free in the insurance listen to the news and, depending on whom they listen, they will trust sometimes the very misleading information. I will assure you that most of those who really need help will not benefit from the payroll tax cut. Why? Payroll tax is deducted from every paycheck information and verified information rather for Social Security and medicare. That is a total of 7.65% of every paycheck. So, it will vary from person to person because if you make $15.00 per hour you will save less than if you make $30.00 per hour. Most of all, you actually must get a paycheck. So, if you are unemployed or retired, or a college student working gig jobs, you will gain nothing. Secondly, as employers match the 7.65% from additional employer fund, the trust funding Social Security and medicare will suffer and it will be depleted of She or he should then spread the news. millions of dollars it needs very much to pay our retirees and disabled population. Will it affect rich people? Not really because they stop paying to Social Security over the salary of $137,000 a year anyways so their gain will be just a small saving of 1.45% of medicare fund. Medicare is the only health safety net for millions of retired people and those who entirely depend on the fund covering their healthcare needs. How do you like it? At the same time, I see more and more They are all private insurance companies and there are many small print limitations and regulations, including limits of life coverage. industry. Nothing. So, what can we do about all of the misinformation? Somehow, we must motivate our communities to seek clarification and true knowledge. We must remind and direct leaders in the community to deliver objective than myths or politicized tips. Doing this is a part of our social responsibility I have been writing a lot recently. We must remember that sometimes it is too late to make a decision when we are already sick or unemployed. We need to learn how to be planning pro- actively, just in case if we were to get sick or unemployed. Proactive and self-educated member of a society is a responsible member of a society. Let's spread responsible news and not the virus! Michael Bukhalo, MD Arlington Dermatology 5301 Keystone Court Rolling Meadows, IL 60008 Tel. 847 392 5440 | www.arlingtondermatology.net Business Insight presented by Arlington Dermatology We need to self-educate better I love seniors! If you ever visited my practice, you can see it immediately. About half of my patients are people over 62, which is what an early retirement age starts at. I love young people too. The pool of my employees seems to be younger every year. I'had to learn how to work with millennials but it can be a lot of fun and definitely, I can learn from them, especially on the topics of new technology. What I am finding to be my concern is that both, seniors and millennials and younger groups, and perhaps all the age groups, know very little about our healthcare system, our social system, and our social benefits. Compared to the rest of the world, we are far behind when it comes to social services and healthcare. As a matter of fact, we are the only top economy country with no public safety net when it comes to basic healthcare. The recent events of pandemic and overwhelming of the health care institutions has been a very good example of how our communities suffer due to that issue. But this is not the only lacking point. We just heard about a new decision from the administration to defer and eliminate payroll medicare substitute plans advertised on TV. tax starting September to the end of the year. Wow, less taxes! But what is actually promising'gold'and free services but not really that payroll tax? When you ask any random 10 people, eight of them will not be able to educating seniors on limitations of those plans define it. That is 80% of our population! So, 80% of people really do not understand if and how they will benefit from the decision. They Remember, nothing is free in the insurance listen to the news and, depending on whom they listen, they will trust sometimes the very misleading information. I will assure you that most of those who really need help will not benefit from the payroll tax cut. Why? Payroll tax is deducted from every paycheck information and verified information rather for Social Security and medicare. That is a total of 7.65% of every paycheck. So, it will vary from person to person because if you make $15.00 per hour you will save less than if you make $30.00 per hour. Most of all, you actually must get a paycheck. So, if you are unemployed or retired, or a college student working gig jobs, you will gain nothing. Secondly, as employers match the 7.65% from additional employer fund, the trust funding Social Security and medicare will suffer and it will be depleted of She or he should then spread the news. millions of dollars it needs very much to pay our retirees and disabled population. Will it affect rich people? Not really because they stop paying to Social Security over the salary of $137,000 a year anyways so their gain will be just a small saving of 1.45% of medicare fund. Medicare is the only health safety net for millions of retired people and those who entirely depend on the fund covering their healthcare needs. How do you like it? At the same time, I see more and more They are all private insurance companies and there are many small print limitations and regulations, including limits of life coverage. industry. Nothing. So, what can we do about all of the misinformation? Somehow, we must motivate our communities to seek clarification and true knowledge. We must remind and direct leaders in the community to deliver objective than myths or politicized tips. Doing this is a part of our social responsibility I have been writing a lot recently. We must remember that sometimes it is too late to make a decision when we are already sick or unemployed. We need to learn how to be planning pro- actively, just in case if we were to get sick or unemployed. Proactive and self-educated member of a society is a responsible member of a society. Let's spread responsible news and not the virus! Michael Bukhalo, MD Arlington Dermatology 5301 Keystone Court Rolling Meadows, IL 60008 Tel. 847 392 5440 | www.arlingtondermatology.net