A new smartphone app called “What’s Covered” was released in January to give Original Medicare beneficiaries an easier way to find out if medical items or services will be covered by the program. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is launching this app as part of their “eMedicare” initiative…
Imagine receiving a phone call that your child is in the hospital thousands of miles away, and the doctors and nurses refuse to provide you with medical information about his or her condition. This is a very real situation that occurs when medical directives are not in place for adult…
If you are moving to a nursing home and want to protect your home from Medicaid, you might think that transferring your home to your children is a good way to protect it. Although you don’t typically need to sell your home to qualify for Medicaid coverage of nursing home…
Our firm is always stressing the need for Healthcare Powers of Attorney and Living Wills which are examples of healthcare directives. Remember, that the Healthcare Power of Attorney is a document that names an agent to make healthcare decisions for you should you lack capacity to make those choices. It…
For years, attorneys, accountants, financial planners, and insurance sale persons have been touting the benefits of long-term care insurance. “Buy in your 50s and you will never have to worry about your future long-term care expenses ever again” was the common refrain. It was sound advice. With the right long-term…
Recently, a lawsuit was filed against the Illinois Department of Human and Family Services over delays in the processing of claims for Medicaid benefits. Although the lawsuit focuses primarily on applications for community Medicaid and health insurance benefits, delays by IDHFS in processing Medicaid claims for long-term care benefits can…
The latest the telephone scam is the “IRS Phone Call” from an IRS agent. The scam works like this: The caller who claims to be an IRS agent tells the person that he/she is an employee of the IRS and that he owes back taxes and must pay them immediately. The…
Medicaid funds long-term care services for low-income individuals, but 48 states have opted to give assisted living residents the ability to receive Medicaid benefits, mostly through Medicaid “waiver” programs that promote home health care. More than 330,000 people in assisted living are receiving more than $10 Billion in benefits to…
Medicare has terminated your coverage for a physical therapist, nurse or speech therapist. The health care provider states that you have “plateaued” , ‘have not improved” or require “maintenance services” only. In addition, the health care provider states that you must pay out of pocket if you want to continue these…
Older parents are becoming more common, driven in part by changing mores and surrogate motherhood. Comedian and author Steve Martin had his first child at age 67. Singer Billy Joel just welcomed his third daughter. Janet Jackson had a child at 50. But later-life parents have some special estate planning and…