Great post from another blog I read this morning. Wonderful picture of what a will can do.
Do The Work, Get Paid From Client To Decedent: The Final Homework AssignmentExecuting estate planning documents is akin to submitting a long overdue homework assignment.By CORI A. ROBINSON Jun 19, 2019 at 12:32 PM It is often said that attorneys are problem solvers. A client turns to her attorney for advice and advocacy with regard to a legal or practical issue. The process to reach a resolution is often arduous, so when a problem is solved — either through drafting, agreement, or even litigation — there is a sense not only of closure, but of gratification. Certainly this is the case for the attorney when a client executes her last will and testament, power of attorney, or health care proxy. Specifically, the signing of these estate planning documents provides a sense of relief or as many clients state, peace of mind. Clients seek the solace that in the event of crisis, instructions as to health care, financial planning, the disposition of assets, and most importantly, the care of children, are arranged. It is frustrating for practitioners and clients alike when estate planning documents remain in draft, unsigned. In such a stage, regardless of effort or contemplation, the documents are worthless. The sense of relief upon signing a last will in particular is palpable amongst young families. These are the parents with children who are trying to adult by making certain in the event of tragedy, albeit remote, those most precious to them are protected. For those closer to the end of life, the relief is also felt as what may be a final direction is subscribed. Regardless of the generation, it would seem that executing estate planning documents is akin to submitting a long overdue homework assignment. The good news is everyone gets an A no matter how long it takes to get it done. While there is an obvious sense of relief at the moment of signing, there is no way for the attorney draftsperson to realize the full efficacy of the signing of the last will and testament until one dies. You plan, draft, execute, and retain — yet it is unknown whether the plan will properly launch until the client dies. Herein lies the predicament for the practitioner. You write and execute the documents with the hope that they will not need to be used for many years, if not generations. Yet isn’t the ultimate efficacy for the attorney and the client when the surrogate’s court admits the last will and testament to probate and validates the genuineness of the document so that the instructions may be carried out? It is therefore a sobering experience when a client, whose last will you drafted, dies. It is at this time that the last will is offered to the surrogate’s court, with the hope that it will prevail against any inquiry or objection. It is the moment you have waited for, but have also dreaded. Two of my clients died this month. I had drafted each of their wills and medical directives, the latter which were used during their final illnesses. I attended their funerals. I embraced their families and friends. I also reread their last wills and testaments, their final letters that I helped them create. I have since entrusted the surrogate’s courts with the last wills, to review and ultimately approve. I have thought about each of them, now referred to as “decedent” and not “client.” I transition from their attorney to the keeper of their essence and memory. Family and friends wonder, what did they think? What did they want? How did they feel? I know. The attorney (or student) in me seeks the court approval as to the last will and testament’s validity and genuineness, literally a stamp that all is right and that I have aced the project. The human in me knows, however, that the task has already been completed and any issues were resolved years ago when the services and advice were provided. The clients passed away knowing their matters had been tended to and that they were safe with me and their trusted friends and families. At times like these, I recognize that the problem that required solving was the lack of planning. The solution was the actual execution of documents addressing the client’s concerns and desires. The clients’ deaths are simply the natural progression of matters already in motion, figuratively and literally. And it is at these times that I realize that I am not problem solving. I am problem avoiding. Cori A. Robinson is a solo practitioner having founded Cori A. Robinson PLLC, a New York and New Jersey law firm, in 2017. For more than a decade Cori has focused her law practice on trusts and estates and elder law including estate and Medicaid planning, probate and administration, estate litigation, and guardianships. She can be reached at cori@robinsonestatelaw.com.
