Newsletter Category: Eldercounselor

Volume 1, Issue 1 ElderCounselor 2010 Tax Code Changes and The Effect on Medicaid Planning The New Law. There is currently no federal estate tax or generation-skipping tax for decedents dying   in 2010 unless Congress passes new estate tax legislation this year. The federal estate tax will return in 2011 with a $1 million exemption…
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Volume 1, Issue 2 ElderCounselor Understanding Health Care Reform and Its Effect on Our Senior Population During the month of March, and after much debate, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 were signed into law. This new legislation, commonly referred to…
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Volume 1, Issue 3 ElderCounselor Helping Veterans Pay for Long Term Care There are currently over 25 million veterans alive in the United States. There are over 9 million surviving spouses of veterans currently living in the United States. Many of these veterans and surviving spouses are receiving long term care or will need some…
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Volume 1, Issue 4 ElderCounselor 7 Tips for Helping Families with Special Needs This month’s issue of The ElderCounselor™ examines the unique planning requirements of families with children, grandchildren or other family members (such as parents) with special needs. There are numerous misconceptions in this area that can result in costly mistakes when planning for…
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Volume 1, Issue 5 ElderCounselor Planning for Disability – The Good, The Bad and The Necessary No one likes to think about the possibility of their own disability or the disability of a loved one. However, as we’ll see below, the statistics are clear that we should all plan for at least a temporary disability….
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Volume 2, Issue 1 ElderCounselor 2010: A Year of Many Changes in Elder Law and Special Needs Planning The year 2010 was a busy one with many changes in the elder law, estate planning and special needs planning areas. We began the year with little congressional action and ended it with a flurry of activity….
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Volume 2, Issue 2 ElderCounselor Federal Budget Cuts and the Impact on Seniors The federal government is working frantically to decrease spending in 2011 by making sweeping cuts to numerous federally funded programs, in order to avoid a government shutdown. Unfortunately, many of the changes proposed will negatively impact seniors. The cuts began in House…
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Volume 2, Issue 3 ElderCounselor Special Needs Planning Issues Following Divorce Divorce can be complicated, frustrating, disappointing, expensive, along with a whole range of other emotions, as anyone who has endured this type of proceeding can attest. As difficult as the issues can be in a divorce proceeding, can you imagine what happens when divorce…
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Volume 2, Issue 4 ElderCounselor The Future of Medicaid and Medicare In our March issue, we reported about the federal government’s efforts to decrease spending in 2011 by making sweeping cuts to numerous federally funded programs to avoid a government shutdown.  Four months later, the focus on cutting Medicaid and Medicare benefits has gained momentum,…
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Volume 2, Issue 5 ElderCounselor Long Term Care Benefits Available to Surviving Spouses of Wartime Veterans There are over 9 million surviving spouses of veterans currently living in the United States.   Many of these surviving spouses are receiving long term care or will need some type of long term care in the near future, and…
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Volume 2, Issue 6 ElderCounselor The Top News Stories in 2011 There were many newsworthy events this year that affected or could affect many of the seniors and special needs clients we serve.  This issue of the ElderCounselor looks at some of the top stories that made headlines this year Proposed Cuts to the Federal…
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Volume 3, Issue 1 ElderCounselor The Importance of Planning Early “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” Alan Lakein, American author and Time Management Expert We plan to go on vacation.  We plan to have dinner with friends.  But when it comes to planning for…
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Volume 3, Issue 2 ElderCounselor Understanding the Importance and Implications of Guardianships and Conservatorships Often in estate planning, attorneys present the idea of guardianship and/or conservatorship as a bad thing – something to be avoided. In a perfect world, we could move through our lives from cradle to grave without such things as guardianships and…
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Volume 3, Issue 3 ElderCounselor Maximizing Social Security Retirement Benefits for Married Baby Boomers On the final day of the 2012 NAELA Annual Conference in Seattle in April, Attorney David A. Cechanowicz, JD, MSFS from Albuquerque, New Mexico, delivered an eye-opening presentation entitled “Maximizing Social Security Income for Dual Income Boomers.” His message was so…
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Volume 3, Issue 4 ElderCounselor The Value of Using Irrevocable Trusts in Medicaid Planning People often wonder about the value of using irrevocable trusts in Medicaid planning. Certainly gifting of assets can be done outright, not involving an irrevocable trust. Outright gifts have the advantages of being simple to do with minimal costs involved, including…
