Medicaid Estate Recovery Program; Protect your Home

Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP) is where Medicaid will attempt to recover funds paid out for nursing home expenses by putting a lien on their home.

Here is how MERP works:

Know your nursing home residents rights. Once a person passes away, MERP can place a claim or a lien on the home, through probate court. If a person takes over payments to protect their loved one’s home when they get placed into a nursing home, they can put their own claim in against the estate. There are also several exemptions for family members that could help you protect your home.

Keeping Track of Money Spent; Elder Law

Once your loved ones are placed into a nursing home, Medicaid will not help with their home any more. All Medicaid benefits will now be paid to the nursing home. If their home is still mortgaged, it can get very expensive to keep up. Make sure you let MERP know that you are filing a claim for money spent on anything to do with that home: mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc.

Getting legal advice; Elder Law Attorneys Cohen and Oalican, LLC., Boston, Raynham, Andover Massachusetts

Every state has different laws regarding MERP. These laws can be very difficult to understand and you could end up losing a lot of money. Find out how to handle probate when your loved ones die and MERP starts looking to recover the money they provided the nursing home. Elder law attorneys Cohen and Oalican know what the proper state laws are and will help protect your house and get through these tough times.

Medicare to Help People Quit Smoking; Medicaid Law

According to Health and Human Services, over 5 million Americans on Medicare smoke. Medicare finally created a new free program to help people quick smoking. There should be no copay or deductible for this program. Make sure your doctor will accept payment from Medicare as full-reimbursement first so that you can avoid any unexpected charges.

Quit Smoking Program Guidelines; Medicare

This new Medicare program allows two attempts per year to quit smoking. Each time you will be allowed four sessions for counseling. Doctors are told to follow guidelines formulated by the government:

1. Ask the patient questions
2. Advise them to quit smoking
3. Assess the situation and the patients willingness
4. Assist the patients attempt to quit smoking
5. Arrange a follow-up session

Also, doctors may prescribe certain anti-smoking drugs that will be covered by Medicare.

Getting Help Can Work; Elder Law Attorneys Cohen and Oalican, LLC.

Quitting smoking takes willingness and commitment. Less than 7% can quit without help, but with counseling and drugs together, these percentages go up nearly 4 times, according to the American College of Physicians. The Society for Vascular Surgery says these things WILL happen within 48 hours when a person quits smoking:

• Blood carbon monoxide level will return to normal
• Increase in taste/smell
• Decreased blood pressure
• Heart attack chances will decrease
• Drop in pulse rate
• Hands and feet body temperature will go up
• Nerve endings will grow back

Proper understanding of Medicaid law and appropriate Medicaid planning is an essential part of any plan for the future. With proper planning you can protect your home, protect your spouse, and protect your assets.

Attorneys Cohen & Oalican specialize in Elder Law; where protecting your assets and your dignity is their core mission. 

Three Important Questions for Retirement Planning; Part Two

As we talked about in part one of this series, planning your retirement is only as good as how these three things might culminate:

• How long you might live
• How well your investments might (or might not) work
• How much money you will require to live comfortably until you die

We know that those are things that not many can ever predict. There are asset protection plans that attorneys Cohen and Oalican can help you to understand. In this installment of “Three Important Questions for Retirement Planning”, we will explain more about protecting all that you’ve worked for.

How much monthly income will you need to survive when you retire?

Nobody can tell you what inflation rates, health care costs, or tax rates will do in the future. First thing you should do is decide when you would like to retire and what type of lifestyle you would be happy with. There is obviously a benefit in saving as much as possible for your retirement. If the market does well, your retirement plan and trusts will do well, but even if the market doesn’t do well, a dollar saved is still a dollar saved and a higher percentage saved is better than a lower percentage saved.

Saving, living on less and/or delaying your retirement

1. Saving. It is recommended to save at least 15% of your salary while saving. Some say 10%, but it’s all about playing it safe. There is also a hidden benefit to regular saving: when people make a habit of saving, they usually become more modest spenders.
2. Delaying your retirement. Retiring later than you regularly planned raises your monthly Social Security/Medicaid benefits. Your benefits almost double if you wait until you’re 70 as opposed to retiring at 62.
3. Living on less. How much you think you need at retirement could be a lot less than you think. You should definitely aim high with your retirement plan, but there are hobbies that you could pick up that cost less than your current hobby and you might like it even more than your current hobby. Author Ralph Warner said so well, “You'll do much better planning for retirement if you recognize that it's not all about money." 

Attorneys Cohen & Oalican specialize in Elder Law; where protecting your assets and your dignity is their core mission.