Maryland’s highest court rules that the state can sue a nursing home for injunctive relief for improperly discharging residents in violation of the state nursing home resident’s rights law. State of Maryland v. Neiswanger Management Services, LLC. (Md., No. 28, Feb. 20, 2018). The Maryland attorney general sued a nursing home management company, alleging the company engages in a widespread pattern of unlawful discharges from its facilities. The state claimed the nursing homes discharged residents without conducting discharge planning, without giving proper notice, and without communicating with families, in violation of the state nursing home resident’s rights law. According to…
A new federal law is designed to address the growing problem of elder abuse. The law supports efforts to better understand, prevent, and combat both financial and physical elder abuse. The prevalence of elder abuse is hard to calculate because it is underreported, but according to the National Council on Aging, approximately 1 in 10 Americans age 60 or older have experienced some form of elder abuse. In 2011, a MetLife study estimated that older Americans are losing $2.9 billion annually to elder financial abuse. The bipartisan Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act of 2017 authorizes the Department of Justice…
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Education and Reform Act (H.R. 620) which undercuts current enforcement of the ADA. Under the ADA, individuals with disabilities can go to court to enforce their rights and to press for timely removal of the barrier that impedes access. H.R. 620 instead creates a “notice and cure” period before an individual can bring suit. Under H.R. 620, the company need only make “substantial progress” after 120 days and never actually complete the project. No Senate companion exists and a number of Senators have already spoken out strongly…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week added new quality measures to its websites that allow patients to compare data on long-term care and inpatient rehabilitation facilities. The updates center on vaccination and infection rates. Long-Term Care Hospital Compare and Inpatient Rehabilition Facility Compare both now offer data on the percentage of employees at these facilities who were vaccinated for the flu, and will offer infection rates for two dangerous hospital-acquired infections: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile. Some of the country’s most touted healthcare systems fail to prevent potentially-deadly C. diff infections, according to a recent analysis. C. diff infections can increase patient length of stay by more than 55% and may increase the cost of…
Complaints are rising in California and other states about improper evictions and discharges. Advocates say some patients end up in cheap hotels, homeless, or back in the hospital. Kaiser Health News By Jocelyn Wiener/California Healthline Anita Willis says the social worker offered her a painful choice: She could either leave the San Jose, Calif., nursing home where she’d spent a month recovering from a stroke—or come up with $336 a day to stay on. She had until midnight to decide. Willis’ Medicaid managed-care plan had told the home that it was cutting off payment because she no longer qualified for…
Tax reform will lead to ‘entitlement reform,’ this expert says By Bob Blancato Elder AdvocateDecember 12, 2017 Part of the Transforming Life as We Age Special Report The tax reform bill will almost undoubtedly cause significant harm to Medicare. And provocative statements by President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan declaring that “entitlement reform” will be next threatens Medicaid. Put these two together and, I think, one thing is clear: big Medicare and Medicaid cuts are coming. “We’re going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit, Ryan…
Medicaid Spousal Impoverishment Figures for 2018 The new minimum community spouse resource allowance (CSRA) is $24,720 and the maximum CSRA is $123,600. The maximum monthly maintenance needs allowance is $3,090. The minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance remains $2,030 ($2,536.25 for Alaska and $2,333.75 for Hawaii) until July 1, 2018. Medicaid Home Equity Limits Minimum: $572,000 Maximum: $858,000 For CMS’s complete chart of the 2018 SSI and Spousal Impoverishment Standards, click here. Income Cap The income cap for 2018 applicable in “income cap” states is $2,250 a month. Gift and estate tax figures Federal estate tax exemption: $11.18 million (estimate) for…
The Trump administration is ending an Obama program that was designed to be a starter retirement savings account for low- and middle-income workers. The Trump administration’s Treasury Department determined that the program, known as myRA, was not cost effective. Similar to a Roth IRA, the myRA accounts allowed workers to invest money after tax and withdraw the money in retirement tax-free. Unlike a Roth IRA, however, the savings were backed up by U.S. Treasury bonds, so investors would never lose their principal investments. The accounts were available to married couples with modified adjusted gross incomes up to $191,000 and to…
Grandparents may be tempted to leave an IRA to a grandchild because children have a low tax rate, but the “kiddie tax” could make doing this less beneficial. An IRA can be a great gift for a grandchild. A young person who inherits an IRA has to take minimum distributions, but because the distributions are based on the beneficiary’s life expectancy, grandchildren’s distributions will be small and allow the IRA to continue to grow. In addition, children are taxed at a lower rate than adults—usually 10 percent. However, the lower tax rate does not apply to all unearned income. Enacted to prevent…
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced changes to the federal reverse mortgage program. Citing the need to put the program on better financial footing, HUD will raise reverse mortgage fees for some borrowers and lower the amount homeowners can borrow. A reverse mortgage allows a homeowner who is at least 62 years old to use the equity in his or her home to obtain a loan that does not have to be repaid until the homeowner moves, sells, or dies. In a reverse mortgage, the homeowner receives a sum of money from the lender, usually a bank,…
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