A Living Will Is Good For You, Good For The Country
August 7, 2009
President Obama’s pet project of health care reform seems to have a lot of people worried. His talk of living wills encouraging people to specify their end-of-life wishes in particular are the topics bandied about most often in tense (or downright frightened) conversations. Some people seem to think that the very act of specifying your wishes in a living will is going to put you on the Do Not Resuscitate list. We’re here to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, creating a living will is a smart idea, one that can save no small amount of expense, suffering and confusion on the part of your family and your medical care providers, and we aren’t the only ones who think so. Robert Powell of The Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch agrees with us, and has written an excellent article answering the frequently asked questions about living wills, explaining the differences between a living will and a health care directive, and outlining why each and every adult should have one of these documents.
If you still aren’t convinced you should have a document specifying your wishes for end-of-life treatment, talk to any friend or acquaintance who has been through this final act of love in supporting a family member at end of life. When you are ready, we can help you execute the documents you need to get the care you want when you aren’t able to care for yourself. A living will or health care directive is a standard document in any estate plan, so if you’ve been considering creating an estate plan this may be a good time to take the plunge. Apparently executing a living will or health care directive is no longer beneficial only to you and your family; it’s also good for your country.
Medicaid Fact and Fallacy: Shouldn’t You Know the Truth?
July 28, 2009
Health Care is one of the Obama Administration’s pet projects, and ever since President Obama took office there has been a lot of media attention and speculation about the national health care system and what changes (for good or ill) may be in store. Of course, the backbone of our national health care program is Medicaid, known as “Medi-Cal” in California. It is funded by the state and federal governments, and managed by the states, Medicaid is “the United States health program for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources.”
Of course we’ve all heard about Medicaid, and most people know the very basics of what Medicaid is and what it does; but when questioned further, how many people actually know the difference between fact and fallacy? Do you know which services Medicaid will pay for? Or if Medicaid covers parents and their children? These questions and more are answered in this article from Kaiser Health News—Medicaid: True Or False? The article gives the opportunity to test your assumptions about Medicaid and improve your factual knowledge at the same time.
As the Baby-Boomer population ages, nursing home and elderly care is becoming the fastest-growing aspect of Medicaid. This means that we’re all likely to have to have dealings with Medicaid—either for ourselves or for someone we love—at some point in the future. Shouldn’t you know as much as you can about the program before that time comes? For more California specific information in an easy to understand format, download our firm’s “Consumer’s Guide To Medi-Cal Planning”.
Be Prepared
April 4, 2009
As an estate planning firm it is our job to keep our clients prepared for what’s coming. This means helping prepare them not only for the eventuality of death, but also for what is coming in life; retirement, the possibility of divorce, new children or grandchildren, and even taxes. Estate taxes especially are of great concern these days, and although we don’t yet know exactly what the new administration and Congress will do on the tax front, this article from CNN’s Money.com gives us an idea of where they may be headed.
There are many ways that we can help prepare you—and your heirs—for the future, whether it be to protect your (and their) assets from predators during your lives or to provide for your loved ones after your death. You are welcome to contact our office to learn how we can help your family become prepared.
The State of The Estate Tax Under President Obama
January 13, 2009
When President Bush was elected in 2000, one of his campaign pledges was to make the estate tax go away. And Congress did, in fact, pass legislation that would abolish the estate tax.
Kinda.
Sorta.
What they passed, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGGTRA), enacted a series of increases in the amount of money your estate could be worth without paying “death taxes” — increases in the estate tax exemption, leading eventually to abolition of the tax. There was a big catch, however. One of the most notable characteristics of EGTRRA is that its provisions are designed to sunset, or revert to the provisions that were in effect before it was passed. EGTRRA will sunset on January 1, 2011 unless further legislation is enacted to make its changes permanent.
But we may not have to wait even that long. According to today’s Wall Street Journal:
“The Senate Finance Committee will move within weeks on legislation to reverse that law, and Mr. Obama is expected to detail his estate-tax preservation proposal in his budget next month, congressional tax writers said.
“Under the Obama plan detailed during the campaign, the estate tax would be locked in permanently at the rate and exemption levels that took effect this year. That would exempt estates of $3.5 million — $7 million for couples — from any taxation. The value of estates above that would be taxed at 45%. If the tax were returned to Clinton-era levels, it would exclude $1 million from taxation with the rest taxed at 55%.”
Bottom line: if you were one of the few who expected the estate tax to actually go away, you were mistaken. As the laws change, it is important that you have your plan reviewed to make sure it is up to date. And if you haven’t yet created an estate plan, you should come and see us for a plan that takes all these new realities into account.
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