This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express-News and on MySA.com on 8-14-2015. When your mother applied for Medicaid benefits (which you likely did on her behalf) you opted to participate in a system that imposes severe restrictions in exchange for its aid. To qualify, your mother had to have very few assets ($2000 or less) excluding the value of her home. The home is exempt because Medicaid knows she needs a place to return if she recovers enough to be discharged f

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express-News and on MySA.com on July 29, 2015. Dear Mr. Premack: My mother is stricken with dementia, and I need to move her to a memory care nursing facility. The facility costs about $6,000 a month. She fortunately has about $4700 monthly income after taxes, so she’s about $1,300 shy of affording the bill. Part of her income comes from an annuity my father bought before he died; she gets the income from it but can’t draw out a l

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express-News and on MySA.com on July 21, 2015. In late 2014 the citizens of Denton voted to ban fracking in the city and its extraterritorial jurisdiction. The proponents felt that fracking was a dangerous and polluting practice that does not belong in their community. Many other cities in the nation have passed similar ordinances. The State of Texas immediately sued Denton to overturn the ban, and the legislature took up a bill (