If you are thinking that you have always been healthy, so it is unlikely that you will require nursing home care, you should understand some of the facts. Looking ahead toward your active retirement years that will be full of travel, leisure activities, and quality time with your family is a beautiful thing. Indeed, your golden years can be some of the best years of your life if you plan ahead carefully from a financial perspective so you have the resources that you need. This being stated, … [Read more...]
Incapacity Planning
Nobody wants incapacity, not for yourself and not for your loved ones. But planning for that possibility can avoid complications and increase options. The article discusses the elements of incapacity planning and the need for flexibility to do Medicaid planning. It discusses how a trust with Medicaid triggers can allow that. Incapacity Planning … [Read more...]
Yes, Estate Planning Matters
Our country, as a whole, has seen many shifts in the financial and healthcare sectors in recent years. The Affordable Care Act really changed everything – especially the way Americans see healthcare. While the internet provides instant access to anything you can imagine, it’s also prone to many experts with ulterior motives doing their best to shift the facts and of course, information is subjective. What one person reads and takes away from any website might be construed in a different way by … [Read more...]
Changes Ahead for VA Aid & Attendance Benefits?
Never let it be said that our lawmakers have no capacity of time management, especially when it comes to getting bills passed into law. There aren’t many veterans and their families who take advantage of the Aid and Attendance benefits that are part of the Department of Veterans Affairs, but those who do say it’s crucial to ensuring their quality of life. Unfortunately, there could be problems ahead for the means tested program. The Aid & Attendance Benefits Timeline Several years ago, … [Read more...]
Elderly Activism?
Just because the stereotype portrays today’s elderly American as docile, rocking chair bound and cookie-baking grandmas and grandpas, it doesn’t mean it’s accurate. Surely, some – if not most – of us look forward to the day we can retire, slow down our pace and reacquaint ourselves with the concept of relaxation, but for others, it’s all about making a statement. If that “statement” happens to make the international news, well, then, all the better. Such as the case with Sister Megan Rice. In … [Read more...]
Disappointing Turnout for Alzheimer’s Testimony
In what should have resulted in a robust turnout among the nation’s lawmakers actually became testimony about Alzheimer’s disease being delivered to just two senators. Seth Rogen, a Hollywood actor, director and producer who’s starred in several films, testified in front of the Senate Committee on Appropriations about the rising costs of Alzheimer’s disease and to ask what the committee intended to in order to provide better funding. One look at the statistics reveals why so many Americans are … [Read more...]
Is Telemedicine the Solution for America’s Healthcare Disaster?
Many of our elder clients have been asking us in recent months: what can I expect in terms of healthcare over the next few years? This is a tough question because of the many dynamics associated Medicaid and other benefit programs. Further complicating matters are the ongoing problems with the Vermont Health Connect, which continues to fall incredibly short in what it delivers. Vermont was one of just 14 states that opted to design and build its own website and health care … [Read more...]
Americans Woefully Unprepared for Long Term Care
It’s like going to the casinos and dropping your last $20 on a game of Poker – we kid ourselves into thinking we’re going to be one of the lucky ones and overcome the odds. The same holds true with long term care planning: we’re in denial and sure that we will never need it. Some won’t, but as we continue to live longer, the fact is, the odds increase the older we become that we will need some kind of long term care. So why aren’t we preparing ourselves? New Long Term Care Survey PBS conducted … [Read more...]
Between Retirement and Elder Years
Many Americans are retired, but also are able to carry health insurance through their former employer’s retirement only insurance plans. Until recently, it was a significant benefit for those who might not be preparing for their “elder years” but who were also no longer working full time. You know: those golden years when life falls into place, the grandkids are the only priority and enjoying life without budgeting the pennies is no longer the reality. After all, this is our reward for working … [Read more...]
NAELA Issues Long Term Care Concerns
A new report, released last week, reveals some of the bigger problems facing America's growing need for long-term services and supports. Unfortunately, there were a few glaring unresolved problems that have already begun to affect America’s elderly. The problems are far easier to identify than the solutions. Many Long Term Care Concerns One of the first challenges facing the Long Term Care Commission was that Congress only provided a 90 day window to conduct hearings, investigations and then … [Read more...]