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We've all seen seniors with a 'blind spot' or selective issues in aging - where an individual with apparently full faculties falls victim to scams and financial abuse. NPR/Marketplace is running a series of stories about the very issue and below is a link to the story that aired - May 21.
https://www.marketplace.org/2019/05/16/brains-losses-aging-fraud-financial-scams-seniors/ Federal employees soon will have more options to withdraw money from their retirement accounts
By Eric Yoder May 30Current and former federal employees and military personnel soon will have more options when it comes to withdrawing money from their retirement accounts. The Thrift Savings Plan is on schedule for a September launch of new account withdrawal options that will remove restrictions that have long been a sore point for many investors, TSP officials said Wednesday at a meeting of the program’s governing board. Those changes — most applying to those who have left the government but some applying to those still working — result from legislation enacted in late 2017 that gave the TSP two years to carry them out. The Thrift Savings Plan is a 401(k)-style retirement savings plan for federal employees and military personnel, with 5.9 million account holders who had $591 billion on investment as of the end of April. Although those who leave the government for retirement or other reasons may leave their accounts in place, the limited withdrawal choices have been cited as a main reason so many transfer the money to an individual retirement account or other tax-favored savings plan instead — 36 percent do so within a year. In the most recent investor satisfaction survey, in 2013, withdrawal choices ranked the second-lowest among the seven features of the program that were rated. Account holders are “going to have a lot better withdrawal options. They’ve been very limited in the past and I think it’s going to be very beneficial,” said board chairman Michael Kennedy, a managing director in the Atlanta office of Korn/Ferry International, a management consulting firm. Although the Thrift Savings Plan is a federal agency, it is self-funding and operates much like a corporation, with a chief executive officer overseen by a governing board. Currently, account holders who leave federal employment or active military duty have three basic withdrawal options that they can use alone or in combination: take a lump-sum cashout or transfer to another account, purchase an annuity, or draw out equal monthly payments. However, only one partial withdrawal is allowed, and any second withdrawal choice must apply to the entire remaining balance. Further, for those who have both traditional pretax balances and “Roth IRA” after-tax balances, withdrawals must be taken proportionately from both. Under the new policies, to be effective Sept. 15, those who separate from the government will be allowed to take partial withdrawals as often as once every 30 days, and those with both types of balances will be allowed to take the money from one or the other in addition to prorating. Further, installment payments could be taken quarterly or annually in addition to monthly, and the amounts could be changed at any time rather than just once a year. One change will affect current employees and active duty military personnel who are over age 59½ . They may now may take a one-time “age-based” withdrawal without a tax penalty, which forfeits the right to take a later partial withdrawal. Instead, up to four age-based withdrawals per year will be allowed, with no impact on post-separation withdrawals. Ravindra Deo, executive director of the board, said the changes could motivate some investors to decide to stay with the Thrift Savings Plan since “they want more flexibility and this will give it to them.” He said that by transferring out, investors are passing up advantages including investment fees that are much lower than those charged by mutual funds and other investment vehicles. However, some investors still may have good reasons to move their money out of the TSP, he said, including those with only small accounts they wish to close out and, by contrast, those with substantial savings plus other investments that they want to consolidate. For them, “I don’t know if this will make enough of a difference” to motivate them to stay, he said. “This is going to be a great benefit for the program and the participants,” said Clifford Dailing, secretary-treasurer of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association. “This is a request that we’ve been hearing from our members for some time. Many of them have been putting their money in other investments where they could have better control.” “I think some have been making bad decisions because of a misunderstanding that once they retire they need to withdraw the account and reinvest it, which is inaccurate,” added Dailing, chair of a separate advisory board of federal employee organizations that met jointly with the TSP’s board. At the meeting, officials outlined plans to inform account holders about the new options through electronic newsletters, webinars and other communications. Investors will be encouraged to make any changes through a feature being developed for the TSP website, although new paper forms also will be offered. “We’re trying to make sure we implement it and roll it out the right way,” Kennedy said. “We’ll have to do a real good job of educating people.” Other changes ahead, officials said, include making mandatory the now voluntary use of two-factor authentication to access an account, offering target-date investment funds in five-year increments rather than the current 10 years, and increasing the default investment for newly hired employees from 3 to 5 percent of salary. The first of those is targeted for later this year, while the other two are projected for July and October 2020 respectively. Senior Hunger Surges As Boomers Swell The Ranks Of The Nation's Elderly
