Elder Law

Major Insurance Company Pulls Gym Membership Program

Published on: December 20, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

As of January 1, 2019, approximately 1.2 million seniors across will lose their SilverSneakers coverage on Medicare Advantage plans that give them access to gyms and health centers without any additional membership costs. The controversial business decision will affects plan holders in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, and Utah who have Medicare Advantage plans with UnitedHealthcare.

An additional 1.3 million seniors across nine states with Medicare Advantage plans with Medicare supplemental (Medigap) insurance will also lose their access to the SilverSneakers program. States affected by this move include Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin. Although the benefits were optional with UnitedHealthcare, millions of seniors nonetheless took advantage of the option to visit gyms and fitness centers for exercise.

Beginning next year, UnitedHealthcare will instead offer seniors with Medicare Advantage supplemental policies will get 50 percent off memberships at thousands of gyms across the country, telephone access to wellness coaches and access to various online communities and health-related resources. Seniors with UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans can join Renew Active, the company’s health and fitness program which offers a network of over 7,000 locations members can visit for no additional cost and even qualify for evaluations from personal trainers and online brain-training programs.

More Insurers Offering Medicare Advantage Plans to Help Seniors get Healthcare

Published on: November 24, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

When open enrollment begins for Medicare, many seniors across the country will notice an expanded range of health care plan options, including those offered by private insurance companies through Medicare Advantage. With more Americans than ever considering and signing up for these Medicare alternatives, more insurance companies than usual are selling more Medicare Advantage plans for 2019, some offering lower or no premiums and improved benefits.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Studies (CMS), an additional 14 new insurance companies will sell 3,700 plans for 2019, an estimated 600 more than offered to beneficiaries in 2018. CMS estimates that total enrollment for Medicare Advantage plans will grow to 23 million people in 2019, a 12 percent increase over the previous year and may grow to serve one-third of all Medicare enrollees in the next decade.

Medicare Advantage plans have been attractive to seniors due to the extra benefits these types of coverage options offer. Many of these private insurance plans can save seniors money because premiums, deductibles, and additional costs are lower than what beneficiaries pay with original Medicare offered by the federal government. One of the main downsides to Medicare Advantage Plans is that they require enrollees to seek care within a restricted network of health care providers.

What is the Best Trust for Special Needs Planning?

Published on: November 13, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Caring for a child with a disability creates challenges beyond our lifetime and often takes resources beyond what federal safety net programs can offer in order for our loved one to live the most comfortable and dignified life possible. While rules governing these federal programs place certain income restrictions on disabled persons to qualify, there are sanctioned trusts allowed specifically for special needs planning that allow for first party and third party benefits to supplement federal assistance.

In 2010, Congress passed the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act allowing beneficiaries to have up to $100,000 in a 529 special needs trust and retain Social Security Insurance benefits. Beneficiaries can also retain Medicaid coverage so long as the trust does not exceed the amount for a 529 college savings plan. The ABLE Act allows these trusts to be created so long as the beneficiary’s disability is established prior to the age of 26-years old.

Disabled persons can also create and fund their own first party special needs trusts through a (d)(4)(C). Funds for first party special needs trusts often come from sources such as a personal injury settlement, workers’ compensation award, or an inheritance left directly to the beneficiary. An amount equal to the annual federal gift tax exclusion (currently $15,000) can be deposited annually in the account while still maintaining the beneficiary’s eligibility for Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income

Calculating your Break Even Point with Social Security Benefits

Published on: November 5, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Figuring out the best time to claim Social Security benefits is an important part of retirement planning that can have long lasting impacts on the type of lifestyle individuals and their spouses can expect to enjoy in their Gold Years. Depending on when individuals decide to take their Social Security benefits, from the ages of 62 to 67, it can mean the difference of hundreds of dollars per month to thousands of dollars of the course of a lifetime.

While the conventional wisdom is to wait as long as possible to claim benefits, and hopefully reach maximum payouts, for many beneficiaries there comes a time known as the “break even point” when the amount of benefits claimed would be essentially the same regardless of the amount received per month. This happens because the program is designed to give individuals more or less the same payout over their projected lifetimes, known as “actuarial neutrality.”

Determining one’s break even point is a fairly straightforward process but should take into account certain other factors that may artificially inflate any projected payout, namely excluding cost of living adjustments. Including projected cost of living adjustments will only create artificially high numbers that may not end up being actual benefits received.

Federal Regulators Issue Warning About Risk of Cryptocurrencies Tied to Retirement Accounts

Published on: October 30, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued a warning to consumers about the risk associated with adding cryptocurrencies to so-called self-directed individual retirement accounts. These types of unregistered IRAs allow individuals to invest their nest eggs outside of the stock market and bond market and often incorporate holdings in real estate, private mortgages, precious metals, and more recently cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

In an investor alert issued by the SEC, regulators warned that the agency has the power to oversee traditional IRA investments like stocks, bonds and mutual funds but lacks oversight of self directed IRAs. Although spokespersons for the SEC did not mention a specific scheme or incident to prompt the alert, the agency nonetheless felt it was important to issue the statement to warn consumers about the risks associated with the accounts.