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Volume 3, Issue 5 ElderCounselor The Top 10 Benefits of a Comprehensive Power of Attorney The benefits of a highly detailed, comprehensive power of attorney are numerous. Unfortunately, many powers of attorney are more general in nature and can actually cause more problems than they solve, especially for our senior population. This issue of the…
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Volume 3, Issue 6 ElderCounselor VA Service-Connected Disability Compensation The Veterans Administration provides an important benefit program for veterans who have service-connected disability. The program is called “Compensation” and is different from the non-service-connected “Pension” program that elder law attorneys often discuss with wartime veteran clients or their surviving spouses. Like the pension program, VA…
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Volume 4, Issue 1 ElderCounselor Understanding the Fiscal Cliff Legislation Legislators were very busy New Year’s Eve and into the early morning hours of New Year’s Day to draft and ultimately pass legislation to avoid what was commonly referred to as “The Fiscal Cliff.” But what really happened? In summary, not much new was passed,…
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Volume 4, Issue 2 ElderCounselor An Overview of Long Term Care Options One of the greatest concerns for the elderly we serve and their families is that of long term care.  Two-thirds of seniors will need care at some point in their life and many have not planned for this likelihood.  It is an emotional…
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Volume 4, Issue 3 ElderCounselor The Staggering Costs of Dementia Most of us know of someone who has been diagnosed with dementia. It is a costly, heart-breaking and life-altering syndrome that is nearly doubling in numbers of people affected worldwide every 20 years[1]. Dementia has affected the likes of Norman Rockwell, E.B. White, Rita Hayworth,…
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Volume 4, Issue 4 ElderCounselor An Overview of the Defense of Marriage Act Ruling The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a historic decision in U.S. v. Windsor[1] that could have far-reaching effects on seniors, persons with disabilities, and veterans who are married to, or plan to marry, a person of the same gender.  This edition of…
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Volume 4, Issue 5 ElderCounselor The Affordable Care Act: How It Impacts Our Senior Population Since its passage in 2010, the Affordable Care Act has been the subject of many heated debates and a cause for some confusion among most of the population.  In order to assist you in serving your senior clientele, this issue…
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ElderCounselor Clarification of the Individual Mandate Under the Affordable Care Act This is to clarify the individual mandate requirements under the Affordable Care Act as outlined in the September 2013 ElderCounselorTM Newsletter. First of all, there is no individual mandate to carry health care insurance for this year, 2013. The mandate takes effect beginning in 2014…
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Volume 4, Issue 6 ElderCounselor Veterans Service Pension Benefits and Pending Legislation As a nation we celebrated Veterans Day recently to honor our service men and women. We hope you enjoyed gathering with friends and family with a grateful heart towards our military men and women. In keeping with this theme, the ElderCounselorTM will focus our…
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Volume 5, Issue 1 ElderCounselor A Review of Important Elder Law Stories From 2013 Happy New Year! 2013 was an important year for news that affected our senior, Veteran and disabled populations. Many stories affecting these groups made national headlines. This edition of the ElderCounselor™ will review some of the top stories that made headlines…
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Volume 5, Issue 2 ElderCounselor Practical Tips for Special Needs Planning In honor of “Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month,” proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan in March 1987, this month’s issue of The ElderCounselor™ examines the unique planning requirements of families who have loved ones with special needs.  Understanding the pitfalls associated with special needs planning is…
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Volume 5/Issue 3 ElderCounselor Helping Families Deal With the Financial and Emotional Costs of Dementia Helping Families Deal With the Financial and Emotional Costs of Dementia As many of you know, May is National Elder Law Month.  The National Association of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) has declared this month the time for Elder Law attorneys…
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Volume 5 Issue 4 ElderCounselor Special Needs Trusts: The Current Law and Pending Legislation Introduction Individuals with special needs often face “quality of life” challenges compared to those without special needs.  Many times individuals with special needs require added expenses to meet those needs.  The added financial burden often leads individuals with special needs to…
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Volume 5 Issue 5 ElderCounselor Understanding Social Security Survivor Benefits An earlier issue of The ElderCounselor addressed social security benefits generally and when to apply. In this issue we’ll address the critical yet often-misunderstood topic of Social Security survivor benefits. This e-newsletter is based in part upon an article by Frank Rainaldi and William Rainaldi,…
