Author: Lauren Marinaro

I love to see these types of stories of finding love in assisted living or other senior community setting.  Many times, our clients have developed new relationships in nursing homes or assisted living.  They may even want to get married!  It’s so romantic, but as attorneys, we have to look past the romance and see how a new spousal relationship will affect the individuals’ estate...

We have a lot of clients who are caring family members of incompetent parents or other relatives.  Frequently, these clients want to be the guardians for their relatives so that important decisions can get made:  medical and treatment decisions, financial (including public benefits), and residential.  Sometimes, the guardian lives out of state–that’s ok, though it may lead to more...

Very happy to hear about this program from the New Jersey Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association that provides a one-time only $1000 “scholarship” to caregivers who need respite from caregiving for their spouses or other loved ones.  These monies can be used toward home health aide time or a stay in assisted living for the loved one short-term.  One scholarship per family,...

I will be at the YMCA of Scotch Plains at 12 pm and 7 pm on October 23rd to discuss the Affordable Care Act and answer questions about the Medicaid expansion, access to health insurance subsidies and the ins and outs of the health insurance mandate.  At noon we will also be talking about Obamacare’s impact on Medicare.  Come one come all!!

It’s been a rocky start, but the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) opened up their Health Insurance Marketplace so that people without employer-sponsored health insurance can sign up for insurance coverage starting January 1, 2014.  There are subsidies for people whose household income is between 134 and 400% of poverty, using an income calcuation that is “Modified Adjusted Gross...

Yesterday’s USA Today highlighted a public campaign to educate patients, their families and the medical community about common but unneeded and possibly harmful medical treatments and tests, especially in the area of psychotropic drugs in children and the elderly.  Look at these two “top five” lists from long-term care and geriatric physicians about what tests, meds and...

With the news that Pennsylvania will be joining the ranks of states taking the federal Medicaid expansion, New Jerseyan can breathe easy that their neighbors on all sides will have expanded Medicaid just like they will.  The ACA and the Medicaid program’s expansion will start open enrollment on October 1st for January 1st eligibility.  Have questions about the Affordable Care Act and how...

Check out this new article from the Gateway Chamber’s “Inside Business“ featuring our own Linda S. Ershow-Levenberg discussing the importance of financial planning for long-term care, including considering the costs and benefits of long-term care insurance.  Read the whole issue of Inside Business–it features several great articles on aging, long-term care and health care!

Any movie with Babe the Pig’s owner in it is sure to be worth seeing. It doesn’t hurt that the subject is an aging couple trying to figure out how to hold onto their independence, despite legal and medical conundrums. Check it out!

Seth just reported on the brand-new Supreme Court decision that declared certain parts of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional.  I previously wrote about the state of Medicaid benefits in the DOMA era here.  Now, post-DOMA, all eyes are on New Jersey to see if we will stick with civil unions or pass an actual gay marriage bill.  If we stick with civil unions, it would appear to me that...