A lawsuit in New York state highlights an issue with some assisted living facilities: No wheelchairs allowed. The lawsuit claims that state regulations and facility policies discriminate against residents and potential residents who use wheelchairs. Filed on behalf of the Fair Housing Justice Center and an anonymous assisted living resident, the lawsuit alleges that four assisted living…
Medicare is proposing a new flat rate reimbursement system for doctors who treat Medicare patients. Some worry that the plan may reduce payments to specialists and cause fewer doctors to accept Medicare patients. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) says the proposed changes are designed to reduce paperwork by combining four levels of…
A promissory note is normally given in return for a loan and it is simply a promise to repay the amount. Classifying asset transfers as loans rather than gifts can be useful because it sometimes allows parents to “lend” assets to their children and still maintain Medicaid eligibility. Before Congress enacted the Deficit Reduction Act…
The federal government has begun mailing new Medicare cards to 59 million Americans. You should keep track of when your new card will arrive and contact Medicare if you don’t receive it. To prevent fraud and fight identity theft, the federal government is issuing new cards to all Medicare beneficiaries that will no longer have…
Under the federal tax code, certain low- and middle-income workers are eligible for a tax credit, known as the Saver’s Credit, designed to reward them for contributing to their retirement plans. The new tax law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, provides that people will now be able to benefit from the credit when they contribute to ABLE…
On July 10, President Trump issued an executive order that could compromise the independence of federal agency judges, most of whom work at the Social Security Administration (SSA). “Nothing less than the integrity of the administrative judiciary is at issue here,” the president of the American Bar Association said. Federal agencies like the SSA often…
In the past two years, nearly every state in the country has passed legislation enabling people with disabilities and their families to open new savings accounts, modeled after popular 529 college savings plans, to save for disability related expenses. But early projections indicate that many of these state savings programs are losing money, in part due…
Travel is sometimes necessary when a family has a child with special needs. Family members may need to visit the person with special needs, or a medical emergency may require travel to care for the loved one, or the family may simply want to take the child with special needs on vacation. For years, the…
A New Jersey appeals court rules against a nursing home’s motion to remove a resident’s public guardian because the fact that the resident’s initial Medicaid application was denied was not proof that the guardian was not acting in the resident’s best interest. In the Matter of Y.M. (N.J. Super. Ct., App. Div., No. A-4532-16T4, June…
A New Jersey appeals court remands a case involving a Medicaid applicant whose application was denied due to her failure to provide additional information because the applicant claimed she did not receive notice. R.P. v. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (N.J. Super. Ct., App. Div., No. A-3041-16T1, May 25, 2018). R.P. entered a…
