Protect your Occupants with Documents
Child moves into parent’s home with his family, with no lease, no written agreement. Stays there for decades and at some point, the parent dies.What rights do they have, and what obligations? Aging parent moves into child’s home, perhaps a “mother-daughter” structure or perhaps using a bedroom within the main part of the house, with an informal arrangement for sharing...
What’s in the Nursing Home Residents’ Bill of Rights?
Federal law requires that nursing home patients be given the same services and same level of care regardless of whether who is paying for it — Medicaid or otherwise. The federal “bill of rights” for nursing home residents is at 42 U.S.C. 1396r(c)(4)(A): “(4) Equal access to quality care.(A) A nursing facility must establish and maintain identical policies and practices...
Baby Boomers looking ahead: long term care insurance or Medicaid?
There’s no doubt about it, long-term care insurance is expensive, and the premiums can be steep if you wait until after age 70 to first buy a policy. Some companies have gotten approvals for big premium increases on old policies. The marketplace has shrunk as companies have left the business, and some companies create bureaucratic barriers to paying claims. However, there’s also no...
Yeah But Can We Preserve the Millennium Falcon for Chewbacca’s Benefit?
Elder Law has really broken out into mainstream popular culture this year! There was the first season of Better Call Saul, where the attorney who would be Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad gets into elder law and sues an assisted living facility in New Mexico. And now, on the heels of the new Star Wars Trilogy coming out, we have a galactic elder law fact pattern with a script spec called Old...
Critical timing with Lawsuit settlements and Special Needs Trusts
A person who receives Medicaid or SSI (Supplemental Security Income) can not have more than $2,000 in countable, available resources while they receive these benefits. There are also limitations on their monthly income, and things that don’t seem like “income” can still be counted as such. If the person is under 65 and is about to receive a lawsuit settlement, it is well...
It could happen here — wages paid for caregiver services can be treated as gifts
A recent appellate case in Michigan involved a Medicaid applicant who was paying a private home caregiver during the years just preceding his Medicaid application. The employee was not related to him. He paid a rate that was reasonable and necessary to maintain him at home. However, there was no advance written contract for the work to be done. When she applied for Medicaid benefits, all of...
Despite the JIMMO settlement, Medicare benefits are being prematurely terminated
Back in January 2013 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) settled a class action lawsuit called Jimmo v Sebelius concerning premature cutoffs of skilled care benefits under Medicare Part A. The problem was that patients in skilled care facilities after hospitalizations, who were placed there for skilled nursing and rehabilitation, were finding that their benefits were being cut...
Advocates for the Aged – upcoming events
If you are active in the social services or political action fields concerning issues that affect the aged members of our society. you may be interested to attend these upcoming programs.The White House Conference on Aging is holding three regional forums in New Jersey this year – Friday May 12th in East Windsor, Wednesday June 10th in Cherry Hill, and Friday June 26th in Whippany. See...
Medicaid estate recovery liens often take people by surprise
On March 24th, PBS news hour had a segment called “The Medicaid Bill that doesn’t go away when you die.” www.pbs.org. The program described the impact of estate recovery liens which are pursued by State Medicaid Programs. Estate recovery is required by federal law in 42 USC 1396p. The New Jersey lien statute is at N.J.S.A. 30:4D-7.2(a)(2). The lien is imposed after death...
Special Needs Trust can’t be created by beneficiary’s agent under power of attorney
Federal law allows a person who receives or is applying for Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which are means-tested programs, to transfer their excess resources into a Special Needs Trust that was “established for the sole benefit of the disabled individual by a parent, grandparent, legal guardian or the disabled individual or a court.” 42 U.S.C. 1396p(d)(4)(A)...