Mark Harvey

HELP LINE: Help is only help if it’s wanted and understood

I JUST STUMBLED across something I presented almost exactly 10 years ago (please don’t be concerned, as I seem to stumble a lot). While I’m… Continue reading

HELP LINE: Don’t sign blank forms

I SUPPOSE YOU’VE heard that the Social Security/Supplemental Security Income [SSI] COLA for 2019 will be 2.8 percent, right? And that they haven’t figured out… Continue reading

HELP LINE: Time for some this-and-that information

I THINK THAT today is a good day for a bit of this-and-that, so let’s jump right into a “this.” An alert reader, who not… Continue reading

HELP LINE: Part D open enrollment is upon us again

AS IS OFTEN the case in Western Washington, the whole is equal to the sum of its parts. In this case, the “whole” of Medicare… Continue reading

HELP LINE: Now is the time to become a Tax-Aide volunteer

YOU KNOW WHAT today is, right? Well, yes, it is Oct. 7 and it is the 280th day of 2018 (which means that it’s probably… Continue reading

HELP LINE: Try to understand more

AS MANY OF you know, I write about mom a lot. I do that because it’s often “mom” we’re talking about. She’s the caregiver or… Continue reading

HELP LINE: It’s OK for your parents to be ‘stubborn’

I TALK TO a lot of people. Well more to the point, a lot of people talk to me. One of the subjects that a… Continue reading

HELP LINE: What to expect with the new Medicare cards

WE’VE BEEN HERE before, but I see that with the growing level of noise about new Medicare cards there is also a growing level of… Continue reading

HELP LINE: Not knowing is worse than knowing a diagnosis

LAST WEEK, BECAUSE the conversation about Alzheimer’s came up (because I brought it up), we started working through the “10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s,” courtesy… Continue reading

HELP LINE: Don’t forget the warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease

LAST WEEK I presented, verbatim, the Alzheimer’s Associations’ “Principles for a Dignified Diagnosis” because I thought it was important. I still do. Another thing that… Continue reading

HELP LINE: Learn how to treat those with Alzheimer’s’s disease

SOMETIMES YOU JUST come across something important. This is one of those times. I recently attended a presentation on Alzheimer’s disease, which included people with… Continue reading

HELP LINE: ‘Mom won’t make it’ if Congress doesn’t act

A COUPLE OF weeks ago, I did a column on Social Security. More specifically, the column was about the foreseeable future of the Social Security… Continue reading

HELP LINE: What will happen ‘if Congress does not act’?

AS NEAR AS I can tell, without doing a lot of extensive research that I don’t have the time (or, frankly, the inclination) to do,… Continue reading

HELP LINE: Shop around when looking for in-home care

NOW, WHERE DID we stop last week? Right: Go get last week’s column that you cut out and stuck on the fridge (it’s under the… Continue reading

HELP LINE: The nuances of insurance are complicated

BASED ON A lot of emails that I’ve received from a lot of you, there are a lot of good questions floating around that are… Continue reading

HELP LINE: If behavior changes happen, always call the doctor

THE FACT IS that it’s pretty easy for me to sit in front of a keyboard and pontificate on the vagaries of this or that… Continue reading

HELP LINE: To prevent falls, keep moving your body

THE INSIGHTFUL, DISCERNING and piercingly intelligent among us, defined by the fact that they’ve been following this column for more years than they care to… Continue reading

HELP LINE: Remember to be careful on your way to happiness

IT DOESN’T FEEL like a real intense day, does it? I agree, so how about a little bit of this and that? OK, here’s a… Continue reading

HELP LINE: Demographics show who older Americans are

EXACTLY WHO DO you think you are? Or, more to the point, exactly who do we think we are? Exactly. About this time every year… Continue reading