Ted Knutson Senior hunger poised to soar as Boomers surge past 65. Photo credit: © 2018 Bloomberg Finance LP © 2018 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LPThe massive Baby Boomer generation which brought America the happiness of rock & roll and the Ford Mustang en masse is poised to trigger a surge in a scourge: Senior hunger. The number of Americans turning 65 each day has doubled since 2000. At the same time, seniors afflicted with very low food security has soared nearly 250 percent. If food insecurity is not addressed, the number of seniors facing hunger will soar to eight million by 2050 the Feeding America, a network of 200 food banks, warned in a new study. Already half of older Americans are malnourished or at risk of being malnourished, the Senate Aging Committee was told at a recent hearing. Both the Republican chair and the lead Democrat on Senate Aging, Maine's Susan Collins and Pennsylvania's Bob Casey have warned funding for food programs under the Older Americans Act need to be increased to meet the increase in demand. The Committee recently was presented with stark evidence by a Department of Health and Human Services Official that hunger and chronic health problems for the elderly go hand in hand including more frequent and long hospitalizations. Two years ago, 95 percent in Older American Act nutrition programs had multiple chronic conditions. Nearly half of congregate OAA meals programs and nearly two thirds of home-delivered participants have six or more. Over 21 percent of congregate and 40 percent of home-delivered participants take more than six. In some cases, taking food with drugs increases the effectiveness of the medications. The stage has been set for greater elderly hunger not only by the greater number of people past 65 with the Boomers, but also how they have differed from past generations as they have grown older. Family as a food safety net isn’t as strong as it once was because the invention and popularization of birth control pills during the Boomer’s era has meant fewer children and because like no generation in the past, a significant number of Boomer women have chosen to remain single and make a living on their own, says the namesake star of the PBS series “America’s Generations With Chuck Underwood. Underwood points to something else that has shut the door for many Boomers to use their families as food pantries. “Boomers are the divorce generation. And by taking the divorce rate over the moon, some Boomers remain alienated from their own children,” said the generational strategist. The danger of a senior hunger surge from the move of the Pepsi Generation into retirement is also being exacerbated by dramatically rising health care costs and the perpetual underfunding of programs like Meals on Wheels, asserts Case Western University aging expert Sharona Hoffman One of the tragedies of senior hunger in America is a Darwinian effect may be taking hold. “Survival of the fittest” could be a reason that hunger is less for the old-old than the young old, an author of the Feeding America study speculates. It could be some of the sixty-somethings who have suffered from the health deterioration of hunger die before they get to their 70s, 80s and beyond. Today’s growing senior hunger was set in motion in the 1940s and 1950s of the returning World War II veterans started families which gave birth to the Boomer generation. But trends in science and society have made the surge in the lack of food for many seniors more intense as medicine has increased life expectancies and as have the number of men and women living independently without companions to aid their availability to nourishment, said Ellen Teller, director of government affairs for the Food Research & Action Center. Teller said their ignorance is also at play: many seniors don’t think they are eligible for food stamps when they are. There is also a feeling among some that by not accepting food stamps they will be feeding others. “I hear from so many seniors other people need them more than me. But they need to think of food stamps for what they are: an entitlement like Social Security,” Teller said. Ted Knutson is one of the most experienced financial regulatory reporters in Washington. For years, he has covered the SEC, CFTC, the bank regulators and the key Congressional committees. A Million People Could Lose Their Pensions If Congress Doesn’t ActA crisis years in the making is about to hit retired coal miners and truckers first.
