Elder Law Planning: More Than Just Medicaid

When it comes to elder law planning, and when I meet with clients, the focus tends to be heavily centered on finances. When retirement accounts are dwindling due to a spouse’s high nursing home bill or a parent’s complex financial management style has left an adult child overwhelmed and confused, it is easy to become focused on Medicaid as the magic solution. However, Medicaid is just one piece of a much larger puzzle. A few years ago, I worked with the sister caregiver of a client who required long-term care. Due to the brother’s medical diagnoses and young age, his [...]

2024-03-08T12:31:59-05:00February 15, 2021|

Effect of Stimulus Payments on Medicaid Eligibility

elder lawIn light of the recent $600 stimulus bill payments, as well as the potential for up to $1,400 more to be paid to all eligible individuals over the next few months, we wanted to update you regarding the effect of the stimulus payments on Medicaid eligibility.  Additionally, as well as an update on the long-term care communities’ responsibilities regarding the payments for residents. In May 2020, the NJ Division of Medical and Health Services (DMAHS) advised that an individual, including a nursing home resident, can make cash gifts to family and friends without impacting Medicaid. Specifically, per DMAHS: "CMS [...]

2021-11-09T18:53:14-05:00January 29, 2021|

Can a Nursing Home Require Vaccination of Residents and Staff?

A recent article in the Doylestown Patch detailed that Neshaminy Manor, a Bucks County, Pennsylvania nursing home, announced they will require all staff to accept the COVID-19 vaccination.  Those staff that choose not to vaccinate risk losing their jobs.  This naturally leads to the question - Can a nursing home require vaccination of staff as a condition of continued employment?  Can any employer?   The answer is rather murky. Generally, if failure to vaccinate puts other employees, clients, or the public at risk of infection, then employers may require vaccination as a condition of an employee’s return to work.  This is [...]

2024-03-08T12:32:42-05:00January 22, 2021|

What Seniors Need to Know About the New Stimulus Package

The new $900 billion stimulus package was signed into law last week in order to address the continued health and economic fallout of the COVID pandemic. The relief measure includes a one-time $600 payment per eligible adult and child, but those $600 payments are not the only provision seniors should know about. The coronavirus relief package was included as a part of a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill, which also contained changes to key senior programs. Here are some of the legislation’s most important provisions for older Americans. $600 Stimulus Checks The stimulus package authorizes a one-time $600 relief payment [...]

2024-03-08T12:33:04-05:00January 4, 2021|

Life Lessons From Two Decades Advocating for Seniors

On February 1, 2000, I began a journey to an unknown destination. On this day twenty years ago, I opened my elder care law office. If you were to tell me twenty years later we would expand to six offices in NJ and PA, employ thirty team members, including five attorneys and six geriatric social workers, establish groundbreaking elder care symposiums in NJ & PA, receive numerous awards and recognition for our firm’s advocacy for seniors, and teach other attorneys across the United States how to engage in legal advocacy for seniors, I would not have believed it. Last month, [...]

2024-03-08T12:41:08-05:00January 8, 2020|
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