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Volume 5 Issue 6 ElderCounselor Five Things that Elder Law Attorneys are Thankful For This is the time of year we like to pause and reflect on that for which we are thankful.  In our personal lives, we often share these thoughts around the table at Thanksgiving.  In our professional life, the words “thank you”…
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Volume 6 Issue 1 ElderCounselor THE ABLE ACT: A New Tool for the Special Needs Community Late in 2014, the ABLE (“Achieving a Better Life Experience”) Act was signed into law.  The law is aimed at achieving a manner in which those with special needs can save money without losing needs based public benefits such…
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Volume 6 Issue 2 ElderCounselor Proposed Changes to the VA Pension Eligibility Rules Introduction On January 23, 2015, the Department of Veteran Affairs (hereinafter “VA”) issued proposed changes to the regulations affecting VA Pension eligibility, a needs-based program.[1]  In support of the proposed changes to the regulations, the VA points to the results of a…
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Volume 6 Issue 3 ElderCounselor Sex and Dementia: Another Elder Law Topic Introduction Sex and the elderly (specifically those with dementia) is getting a lot of attention lately due to the Iowa case involving Henry Rayhons.  This case raises some important questions regarding personal relationships of those who develop memory debilitating diseases and their loved…
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Volume 6 Issue 4 ElderCounselor Updates in the Special Needs Planning Area The special needs community and its advocates are making headway as of late.  Last month, the IRS proposed regulations for the new state-sponsored ABLE accounts.  In addition, the Special Needs Trust Fairness Act was reintroduced to Congress earlier this year and appears to…
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Volume 6 Issue 5 ElderCounselor WHY WE FAIL TO PLAN FOR LONG-TERM CARE Most Americans do not know, or refuse to accept, the facts surrounding their potential need for long-term care and the costs associated with it.  This was reconfirmed recently in a telephone survey of 1,735 Americans over the age of 40, funded by…
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Volume 6/Issue 6 ElderCounselor Alzheimer’s Awareness Month: The Costs of Dementia November is Alzheimer’s disease and Awareness month.  It’s the perfect time to educate people about the disease of Alzheimer’s (and other dementias) and the effects of the disease on its victims and their loved ones.  In this edition of the ElderCounselor™, we are going…
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Volume 7 Issue 1 ElderCounselor Underestimating the Risk of Disability – The Importance of Being Prepared No one likes to think about the possibility of their own disability or the disability of a loved one. However, as the statistics below demonstrate, we should all plan for at least a temporary disability. This issue of The…
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Volume 7 Issue 2 ElderCounselor The Future of Long Term Care and How to Finance It Long-term care is becoming an important issue for our nation to address.  We have 78 million aging baby boomers.  The costs of long-term care to these baby boomers can be catastrophic and few people have sufficient resources to pay…
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Volume 7 Issue 3 ElderCounselor Top Reasons Everyone Needs a Comprehensive Power of Attorney The benefits of a highly detailed, comprehensive power of attorney are numerous. Unfortunately, many powers of attorney are more general in nature and can actually cause more problems than they solve, especially for our senior population. This issue of the ElderCounselor…
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Volume 7 Issue 4 ElderCounselor Driving Mobility Affects Seniors’ Social Lives, Overall Health According to a recent study, elderly drivers who stop driving and have no transportation alternatives become less socially active and risk isolation. This can lead to a decline in both physical and mental health. Teja Pristavec, a sociology researcher at Rutgers University…
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Volume 7 Issue 5 ElderCounselor Medical Professionals, Elder Law Attorneys and Their Older Patient/Clients All Benefit When the Professionals Work Together There are often situations in which an older person needs the services of an attorney and medical professionals. A recent article in Bifocal, a publication of the American Bar Association, highlighted six scenarios in…
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Volume 7 Issue 6 ElderCounselor Death with Dignity Laws – The Desire to Control How And When One’s Life Ends The area of elder law and special needs planning is constantly evolving. On November 8, 2016, Colorado joined a handful of states—Washington, Oregon, California and Vermont—that have Death with Dignity laws, or physician-aid-in-dying laws. (Montana…
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Volume 8 Issue 1 ElderCounselor What Will 2017 Bring to Seniors and Persons with Disabilities Donald Trump’s election and Republican majorities in both houses of Congress surprised much of the nation. With control of legislative and executive branches of government, the expectation is Republicans will finally be able to push through long-awaited legislation, as well…
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Volume 8 Issue 2 ElderCounselor The Costs of Dementia: For the Patient and the Family A recent report from the Alzheimer’s Association states that one in nine Americans age 65 or older currently have Alzheimer’s. With the baby boomer generation aging and people living longer, that number may nearly triple by 2050. Alzheimer’s, of course,…