By Dave Jamieson DAVE JAMIESON/HUFFPOST FAIRMONT, W.V. ― Joe Brown worked for more than 30 years as a roof bolter at the Federal #2 Mine in Marion County. Installing roof supports is one of the most hazardous jobs in coal mining, essential to the safety of all the other miners. Even though Brown’s lanky 6-foot-3 frame made bolting easier for him than others, he’s had four surgeries ― two on his back, two on his knees ― as a result of his decades at the mine. But the union job helped Brown and his wife, Jo-Ann, buy a modest ranch house with a yard big enough for a ride-on mower, and put their three now-grown daughters through school. A small sign hangs on a tree beside Brown’s driveway, just across the street from a church: “Welcome to Brownsville, population 5. Mayor: Joe Brown.” REAL LIFE. REAL NEWS. REAL VOICES. Help us tell more of the stories that matter from voices that too often remain unheard. Support HuffPostThe mining work also assured him security in old age through retiree health coverage and a defined-benefit pension ― crucial perks that made the dangerous work and risk of black lung disease worth undertaking for Brown, who was one of just a few African Americans in his mine. When his injuries forced him into early retirement and onto disability in 2002, the benefits became even more vital. “It was in writing that the pension would be secure,” Brown, now 78, said on a recent afternoon, taking a break from remodeling his bathroom. “A pension ’til I pass away ― that was the deal.” But the pension plan through the United Mine Workers of America that Brown and 86,000 other retirees rely on is on track to be insolvent in about three years, which could result in deep cuts to once-guaranteed monthly payments. A growing number of plans are in similarly bad shape. If nothing is done, the coming rash of insolvencies could torpedo part of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, or PBGC, the government-run corporation that insures defined-benefit pensions. Brown’s is what’s known as a multiemployer pension plan. Anywhere from a handful to hundreds of companies contribute funds to these plans on behalf of their workers, with payments negotiated through union contracts. The plans are common in the construction, transportation and service sectors, providing a portable benefit in cyclical industries where workers frequently change jobs. But many plans have run into trouble, losing their stream of income, as industries change and unionized employers go out of business. While most of the 1,400 multiemployer plans in the U.S. are not in any danger, some 130 plans are projected to be insolvent within 15 to 20 years. The PBGC’s multiemployer insurance program, which would need to step in to help cover pension payments for those plans, is expected to go under by 2025 if lawmakers don’t intervene with a plan to save it. Brown currently receives around $1,300 a month through his pension ― which, combined with his and his wife’s Social Security and the income from her part-time job, is enough to cover their basic expenses. If PBGC’s program collapses, his pension could be worth almost nothing. The only real options for policymakers are to increase contributions by employers, shave benefits for retirees, or provide plans with government aid, such as federally backed loans ― an idea that has already drawn “bailout” criticisms from conservatives. The most likely course is a combination of all of the above. It’s the sort of politically complex crisis that the modern, do-little Congress is uniquely ill-equipped to handle, with the security of 1.3 million pension recipients hanging in the balance. A special joint committee created expressly to tackle the problem blew its own self-imposed deadline last November and failed to pass a bill, forcing lawmakers to start over this year. “This is not simply about pensions; it’s as much about who we are as a people and our expectations for the role of government,” said David Brenner, a pension expert at Segal Consulting, a firm that advises multiemployer plans. “We shouldn’t turn our back on people who trusted and believed their defined-benefit pension would provide them with an income stream for life.” ‘This Is Going To Devastate People’ It isn’t hard to see why a large pension plan for coal miners is in trouble right now. Despite what the president claims, the coal industry continues to decline as power plants shift to cheap natural gas and close down coal-fired generators. There were 52,000 coal miners working in April, down from 178,000 in 1985, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For all of Trump’s deregulation on behalf of coal operators, only around 2,000 mining jobs have been added since his inauguration more than two years ago. “I started in 1975. Back then you could quit a job one day and go to work tomorrow at another,” said Roger Merriman, who put in 28 years at Federal #2 with his friend, Brown. “We were pretty strong back in the day. But our membership dwindled due to mines closing down.” DAVE JAMIESON/HUFFPOST Cecil Roberts, the president of the United Mine Workers of America, says bankruptcy courts have allowed coal operators to shed their obligations to retirees.The vastly smaller workforce has left the miners’ pension plan with way more money going out the door than coming in. According to the union, there are about 12 