Ronald Morton's Elder Law Blog

Parents with special needs children must prepare for their future

Parents with special needs children must take the necessary precautions in planning for their future care.  To plan for a special needs child’s future care, parents need to make sure they plan their estate accordingly. If parents do not execute an estate plan, a special needs child receiving social security income (SSI) could lose their benefits if they receive inheritance money or any other gift. However, if parents take the necessary steps in planning their estate, the special needs child will receive their inheritance without losing any benefits. See here.

Reducing Medicare Recovery Reporting Threshold will Raise and Cost Millions

One of the most annoying aspects of settling small personal injury settlements today is the reporting requirement of the Medicare Secondary Payer Act, which is designed to ensure that Medicare gets reimbursed for past payments that it has made on plaintiff's behalf, and that Medicare's future interst in future claims arising from the injury are protected.  The RAND Institute for Civil Justice recently published "Recovery Under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act: Impact of Reporting Thresholds." The study concludes that CMS can recover $1 billion per year from auto accidents - the most-common type of claim - and that retaining the already very low $5,000 reporting threshold would reduce recoveries by 2.4 percent while reducing the number of claims that must be reported by 43 percent.  The monetary cost to CMS of retaining the $5,000 threashold is estimated at $24 million, but that does not compute the added administrative cost to parties.  The $24 million in lost recovery to CMS equates to 123,000 cases whith a threashold of less than $5,000.  If one assumes that dealing with release letters rom CMS adds an additional 2 hours of time for plaintiff counsel and two hours for defense counsel, at an average rate of $200 per hour, the administrative burden to parties would equal an added $98.4 million of private administrative cost.  Even if one assumes that the vast majority of these small claims involve insurance and legal staff only, assuming a rate of $20.00 per hour and 4 hours combined time, would equal almost $10 million.  And that does not even consider the delays that will result in settling these very small claims.  Most such claims settle within 14 days of injury, but CMS reporting requirement will delay such settlements by months. 

Copiah County Health Care Worker Charged with Sexual Battery of a Minor Psychiatric Patient

A 32 year old, psychiatric assistant at Millcreek of Pontotoc’s Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility is charged with sexual battery of a 17 year old patient of Millcreek of Pontotoc's Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility. The 32 year old woman could face up to 30 years in prison for taking advantage of the minor patient. See here.

Mississippi to Lose Stimulus Funds for Medicaid

The often criticized $830 billion economic stimulus package passed by the Obama administration in 2008 provided, among other things,  bonus reimbursement payments for state Medicaid programs.  The additional funding was conditioned upon the states not reducing their already existing coverage, and under the program, Medicaid particiaption rose dramatically.  It is estimated that the total bonus reimbursments paid to states during the stimulus package, and the additional 4 month $16 billion extension of it, will exceed $100 Billion. 

Medicaid is a partnership between states and the Federal Government, with the federal obligation ranging between 50 and 74% of the total cost.  Mississippi receives the highest Medicaid reimbursement rate in the country, at 74.73%.  As a result of the stimulus package, Mississippi's reimbursement rate rose  to 84.9%.  That 10%  bonus Medicaid reimbursement ended June 30, 2011. It is unclear what Mississippi, whose governor has was extremely critical of the Obama administration's spending policies when he appeared to be a possible presidential candidate, will do to make up this multimillion dollar shortfall. 

Elderly Couple Robbed by Woman Posing as a Health Care Agent

A woman gained access to an elderly couple’s home by posing as a health care agent from the “Delaware County Office of Services for the Aging” and claimed to be there to check on the elderly woman, whom is bedridden. The elderly man claimed that the woman spoke with his wife and then left. However, the woman returned claiming that her car had broken down and she needed to borrow his phone. The woman entered the home a second time, but this time running into the bedroom and grabbing several items out of the elderly couple’s bedroom and running out of the house. Police are still looking for the woman that posed as a health care agent to rob and elderly couple. See here. This is not the only current incident where an individual was posing as a health care agent to gain access to an elderly couples home. See here.  Be careful who you trust.  People are not always who they claim to be. 

Why a “Deathbed Will” is NOT the best estate planning tool

A “deathbed will” is not the best way to plan the distribution of one’s assets.  In addtion to the problem that you may not actually have a death bead, instead dying instantly and unexpectedly, there is also no guarantee that you will have capacity to create a will.   A New York court recently determined that a decedent’s last minute execution of his will was not valid precicely because of this lack of capacity. The decedent’s sisters contested the will and proved that the decedent was incapacitated at the time he executed his will.    . See here.  While probably better than not doing a will at all, it certainly pays to have your planning done in advance to avoid these types of uncertanties.

Public Seminars are back this Week!

We will be hosting another set of public seminars this week. At these seminars, we will discuss why most estate plans fail to address the real problems that real people face, and what to do about it.  The seminar offers practical solutions to problems like protecting an inheritance from a foolish child or a divorcing spouse, or preserving an estate from the cost of long term care.  If you know someone who might benefit from this seminar, please direct them to our registration site at www.theassetprotector.com where they can obtain further details and register, or simply have them call.

Please join us this week at any of the following locations:

June 20, 2011 at the Quisenberry Library in Clinton, Mississippi.

June 21, 2011 at the Pearl Public Library, Pearl, Mississppi.

June 22, 2011 at Holmes Community College at the D.P. “Pat” McGowan Workforce Training Center in Ridgeland, Mississippi.

91 Year Old Senior Earns Money Selling "Death Kits" Online

The 91-year-old California woman selling do-it-yourself asphyxiation kits says business is booming.  She sells the kits online for around $60 each.  More here.

Public Seminar Schedule

The firm hosted a series of estate planning seminars for the public in January and March.  Future seminars are scheduled for June 14th, 15th, and 16th. In this popular seminar, we discuss why most estate plans fail to address the real problems that real people face, and what to do about it.  The seminar offers practical solutions to problems like protecting an inheritance from a foolish child or a divorcing spouse, or preserving an estate from the cost of long term care.  If you know someone who might benefit from this seminar, please direct them to our registration site at www.theassetprotector.com where they can obtain further details and register, or simply have them call.

Bootcamps Return

By popular demand, in June we will resume our monthly Bootcamp for Advisors series, where we provide 16 hours of continuing education to insurance professionals, certified public accountants, and certified financial planners, on planning techniques that can help them better serve their clients.  The new seminar has been updated to reflect planning techniques under the new estate tax law.  If you are a professional advisor and are interested in attending one of these two day events, please feel free to contact our office for dates and locations.