Q. My wife and I do not have long-term care insurance and we are concerned about how we would pay the cost of care if one of us had to go into a nursing home, which I understand is very expensive. I heard that purchasing an annuity might help us qualify for a Medi-Cal long Read Full Article
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Q. Our parents are up in years and have become increasingly frail. I know that they both have definite wishes about advance care planning and end-of-life decisions. Any suggestions on how we might help them make sure that their wishes are honored? A. Yes, I do. The first step is to begin the conversation. There Read Full Article
Q. Prompted by the temporary increase in the gift tax exemption, my wife and I recently made gifts of $50,000 apiece to each of our 3 sons. Shortly thereafter my wife had a stroke and now needs full-time care in a nursing home. The cost is running about $7,500 per month and I need to Read Full Article
Recently, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation seeking to extend to same-sex couples and Registered Domestic Partners (“RDP’s”) some of the Medi-Cal benefits enjoyed by married couples. The legislation, known as AB 641, was authored by assemblyman Mike Feuer, whose website summarizes the importance as follows: “Under current law, Medi-Cal’s long term care benefit helps to Read Full Article
Seniors want to remain at home as long as possible, but with family spread out all over the country, it isn’t always easy to do so. “Senior cohousing,” a relatively new concept, allows older Americans to age at home in a supportive community. Senior cohousing consists of a group of houses or condos that are Read Full Article
Many people use the terms Alzheimer’s disease and dementia interchangeably, but they have very different meanings. Although dementia is a group of symptoms that include memory loss, the term itself doesn’t explain what is causing the symptoms. Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia, but here are many other causes. Dementia is a general Read Full Article
A new state-by-state scorecard evaluates the effectiveness of long-term care services across the country and concludes that there is a lot of room for improvement. The State Long-Term Services and Supports Scorecard examines the performance of state long-term care services for older people and adults with physical disabilities. The purpose of the report is to Read Full Article
Being a trustee is a big responsibility and if you don’t perform your duties properly, you could be personally liable. That’s why it’s important to hire the right people to guide you in this important role. A trust is a legal arrangement through which one person (or an institution, such as a bank or law Read Full Article
Medicare fraud is often in the news, but what is it, exactly? Fraud costs Medicare an estimated $60 billion a year and contributes to the rising cost of health care for all Americans. Once you understand what is involved, you can help prevent fraud. Medicare fraud occurs when providers mislead Medicare into paying for services Read Full Article
Barry Seltzer & Gerry Beyer. Fat Cats & Lucky Dogs: How to Leave (some of) Your Estate to Your Pets. Prism Publishing. 2010. 249 Pages. $39.35 from Amazon (click the book to order). For many people, their pets are members of the family that need to be taken care of if the pet owner dies Read Full Article