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...
Yale Veterans Clinic files Writ Petition Requesting Certification of Class Action
As documented by various news organizations, the Yale University Veterans Legal Services Clinic has filed a petition for writ of mandamus regarding the delay in adjudication on appeal for a Vietnam veteran, Mr. Conley F. Monk, before the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC). While petitions for a writ of mandamus before the CAVC are filed and denied on a daily basis by the CAVC, Mr....
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)...
VA Updates VA Form 10-10EZ and VA Form 10-10EZR
A few days ago, we blogged about the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) eliminating net worth in determinations of eligibility and assignment of priority group. I commented that the VA Form 10-10EZ would need to be updated to reflect this change.
I was a day late and a dollar short, the Department of Veterans Affairs has updated both the VA Form 10-10EZ and VA 10-10EZR (Health Benefits...
VA Mandates use of Certain Forms to File Claim, Effective March 24, 2015
Effective March 24, 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is mandating that certain forms be used to effectuate the filing of a claim before the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). The VA’s website has been updated to reflect this at VA Claim Filing.
The five forms veterans should be aware of are: (1) VA Form 21-526EZ (Claim for Compensation); (2) VA Form 21-527EZ (Claim for...
“I am spending so much time caring for him that I can’t take care of myself.”
A few days ago, I overheard a conversation between two women who I think are in their 80’s. Evidently, the husband of one of them has been ill for about a year. It sounded like among other things, he may have diabetes mellitus that has progressively caused deterioration including retinopathy (impaired and blurry vision) (“he can barely see” and “I have to give him his...
The V.A. permits family caregivers to be paid, but watch out if applying for NJ Medicaid
The Veterans Administration provides a Pension and Aid and Attendance benefit for wartime veterans or their widows/widowers who have low assets and whose income is below the MAPR after deducting their uncompensated monthly health care expenses. Throughout the country, vast numbers of elders are being cared for by family members. Often those family members have given up their fulltime work...
VA Eliminates Net Worth for Eligibility for Veterans Health Administration (VHA)
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced last week that the Veterans Health Administration has eliminated the use of net worth during both the determination of eligibility and assignment of VHA priority group. The VHA will now only consider gross household income and deductible medical expenses for veteran otherwise not assigned a higher VHA priority group due to service-connected...
A Trust Protector watches out for a Beneficiary’s best interests
When assets are placed into a Trust for benefit of someone (called the “beneficiary”), the terms of the Trust provide the guidance for what the Trustee can do or not do. The Trust’s terms may be broad and vague, or they may be quite explicit. More often than not, the Beneficiary is dependent upon the exercise of discretion by the Trustee, and cannot compel a distribution....