Articles Posted in Elder Law

As many seniors reach retirement age their health can begin to decline. Yet, very few seniors have any kind of plan or coverage for chronic or long-term illness. This happens for a variety of reasons – some believe that they will pass away before this type of coverage is needed and others do not wish to think of the possibility of needing this level of care. Long-term care insurance policies as well as hybrid long-term care policies can help protect seniors, and their financial well-being, if they suffer from a long-term illness.

Necessity of Long-Term Care Coverage

As people live longer and the average age of the elderly increases, many illnesses that were once considered fatal are now manageable. Over half of all seniors will deal with some kind of chronic illness, but fewer than twenty percent have long-term care coverage. In addition, with the cost of long-term care services reaching as high as $100,000 per year, an extended or chronic illness could be financially devastating.

With millions of Americans reaching retirement age within the Baby Boomer generation, some groups like women and minorities are especially vulnerable in their elder years. However, one of the most alienated and vulnerable groups within the elder population are that of LGBT seniors. Multiple studies have revealed that LGBT seniors are among the most isolated individuals as well as more prone to abuse and neglect.

Care Groups Paying Attention

Fortunately, a number of organizations and nonprofit groups have become aware of this issue and are dedicating their efforts to providing greater resources for LGBT seniors in addition to their caregivers. The New York Community Trust, The PFund, and Haas have all been actively working to increase the amount of resources available to LGBT seniors.

Many children of the Baby Boomer generation are noticing the warning signs of cognitive decline in their aging parents, and as such these parents are becoming more unable to handle their own financial decisions. Typically, a parent has an estate plan in place that appoints a person, usually a child, as the person financially responsible for their wellbeing when this occurs.

However, sometimes the estate plan appoints the other, also aging and ailing parent, to make the financial decisions, or your parent never made an estate plan. If your senior parent has not created an estate plan or has named the other parent, there are steps that you can take to protect them and their financial security. Updating the Durable Power of Attorney form is a great way to ensure that your parent will be well cared for regarding their finances.

The more difficult part of dealing with your parent’s finances is not drafting the necessary documents but having the conversation of transitioning financial control with your loved one. Here are some tips to help make that conversation as respectful and smooth as possible.

The last thing that you want to do when deciding whether to hire an in-home caregiver for one or both of your parents is rush the decision. Picking this person takes time because they will be intimately involved in every part of your parent’s life. However, the right caregiver can ease the pressure that you feel to ensure that your parent is being properly taken care of.

If you are unsure of where to start in the caregiver process, here are a few questions to ask yourself, your loved ones, and the caregivers that you interview.

Is in-home care the best choice?

A former employee of the Focus Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Utica has been arrested and faces several charges after allegedly sexually abusing a resident at the facility. John Tamba, 48, of Utica is charged with three separate counts of sexual abuse, three counts of endangering the welfare of a vulnerable elderly person or an incompetent or physically disabled person, and three counts of willful violation of health laws.

According to the indictment and the New York Attorney General, Mr. Tamba allegedly engaged in forcible sexual contact with a physically disabled elderly woman who is a resident at the facility where Mr. Tamba worked. He was employed as a certified nurse’s aide at the facility. He was arrested Monday and is being held without bail. If convicted, Mr. Tamba faces up to 21 years in prison for his crimes.

Nursing Home Abuse Statistics

One of the hottest debates currently happening in elder law and nursing home care is whether video cameras should be allowed in nursing home rooms. Many residents of nursing homes and their children believe that installing surveillance will benefit everyone involved; however, many nursing home facilities are attempting to block the installation of video cameras in their communities.

Nursing Homes Banning Use

The most common reason that nursing home facilities give to the children of residents about why video surveillance is not allowed is that the video recording violates federal privacy laws under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). However, that is not the case as long as the video cameras and recordings are owned by the families. Still, that reason remains commonplace for many nursing home providers.

A U.S. nursing home chain has agreed to pay $38 million in a settlement to end a federal government investigation into whether its nursing homes billed Medicare and Medicaid for poor care for its elderly residents. The settlement was specifically with a subsidiary of Extendicare Inc., Extendicare Health Services.

Extendicare Nursing Homes

The investigation focused on 33 of the company’s nursing home facilities in eight states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, and Washington. Extendicare provides post-acute and long-term senior care services. The company has in total 251 different care facilities across the country and the capacity to care for 27,600 residents. It is the seventh largest nursing home chain in the country.

More than one dozen U.S. senators from both sides of the aisle are pushing the Obama administration to broaden the Medicaid program for the nation’s frailest seniors. They are pushing the idea as a proven alternative to pricier nursing home options, as states are looking to minimize long term medical costs. The senators released a statement to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to follow through on plans to loosen restrictions on the Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE).

Broadening the PACE Program

The PACE program is offered to Medicaid eligible seniors and people with disabilities who need nursing home care. The program offers an alternative to nursing homes that allows the elderly to stay in their homes and receive coordinated care from a team of doctors, nurses, and social workers at an independently operated day center. However, enrollment in this program has been small due to the limiting federal regulations and a push by states to move patients into more cost-effective health care plans.

In part one of this article the statistics and reasoning behind an increased possibility of LGBT elder abuse was discussed. The second part of this article concludes the reasons why LGBT seniors are at a higher risk of elder abuse and what to look for to prevent elder abuse against LGBT seniors that you care about.

In addition to an abuser threatening to out an individual, telling a senior that the authorities will not believe them, gaining control of finances, fear of spending the rest of their lives alone, and being easier to isolate the following are reasons why LGBT seniors are at more risk for elder abuse.

Abuser says that “this is what it means to be LGBT”

Between two and ten percent of seniors experience some type of elder abuse, and LGBT seniors have additional vulnerabilities that open them up to further opportunities for abuse. As discussed by the National Resource Center on LGBT Aging (led by SAGE), many people believe that elder abuse only pertains to bruises, broken bones, or other physical injuries; however, experts define elder abuse as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or psychological abuse, neglect, abandonment, and financial exploitation.

For the most part, LGBT seniors face the same types of abuse as non-LGBT elders. However, LGBT elders can be victimized in additional ways, and more reasons exist why people are so accepting of this type of victimization. The National Resource Center on LGBT Aging notes that these additional factors for LGBT seniors include:

Abuser threatens to “out” the senior