Pictured above: Laurie Adamshick's parents, Bob and Fusae Shield.
May is Older Americans Month
Around the nation, older adults make their marks every day as volunteers, employees, employers, parents, grandparents, mentors, and advocates. They offer their time, talents, and experience to the benefit of our communities.
Has Something Gone Wrong with Elder Law?
For Marty Fogarty, elder law is personal.
Marty is the founder of The Heartland Law Firm, a Life Care Planning Law Firm in Glenview, Illinois. Marty knows firsthand how taxing the elder care journey can be. Like millions of other older adults suffering from dementia and “elder frailty,” Marty’s father fell through the cracks of an impersonal and fragmented elder care system, a system which often disregards the frail elder’s personal dignity.
Compensation Available for People Exposed to Nuclear Radiation
Did you know that a little-known compensation program available for people exposed to radiation as a result of the United States military’s domestic nuclear testing program is coming to an end? The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) can offer up to $100,000 for those who may have developed cancer or other specified diseases after such exposure. However, the RECA program is set to sunset in 2022.
Behind the Scenes: Qualifying for Public Benefits
Public benefits like Medicaid make it possible for millions of older Americans to pay for long-term care. Though the process to qualify for Medicaid differs by state, the experience of qualifying is considered to be a difficult one no matter where you live. That’s why the public benefits specialists in Life Care Planning Law Firms are always so busy.
Understanding the SECURE Act
The United States Congress threw a monkey wrench into the estate plans of millions by passing the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, which went into effect on January 1, 2020. How will this new law impact retirement plans? Will it change how people choose to pass down retirement plans to their loved ones? We posed these questions to Franklin Drazen, an elder law and tax attorney, and founder of Drazen Rubin Law Group, a Life Care Planning Law Firm in Milford, Connecticut.
Will Your Healthcare Power of Attorney Be Ignored?
National Healthcare Decisions Day is almost here. Celebrated in mid-April (it’s on April 16 this year), National Healthcare Decisions Day exists to inspire, educate, and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning.
Sidestepping Hospital Readmissions
Research shows that 15% of older adults who spent time in a hospital will be readmitted within a month of their discharge. Why would a person who has just been discharged from the hospital need to go back? We posed this question to Dawn Usher, an elder care coordinator at Elder Law of Middle Tennessee, a Life Care Planning Law Firm in Lebanon, Tennessee. Dawn sees the following situations as the most common causes of hospital readmission.
Senior Scams Update
Seniors lose an estimated $2.9 billion annually from scams and financial exploitation. The problem is so pervasive that the Senate established a committee to investigate the situation. That committee, the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, produced the 2019 Fraud Book, which offers a detailed look at the senior scams.
What are the top 10 scams targeting seniors?
Behind the Scenes: The Intake Process
People rarely call a law firm because things are going well. Unless you won the lottery, you call a law firm because you have a problem.
That’s the situation with the majority of people who call a Life Care Planning Law Firm. Something just happened. Mom has Alzheimer’s disease and is wandering. Dad had a stroke and can’t communicate. No one knows what to do or where to turn.