The SEC also recently joined the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants in pointing out that this type of fraud associated with self directed IRAs can pose a unique opportunities for criminals to perpetrate elder abuse. With questions about the solvency of Social Security, rising health care costs, and other economic uncertainty may lead seniors and adults planning for retirement to consider these type of risky, self directed IRA accounts over traditional investment methods.

New Study Predicts Factors for Longer Life

Published on: October 27, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

A recent study by the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine suggests that women whose mothers lived healthy lives into their 90’s may be a key indicator for longevity and overall health. The study was published in the Journal of Age and Ageing and examined over 22,000 participants over a two-decade span and found that women whose mothers live to at least 90 years old with no health problems have a 25 percent chance of living past 90 years old.

In cases where both parents lived to be at least 90-years old, the study found that the likelihood of women living into their 90’s increased by 38 percent. However, researchers did not find any increased longevity in cases where only the subject’s father lived to be at least 90 years old. One key caveat to the study is that the subject’s parents not have suffered any chronic health conditions like heart disease, cancer, or diabetes.

The study is important because it helps to validate the view that genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors transmitted across generations may influence ageing outcomes among offspring. Although we cannot control the genes we are born with, we can however make healthy lifestyle choices, such as maintaining a good diet and getting exercise, that can create positive environmental factors to help us live longer, healthier lives and hopefully pass on those traits to our children.

Improvements you Can Make to your Home to Keep it Safe in your Old Age

Published on: October 19, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Most of us would not want to be anywhere else but in our homes as we grow old and enjoy our Golden Years. However, as we age the daily activities and chores we took for granted can become greater burdens or turn into situations where we may suffer serious injury in our own home. Fortunately, it does not have to be like this and there are a number of different modifications that can be made to improve the safety and comfort of the places we live.

While most of the homes in the country were not designed with the foresight of being accommodating to the physical and cognitive challenges many seniors live with and overcome every single day. Stairs, hallways, and other physical barriers can present unique challenges to older Americans but with a few universal modifications seniors can live safely and comfortably in their homes.

One revolutionary thing seniors can take advantage of right away is incorporating smart home products to help control things like the thermostat, turnings lights and televisions on and off, and locking windows and doors. Another great advantage of adopting smart technology throughout the home is being able to monitor what is going on and report to caretakers or relatives any issues with the house.

Nursing Home Evictions and your Rights as a Resident in New York

Published on: October 17, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

No one wishes to end up in a nursing home or require assisted living care but for many Americans, it is a reality that will come true and needs to be planned for. When we do enter a nursing home or have our loved ones placed there, we expect the facility will look after residents and provide the appropriate care to ensure elders live their Golden Years in comfort and dignity.

However, because nursing homes and other skilled care facilities are for-profit business that look to maximize their income and payments, particular from federal entitlement programs like Medicaid, they sometimes make decisions that are not in the resident’s best interest. One of the most drastic measures a nursing home can take is evicting a resident and will often employ a variety of measures to see the process through.

Often times, nursing homes will justify an eviction by saying the facility simply cannot meet the resident’s needs. Excuses for why a nursing home cannot take care of a resident include that individual having dementia, being combative, or is non-weight bearing and needs assistance for even the simplest tasks. Other times, nursing homes will reevaluate residents after the facility converts to another type of assisted living facility and focuses only on taking care of patients with different medical and lifestyle needs.

Making Deferred Compensation Work for your Estate Planning Goals

Published on: October 13, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Qualified plans such as IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s and other deferred compensation are excellent ways to help reach your estate planning goals and ensure your wealth is not depleted by excessive taxes and assisted living costs. IRAs in particular help achieve both of these goals because they are not taxed and if utilized properly, will not count against you when applying for Medicaid to pay for nursing home care.

For estate planning purposes, qualified plans are considered those which individuals make contributions to while working and begin making at least the required minimum distribution (RMD) at 70-years old. IRAs and qualified plans help encourage people to save early and often for their retirements by offering these tax-free incentives and should be taken full advantage of to ensure we can live our our retirement in comfort.

If an individual is already living in a nursing home and applying for Medicaid, the principal amount of the IRA is protected when calculating one’s assets to determine whether or not he or she qualifies for Medicaid as long as that person is taking the RMD. For a Roth IRA, it is not necessary to take the RMD if distributions are being taken.

New York Estate Law on Revoking a Trust

Published on: October 10, 2018 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Creating a trust is one of several ways folks can pass on the fruits of their hard work to family, friends, and business partners and has the added bonus of being able to avoid the time consuming and costly process of passing those assets of the estate through probate. With a trust, the creator names a trustee, beneficiaries, and how the trustees are to manage the trust. It is important to know that there are different types of trust, which can severely limit the creator’s control over the trust while he or she is alive.

A revocable trust is just that, one that can be altered or done away with during the lifetime of the creator for whatever reason he or she sees fit. Common reasons for changing a revocable trust can be related to life changes like getting married, divorced, having children, or financial changes. Many times, grantors create revocable trusts because they are malleable but some estate planning choices require the grantor create an irrevocable trust that does not allow he or she to make alterations.

When a grantor creates an irrevocable trust, he or she transfers assets to the trust and effectively lose ownership or control over them. One of the main benefits of this type of trust is to shield assets from creditors since the assets and any income associated with them no longer belong to the debtor. Irrevocable trusts can also be useful to spend down assets to qualify for Medicaid which is granted only to those with small amounts of assets.