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Volume 8 Issue 3 ElderCounselor The First 100 Days and The New Health Care Bill: What They Mean for Seniors, Veterans and the Disabled Much has been made of the first 100 days of President Trump’s administration, and of the American Health Care Act (AHCA). This bill was just passed by the House as the…
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Volume 8, Issue 4 ElderCounselor The Senate Releases its Health Care Bill…Now What? We are certainly watching a Civics class in action as the Republicans in the House and Senate work toward a repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). The House passed its bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA) in May. The Senate is taking…
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Volume 8, Issue 5 ElderCounselor Can Poor Sleep Increase Your Risk of Alzheimer’s? You may already know that not getting enough good sleep can cause daytime sleepiness, an inability to make good decisions, car and other accidents, unhealthy food choices, weight gain, depression, high blood pressure, diabetes and a host of other health problems. But…
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It has been a year packed with activity on the presidential and congressional level. We have seen proposed, amended and failed legislation, blocked executive orders, investigations, and charges of collusion on both sides. In this issue, we will summarize how developments from 2017 are likely to impact seniors, Veterans, and persons with disabilities. What Happened…
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Volume 9, Issue 1 ElderCounselor How Will Tax Reform Impact Seniors and Persons with Disabilities? The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) is now officially law. Both the House and Senate passed the new tax reform bill in December with straight party-line votes and no support from Democrats. President Trump signed it into law right…
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Volume 9, Issue 2 ElderCounselor Medicaid and Work Requirements On January 11, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a State Medicaid Director Letter providing new guidance for Section 1115 waiver proposals that would impose work requirements in Medicaid as a condition of eligibility. As of press time, CMS has approved work requirement…
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Volume 9, Issue 3 ElderCounselor Medicare Advantage Plans to Offer Greater Benefits in 2019 On April 2, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded how it defines the “primarily health-related” benefits that insurers are allowed to include in their Medicare Advantage policies. As a result, when these plans roll out their coverage for…
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Volume 9 Issue 4 ElderCounselor VA’s Telehealth System Now Operational Nationwide On June 11, the Department of Veterans Affairs passed a major milestone with the introduction of a telehealth system known as “anywhere-to-anywhere.” This system allows qualified practitioners to access the VA’s telehealth system and provide care to patients across the nation.     This issue of…
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Volume 9, Issue 5 ElderCounselor New Executive Order Changes Process of Hiring Administrative Law Judges President Trump recently signed an Executive Order that changes the process for selecting administrative law judges (ALJs). ALJs conduct trial-like hearings within federal agencies in disputes over decisions such as claims for benefits and enforcement actions against individuals or businesses….
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Volume 9, Issue 6 ElderCounselor New Law Includes Protections for Flyers with Disabilities On October 5, 2018, President Trump signed the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2018. This bill (H.R. 302), which reauthorized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other programs through 2023, also contains several important provisions to improve travel for people with…
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Volume 10, Issue 1 ElderCounselor Trends in Medicaid Restrictions Last year saw two huge trends in Medicaid restrictions: work requirements and a change in retroactive coverage. Several states have been approved for these Section 1115 Medicaid waivers and are already implementing these changes. Other states have applied for waivers that are pending. In this issue…
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Volume 10, Issue 2 ElderCounselor Federal Judge Declares the Affordable Care Act Unconstitutional On December 14, 2018, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as ObamaCare, is unconstitutional because of a recent change in federal tax law. The opinion, by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, overturns all…
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Volume 10, Issue 3 ElderCounselor Medicaid Researching Social Determinants of Health It should come as no surprise that where we are born, grow, live, work, play, and age can have a dramatic impact on our health. Over the last ten years, creating social and physical environments that promote good health for all has been a…
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Print Close Volume 10, Issue 3 ElderCounselor Medicaid Researching Social Determinants of Health It should come as no surprise that where we are born, grow, live, work, play, and age can have a dramatic impact on our health. Over the last ten years, creating social and physical environments that promote good health for all has…
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