Going from ACA Medicaid to “Regular” Medicaid Can Be a High Wire Act Without Legal Assistance
New Jersey has a lot of roads to eligibility for Medicaid, and that’s a good thing. All of those roads are called NJ FamilyCare, and that’s a confusing thing.
Medicaid in New Jersey is provided by five Managed Care Organizations (MCO) now through NJ FamilyCare. You must choose one to get services, including long-term services and supports (LTSS), which will be coordinated by the...
Homemade Powers of Attorney can create expensive legal problems
I ran into a situation recently that I thought I’d share with my readers since it’s the type of thing that happens over and over again. The Elder person is living in New Jersey but owns real estate in another state that needs to be listed or sold because he is applying for Medicaid to pay for his nursing home. The person has Alzheimers Disease and no longer has capacity to sign...
Medicaid penalty imposed when life tenant received no proceeds of the home sale
A “life estate” in property is an interest that has a quantifiable value. If ownership of property can be thought of as giving the owner a “bundle of rights,” the life estate is a partial ownership of that bundle. For instance, the owner of property has the right to sell it, improve it, demolish it, rent it, give away a partial interest, and reside in it. The life...
Concurrent Title 38 Disability Compensation and DoD Retirement Benefits for Retirees
A few days ago, I was speaking at an assisted living care facility regarding Title 38 benefits (Department of Veterans Affairs). These discussions usually involve the adult children of World War II and Korean War veterans so they can have a basic understanding of what benefits their mother/father may be entitled to through the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). The elderly spouse of a...
What if the Medicaid home care services aren’t provided? part II
Previously I blogged about the problems faced by Medicaid-eligible people living in home and community-based settings when there isn’t a sufficient provider network to provide the services needed to maintain them in their residences, or there is substantial delay in getting the services started. The issue is that the government is obligated to provide the services in the...
Veterans Affairs Extends Presumption Period for Persian Gulf War Veterans to December 31, 2021
Beginning in 1994, Congress implemented a statutory provision, 38 U.S.C. 1117, for a presumption of service connection for undiagnosed chronic multi-symptom illnesses for veterans who served in the Southwest Area theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War. Because the Persian Gulf War is still considered a statutorily defined period of war, 38 U.S.C. 1117 applies to more recent...
The NJ Estate tax may be going away, but you can still do important planning with a Will
On October 14th, Governor Christie signed a tax package into law which does away with the New Jersey estate tax and certain income taxes in exchange for a 23 cent per gallon increase in the gasoline tax so that the roads and bridges can be repaired. There’s still no estate tax on any assets that pass at death to your spouse. At the present time, the estate tax exclusion is only...
Reduction of Home Care Hours Under Medicaid Can’t be Arbitrary
New Jersey Family Care is the Medicaid a program that provides MLTSS — Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports. The home care program is called HCBS — Home and Community-Based Services. Once the applicant has been found eligible for Medicaid and is assigned a Medicaid case number, s/he must select a Managed Care Organization (MCO). S/he will then receive a visit from a Case...
Feds announce new Medicaid/Medicare rule banning arbitration clauses in nursing home contracts
Effective in November, 2016, mandatory arbitration clauses in nursing home admissions contracts will be prohibited for all nursing homes which accept federal Medicaid or Medicare dollars. This is a dramatic shift in the landscape which will enable injured parties to decide whether to pursue their negligence claims or other claims through the civil courts or through binding arbitration....
VA Appeals Modernization Act of 2016 and Related Bills
There are a number of bills that have been introduced both at the House and Senate to modify the procedure by which veterans or claimants can dispute a decision from the Department of Veterans Affairs .
H.R. 5620: VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act of 2016 was recently passed before the House of Representatives and will be voted on at the Senate. The link to GovTrack above...