Dr. Barak Gaster, a University of Washington internist, has developed a five-page dementia–specific advance directive whereby patients indicate what type of medical treatment they would want if they have mild, moderate or severe dementia. At each phase of dementia, the patients are given 4 options...
As many of you know, Texas is an income cap state in connection with long-term care Medicaid eligibility. Presently, if an applicant for nursing home Medicaid has “countable” income (certain income is exempt or excluded) over $2,205 per month, then such applicant is ineligible for...
Mr. and Mrs. Smith (the names have been changed for confidentiality reasons) had the unusual situation where both of them had to go into a nursing home at approximately the same time. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Smith has long-term care insurance. Both could live a...
The Trump administration has announced that it will undo the rule originally issued by the Obama administration that prevented nursing homes from requiring residents or their representatives to resolve disputes by arbitration (instead of being able to sue) as a condition of admission to the...
Usually the biggest asset that most Americans have is either a home or their retirement accounts or both. Americans are living longer than ever before, but most have inadequate long-term care insurance coverage. Most mistakenly think that Medicare will take care of them if they...
Presidential nominee Donald Trump introduced a plan that possibly could be beneficial to elders. One proposal would be to change the tax code to permit a tax deduction (for those who provide for elderly parents) up to average cost of care in the state. Individuals...
In an effort to help family caregivers who take care of a family member (whether young or old) needing care at home and to give an incentive for the caregiver to work at least part-time (earned income in excess of $7,500 in a year), both...
Although many older drivers actually have a better safety rating than younger drivers, it is a common concern that a parent might endanger himself or herself as well as others if the keys to the car are not taken. People are living longer – so...
Although most think of outlandish cases when giving or caring for a pet such as when Leona Helmsley left $12 million (which the court subsequently reduced to $2 million) of her $4.8 billion estate in a pet care trust for her dog “Trouble”, there are...
At the present time, most nursing homes require residents or their “responsible party” to sign a nursing home admission agreement which binds the resident to arbitration instead of giving them the right to sue the facility if the facility is either negligent or is in...
