Happy 2020! Major changes to the federal retirement account rules were signed into law December 20, 2019, under the SECURE Act (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act). Under the new rules, a retirement account can no longer be "stretched" and must be distributed within 10 years to non-spouse beneficiaries. This...
Finding a Nursing Home for a Dementia Patient
Nearly two-thirds of nursing home patients have cognitive impairment, while 64% of Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes have Alzheimer's Disease or a related dementia. Access to high-quality nursing home care for dementia patients is imperative. Optimal nursing home care for dementia patients begins with person-centered care, or individualized care focused on maximizing quality of...
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Medicare Enrollment: Public Option vs. Private Insurance
The annual Medicare Open Enrollment Period is October 15 – December 7. Here are some things you can do during the annual enrollment period:
Join a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan [1] or switch from one Medicare drug plan to another Medicare drug plan.
Change from a Medicare Advantage Plan [2]...
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List of Poor-Performing Nursing Homes
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released an expanded list of persistently poor-performing nursing homes, including over thirty facilities in Texas. The list includes hundreds of facilities that participate, or are candidates for participation, in the Special Focus Facility (SFF) program, designed to increase oversight...
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You Can Disenroll from a Medicare Plan January-March, 2019
Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, offered by private insurance companies, as an alternative to the traditional Medicare program, are improperly denying many medical claims, according to a New York Times article. Based on a new report by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, the "plans, which now cover more than...
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Changes to Statutory Durable Power of Attorney
The Texas Legislature has approved major changes to the Statutory Durable Power of Attorney (SDPOA) - the form that allows you to appoint an agent to act for you in certain financial matters - making it imperative to review and consider updating your power of attorney. Legislators expanded the instrument to include important new...
Nursing Home Rules Revised
The federal rules for nursing homes that participate in Medicare and Medicaid have been comprehensively revised, affecting requirements for admission contracts, care planning, resident rights, quality of care, transfer and discharge procedures, protections against abuse neglect, and exploitation, and other aspects of facility life. Attorney Nancy Stone has co-authored a comprehensive article about...
Tax Bill Cuts Medicare, Repeals ACA, Threatens Social Security and Medicaid
Senate leaders are working to ram through a tax bill this week which will greatly increase deficits, triggering $25 billion in Medicare cuts and leading to major cuts in Social Security and Medicaid to pay for the deficit. The bill would chiefly benefit the highest earners while hurting the middle class, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the Joint Committee on Taxation, and other experts. In addition, the bill would repeal...
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Time to Enroll/Disenroll in Medicare, Marketplace Plan
Medicare's Annual Election Period began October 15th and continues through December 7th. During this time, beneficiaries enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan administered by a private insurance company may disenroll and return to the traditional Medicare program (Parts A and B) administered by the federal government, or vice versa. To switch back to the...
New Bill Guts Healthcare, Medicaid
A new healthcare bill in the U.S. Senate would cap Medicaid spending per beneficiary, which means the program would no longer be an open-ended entitlement that covers everyone who qualifies for benefits. Medicaid provides crucial funding of costly long-term care services for low-income elderly and disabled beneficiaries - services that Medicare does not cover. The Graham-Cassidy bill would also "repeal and replace" key ACA provisions which ensure individuals, particularly those with a...