Medicare Nursing Home Checklist

This printable nursing home checklist from Medicare will make it easier for you to evaluate nursing homes before choosing one for a family member. Remember, there is a big variation from the best to the worst nursing homes.

Free Legal Advice?

Yes, at Kraft & Associates we are glad to provide our clients and friends with free information on a variety of subjects. If you want details about how to lower your automobile insurance rates, Texas Workers' Compensation law or Social Security Disability claims, please contact us and we will send you any of these brochures without charge or obligation.

Identity Theft is Increasing

Identity theft has been in the news lately, with incidents ranging from the loss of personal information on millions of U.S. veterans, to the loss of names and Social Security numbers from accounts of more than one million people who had received student loans from the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation, to the loss of addresses and credit card information on almost 250,000 customers of Hotels.com, to the theft of a laptop computer containing information on hundreds of Social Security disability claimants from a Social Security office in Virginia.

An earlier article from this newsletter about tips to protect yourself from identity theft is worth repeating here.

• Your Social Security number is often the key to identity theft. Never carry your Social Security number in your wallet or checkbook. Don’t even think about having it printed on your checks.

• Guard your Social Security number closely. Do not give it out to anyone unless you are convinced it is necessary for them to have it. This means only give it to governmental agencies or to businesses you absolutely trust. Always ask if a business will accept another means of identification other than your Social Security number.

• Be careful when you dispose of documents that contain sensitive information, such as credit card receipts. Use a shredder if possible. If not, tear the papers carefully to obscure the information.

• Don’t post personal information to the Internet. You can use Internet areas such as genealogical sites or high school reunion sites without revealing too many details.

• Check your credit report at least once each year and correct any errors in writing. You can get a credit report free each year from AnnualCreditReport.com.

• Review all bank statements and credit card statements carefully so you can discover quickly whether someone else is using your bank account or credit cards.

If you should discover that someone is using your identity, here are some steps you should take:

• Report it immediately to credit agencies and to the police.

• Monitor your financial and credit card statements for any unusual purchases.

• Close banking or credit card accounts you believe may have been affected.

• File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC's identity theft Web site is www.consumer.gov/idtheft.

• Contact the fraud department of any of the major credit bureaus and have them place a fraud alert on your credit file. Whichever credit bureau you call will pass along your alert to the other two bureaus. The credit-reporting agencies are:

Equifax: 1-800-525-6285 or 1-888-766-0008.
Experian: 1-888-397-3742.
TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289.

For more detailed information on this subject please visit www.identitytheft.org.