retired miners collecting pensions for every active miner working in the plan ― a startling, and unsustainable, ratio. The financial crisis didn’t help, with the 2008 stock market crash battering the pension fund. Ironically, its survival is now hitched to coal magnate and longtime union opponent Bob Murray, the chief executive of Murray Energy. His company is the last major employer chipping into the fund. If it goes bankrupt, the pension plan won’t last long. Multiemployer pension plans have traditionally had lighter funding rules and lower insurance premiums than single-employer plans. After all, they were supposed to be safer. With so many employers paying in, a plan could afford to lose a company here or there due to bankruptcy or closure without putting the whole fund at risk. And, to be sure, most multiemployer plans are not hurting right now, with almost 60 percent deemed financially secure by the PBGC. But many of the endangered plans have run into trouble for reasons unique to their industries. Take the Teamsters Central States, the largest endangered fund in terms of unfunded liabilities. The plan includes 385,000 participants and more than 1,000 contributing employers, mostly in the trucking industry. On the current trajectory, it will be unable to pay pensioners their benefits in seven years. Back in 1982, the plan had two active participants for every inactive one. That ratio has more than flipped: Now there is just one active participant for every five receiving benefits. The trucking industry hasn’t disappeared the way coal has. In fact, trucking companies are growing in a strong economy and are looking for more drivers. What’s changed is how few of them are union shops. Deregulation of the industry starting in 1980 opened the door to smaller, non-union operators, shrinking the Teamsters’ footprint over the years. As a result, a plan that was underfunded even in the good days has deteriorated even more. The falling rate of unionization in the U.S. has squeezed many multiemployer plans, all of which rely on contributions through collective bargaining agreements. Just 6.4 percent of private-sector workers are unionized, compared to 20 percent in 1983. Meanwhile, the shrinking base of employers chipping into the funds has pressured those who remain. Some companies decide it’s better to exit the plan and pay a penalty, fearing higher liabilities down the road. This is not simply about pensions; it’s as much about who we are as a people and our expectations for the role of government.David Brenner, multiemployer pension expert at Segal ConsultingThat was apparently the calculus of shipping giant UPS, which left the Central States in 2006, taking nearly a third of the plan’s active participants with it. When companies exit a plan they must pay withdrawal liabilities, which are based in part on the fund’s current value. UPS exited the plan near the peak of the stock market ― good for UPS, terrible for the fund. Much of the company’s $6 billion lump sum withdrawal payment to the Central States got wiped out in the market crash that followed. Many other companies have left pension plans by going bankrupt. Some 22,000 of the participants in the mine workers plan worked for companies that have declared bankruptcy in just the last few years, according to the UMWA. The union argues that bankruptcy courts have provided a legal means for employers to unfairly shed their responsibilities to pensioners. When coal giant Peabody went bankrupt in 2016, the union said the company owed $643 million to the pension fund; the union got just $75 million in bankruptcy court. “A lot of it falls on the downturn of the coal market. But a lot of it falls on the bankruptcy courts, allowing these companies to walk away from their obligations,” said Merriman, whose mine changed corporate hands multiple times and is now out of operation. “A company files for bankruptcy, we are the last in line to get our money.” Merriman is what’s known as a pension “orphan”: the company he worked for no longer pays into his fund. Through no fault of his own, his benefit has become a burden to the current employers still contributing. Orphans make up a disproportionate share of the participants in the plans now teetering on the edge of insolvency ― nearly 28 percent, compared to just 10 percent in healthy plans, according to Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research. One of the big political hurdles facing any rescue plan is how few Americans have a defined-benefit pension these days compared to decades ago. Most employers have switched to 401(k) plans that put the financial risk on workers. Lawmakers who view pensions as an anachronism ― or a cushy union benefit ― are less likely to get behind a plan that includes federal aid. But pensions are really just deferred pay. Workers forwent raises over the years so they would have some money when they retired. In the case of multiemployer plans, the pension benefits are also pretty modest. “These are people who worked physical jobs and the benefits they’re getting aren’t something you can grow fat on,” said Jean Pierre-Aubry, a researcher at the Center for Retirement Research. “This is minimal support for people who helped build the nation.” The average benefit in the Central States plan is around $15,000 per year, far from enough to cover housing, food and