Speak out for the White House Conference on Aging
Two more Regional Forums are scheduled in New Jersey for the White House Conference on Aging. The Southern NJ Forum will be held on Wednesday June 10th from 9:30 am to 12:30 PM at Katz Jewish Community Center Social Hall, 1301 Springdale Road, Cherry Hill http://www.katzjcc.org/directions.php The Northern NJ Forum will be held on Friday June 26th from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm at the Jewish...
NJ Medicaid posts guidance on Veterans Benefit income
MedCom No. 15-08 was issued on April 29th by the NJ Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS) to provide instructions to applicants who receive benefits from the Veterans Administration. When a person applies for Medicaid to pay for nursing home, assisted living or home care under the MLTSS program, they need to disclose their income from all sources. Each MLTSS program has...
Pooled Special Needs Trusts can work well for small trusts
There are times that an individual with disabilities who is under 65 receives a lump sum of money at a time when s/he is receiving benefits through Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid or the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). The problem of course is that those are all means-tested benefits and the participant is at risk of losing eligibility if they retain the assets....
Tips for selecting a facility for post-hospital skilled rehab care
When a Medicare patient has been treated for three days or more as an admitted inpatient in a hospital, they may need subacute treatment for maintenance of their fragile condition, or for cognitive or physical rehabilitation. If a physician prescribes those services and they need to be performed by licensed personnel (nurses, physicians, physical and occupational therapists, for example) in an...
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...
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...
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)...
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...
Medicaid’s MAAC meetings are open to the public
The public is allowed to attend the quarterly meetings of the Medical Assistance Advisory Council (MAAC). The council provides input to the state Director of the Division of Medical Assistance and Human Services (DMAHS) in the design and implementation of the NJ Family Care/ Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports programs. Federal law and State statute provides for the establishment...
State of NJ issues MedCom to Medicaid Supervisors on use of Qualified Income trusts (QITs)
On December 19th, 2014, the NJ Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS) issued Medicaid Communication No. 14-15 to the County Welfare (CWA) Directors, explaining the necessity for certain higher-income Medicaid applicants to divert their excess income into a Qualified Income Trust (QIT) before they can apply for MLTSS Medicaid services to pay for nursing home, assisted...