If you are providing care for your aging parent, and they are paying for your services, beware of the consequences. Medicaid, my treat the transfer of funds, from your parent to you, as a gift. Therefore, if your parents apply for Medicaid, to pay for the nursing home, they may be denied due to gifting. To prevent Medicaid from treating payments to family members as a gift, there must be a written, contract between the parties. This “care contract” must be in place before the work is performed and must specify the services and amount to be paid. The…
Given the choice, most seniors who need help with care would prefer to remain at home rather than move to a nursing home. One choice is to hire help through a home health agency, but how to evaluate the agency? This just got a bit easier for Medicare recipients, who can now see the results of surveys of patients who have used the agency’s services. Findings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) national survey that asks patients about their experiences with Medicare-certified home health agencies are now available on the agency’s Quality Care Finder Web site. The…
Our Nursing Home Guide will provide you direction if you or a loved one is facing the decision of looking at nursing homes or Medicaid in Maryland. Keep peace of mind with the information you need to insure your future security. Having a chronic, long-term debilitating illness such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Stroke or Arthritis can be extremely frightening and can create a great deal of uncertainty and insecurity for both the patient and his or her loved ones. The fear associated with the loss of control over the mind and/or the body coupled with fears of financial ruin can result…
Many people are now finding themselves placed in a new role of caregiver for an aging parent or loved one. Naturally, you want to provide the very best living environment for your aging parent, but there may come a time when you just can’t do it alone. If you want to make sure your parent can continue safely living at home, in home care may be the perfect answer for your family, prior to moving to an assisted living facility or a nursing home. So, how do you find the right professional in-home care for your aging loved one? When…
You have worked hard your entire life and have accrued some assets. However, these assets can be at risk if they are not properly protected. There are a number of methods to protect your assets. Therefore, it’s advisable to get expert advice when considering protecting your assets, especially in today’s economy. Here are a few examples of just how you could protect your life’s work: One of the best ways of protecting your assets is by estate planning, through various trusts. Another way to protect your assets is to think about an asset protection plan. There are various provisions in…
Your parents are living into their 90’s. Their savings have been depleted on the cost of care. Consequently, the only assets are their income, maybe a pension and Social Security. However, they still are at home, and need help with cooking, shopping and bathing. You receive a phone call, “I just don’t have enough to pay the caregiver next month.” What will you do? The savings are exhausted. Federal, State and Local Government programs have been cut. Medicare and Medicaid will not pay for the caregiver. Consequently, they may not get any help at all, unless they are in a…
From a recent Forbes article, a Pennsylvania state appeals court ruled that the adult son of a nursing home resident is responsible for her unpaid $93,000 bill. Pennsylvania is one of 30 states that have filial responsibility statutes—laws that impose a duty on adult children to care for their indigent parents. About two-thirds of those states, including Pennsylvania, allow long-term care providers to sue family members to recover unpaid costs. The rest, including states such as Massachusetts, have no recovery provisions. However, failing to care for a parent is a criminal offense. The rules vary widely from state to state….
One of the overlooked elements in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is that, beyond the individual mandate (and the politics), the act has a number of innovative ideas, and pilot programs easing the lives of people with serious health problems i.e. Alzheimer's Disease. A pilot program for 10,000 people called the Independence At Home program. This is a technique first developed by the Veterans Administration — by which a patient with a chronic disease, like Alzheimer's Disease, is treated in his or her own home by a team of doctors, nurse practitioners, geriatric pharmacists, and any other health professional…
We had a client come to our office in tears. She was the “responsible daughter” and it seemed like whenever there was a family problem, it fell to her. She got her father into the nursing home, and signed the contract for him She visited her father at the nursing home nearly every day to make sure he was getting the care he needed. She talked with the nursing home business office. When it came time to file the Medicaid application, the facility assured her that there would not be a problem and that they would handle the paperwork for…
Maybe you have to move to a nursing facility or perhaps you need the assistance of a home health aide. Either way, it doesn’t matter. Why? Because, you’re prepared! How? You came to our office to plan. One of the planning strategies is long term care insurance. As an elder care attorney, in Maryland we cannot sell insurance products, like long term care insurance. Consequently, we are completely impartial about these products. Therefore, if you obtained a long term care insurance policy years ago you that your finances are in order. Funding your long term health care doesn’t have to…
Frederick, MD 
301-663-9230