other basic costs. The PBGC might guarantee less than $10,000 of that benefit, depending on the retiree’s years of service. And if the PBGC goes under, retirees in any multi-employer plan that becomes insolvent could end up with pennies on the dollar. A pension ’til I pass away ― that was the deal.Joe Brown, retired coal minerDale Hanner, a former diesel mechanic and Teamster who now advocates for Central States participants in North Carolina, noted that some recipients are widows or widowers receiving already-reduced benefits of their spouses who passed away. He said he knows one woman, a diabetic, who gets $385 per month and needs it to buy her insulin. “This is going to devastate people,” Hanner said. “It’s going to put them in survival mode and I don’t think Congress understands that.” ‘A Moral Obligation To Retirees’ Some pensioners are already seeing cuts to their monthly payments, due to a bill Congress passed and former President Barack Obama signed in 2014 allowing multiemployer plans that are in financial trouble to reduce benefits under certain circumstances. The law has been highly controversial since it watered down an earlier, landmark law designed to protect benefits. The Treasury Department has signed off on applications from 13 funds seeking to make cuts and has rejected five. But the cuts alone won’t necessarily stave off insolvency for individual plans or the PBGC itself. Policymakers have toyed with other methods of stabilizing them, such as requiring higher contributions from employers or further raising the premium rates they pay to the PBGC. But they fear that doing so could spook more employers out of the plans, further burdening the remaining pool of contributors. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced legislation this year to finance loans for trouble plans, to be administered by a new agency that would be created inside Treasury. Pension funds would pay interest on the loans for 29 years and the principal would be due in the 30th, but the loans could be forgiven if plans couldn’t repay them. Even though the bill included four Republican and four Democratic co-sponsors when Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) introduced it in January, many conservatives will likely balk at the idea of government-backed loans for private pension funds. DAVE JAMIESON/HUFFPOSTJohn Murphy, a Teamsters international vice president, said he expects the plan to pass the Democratic-controlled House but face a tougher road in the GOP-controlled Senate. He said if plans like the Teamsters’ go under, the federal government will lose taxes levied on pension benefits, while retirees will have to rely on social assistance programs. “This is not a bailout,” Murphy said. “The official policy of this government is to protect workers’ pensions. I think that creates a moral obligation to retirees.” He added, “These senators are going to have to look senior citizens in the eye and say ‘I’m not going to help you.’” West Virginia lawmakers and the UMWA are pushing a plan to shore up the union’s pension plan with excess funds from the government’s abandoned mine land program, which provides grants to states to remediate polluted mining sites. The AFL-CIO federation of 55 unions has endorsed the miners’ plan. The legislation might do little for the Teamsters and other funds that are on the brink, but it would help restore at least one of the largest and most troubled plans to health. Cecil Roberts, the president of the UMWA, said the key to any legislative fix is the support of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Kentucky senator hasn’t allowed any plan to go to the floor for a vote, but he is facing reelection next year and represents a big coal state. McConnell would want the pension issue taken care of before next fall, especially if Democrats can put up a viable challenger against him. “He can either be the obstacle or the catalyst here,” Roberts said. “We’re hoping the senator realizes that there are a lot of retirees in Kentucky who need these pensions.” Merriman hopes to make it to the miners’ next rally and lobbying effort at the U.S. Capitol, but his health issues don’t always make such trips easy. Now 67, he’s had five heart attacks and two open-heart surgeries. Much of his $981 monthly pension goes toward co-pays and medicine for him and his wife. Even with good health insurance through his union, retirement has become more expensive than he imagined. At the end of the month, he added, “there’s really nothing left.” Not kidding
Nursing home care: A growing crisis for an aging America Unsurprisingly, we are once again seeing the kind of nursing home abuse documented in the past. Just recently Massachusetts settled cases involving premature deaths for failing to administer medications or to keep up with proper safety railings. It fined eight nursing homes after a statewide investigation uncovered significant care problems. In 1973, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller (R-N.Y.) created the Temporary State Commission on Living Cost. Part of the commission’s role was to investigate patient abuse and massive Medicaid fraud in the New York state nursing-home industry—an investigation that revealed rampant corruption and sleazy side-deals at the expense of the elderly. The report exposed unspeakably frightening conditions in nursing homes, all while the owners ran fictitious real estate schemes to defraud Medicaid and steal hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements. Politicians were in bed with the operators and the system dripped of corruption. The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance recently held a hearing on reports of abuse and neglect in some nursing homes — reports that were not all that different from what was found in 1974, despite massively increased legislation and regulation. During one hearing exchange about allegations of sexual abuse, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) noted that a particular nursing home “received the highest possible ranking from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for quality of resident care, though it had been fined for physical and verbal abuse a year before." So even the top-rated homes are ones with problems and abuse. This is a mammoth challenge and, unless we tackle it, we are headed for an eldercare calamity. First, we need to have better safeguards for payments and insurance systems as they relate to longterm care. It is unacceptable that the current system complicates people’s personal and financial lives, often by categorizing people who need longterm care as day-to-day patients who are simply “under observation.” The government now pays for more than 80 percent of all nursing home care, which leads to tremendous opportunities for fraud at the same time that the programs attempt to squeeze every dollar out of the system — so false workarounds are rampant, defeating unsustainable controls. Second, there needs to be more coordination with local, state and federal governments to ensure balanced geographic coverage in line with the care population so that families do not have to travel hours to see loved ones. Third, technology is going to have to play a central role in managing and monitoring eldercare. We need to find the right balance between home care, nursing home care and hospice care. At the same time, we need to realize that sensors and friendly bots are going to have central roles in providing care, as we run out of home health aides. Fourth, we need to balance the need for regulation and supervision without creating standards that can never be met and making running a nursing home an impossible task. We need a system of more uniform regulations and enforcement, rather than the crazy-quilt system we have now. Finally, it’s time to form a national commission on eldercare to draw up a roadmap for how we not only root out fraud, waste and abuse, but also how we plan for a new future for the growing millions who will need compassionate, professional care. The growing ranks of nonagenarians can’t wait. Andrew J. Stein is a former president of the New York City Council and a former president of Manhattan Borough. Mark Penn is a managing partner of the Stagwell Group, a private equity firm specializing in marketing services companies, as well as chairman of the Harris Poll and author of “Microtrends Squared.” He also is CEO of MDC Partners, an advertising and marketing firm. He served as pollster and adviser to President Clinton from 1995 to 2000, including during Clinton’s impeachment. You can follow him on Twitter @Mark_Penn. How could someone abuse an elder, financially? This is such a shame. I am glad the perpetrator of the fraud against one of my heroes is finally getting his just desserts. Click this link for deets!
http://time.com/5596114/keya-morgan-charged-elder-abuse-stan-lee/ By Nick Smith, FOX 5 DC
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- - Veterinarians and funeral homes in Virginia are rejecting the idea that pets should be buried with their owners after a recent case in which a healthy dog was euthanized so it could lie with her owner. WWBT-TV in Richmond reports workers at one animal shelter tried to talk the executor of the estate out of the plan. They failed and the Shih Tzu mix named Emma was euthanized and cremated. The dog's ashes were placed in an urn and given to the estate's representative. "We did suggest they could sign the dog over on numerous occasions, because it's a dog we could easily find a home for and re-home," said Carrie Jones, manager of Chesterfield Animal Services. Dr. Kenny Lucas says while it's an emotional situation, he said his clinic won't do it. A local organization, the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, wants pet owners to know that there are alternatives. League member Chelsea Jones noted that they have special classes to address the matter – including Estate Planning for Pets. For more information on the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, click here. |
AuthorJeff Sodoma, MPA, Esq. is a lawyer based in Virginia Beach, Virginia Blog!Hello, there! Welcome to my blog. I will use this blog as a platform for my writing. I will write about topics in the legal world, certainly, as well as everything else under the sun, because I have many interests (and viewpoints). All views expressed in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are mine alone. One of my interests is music--my wife believes that I should go on "Beat Shazam" because I know so many songs--and I will be, from time to time, analyzing song lyrics and how they relate to the legal world.
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