Elder Law and Special Needs Law News Roundup – 9-9-2022

We regularly post links to news articles and other resources related to Elder Law and Special Needs Law. We focus on general news, health and healthcare news, special needs news, events, government sources, financial and retirement news and legal news. Some cited resources are for professionals, but most are news or other helpful articles we found scouring the internet. Only headlines are listed so you can use this page like a newspaper, reading only those articles where the headline catches your eye. Although we review a number of sources collecting information, many of the articles listed here were found using Google Alerts. If a link you need has gone missing, try pasting the link into the Wayback Machine (Internet Archive). We do not vouch for the quality or accuracy of information on third-party sites. If you have news you want us to post in a future addition of our news roundup, email us at websupport@ezelderlaw.com.

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General News Sources and Top News:

Caregiving News:

• Alzheimer’s: Who Is Caring for the Caregivers?
• The quiet cost of family caregiving adding up in U.S.
• Number of unpaid carers almost doubles over past 10 Years
• This bill of rights offers model for caregiving
• Cared For vs. Caregiver (Christopher Reeve Foundation)
• Caring for Family Doesn’t Have to Be Unpaid Work
• Discharge planning: Include caregivers in process to reduce readmissions among elderly patients

Consumer Protection, Scams, Abuse:

• Against his wishes Pal’s daughter is selling off his possessions and putting him in a care home
• Money & the Law: Laws seek to protect elderly from financial ‘exploitation’
• Nursing facility ‘held’ patient against family’s wishes, provided ‘substandard care’
• Webinar: Understanding and Fighting the Grandparent Scam: What Aging Network Professionals Should Know to Empower Older Adults,Wednesday, September 14, 3:00pm – 4:00pm ET
• Violence-as-a-Service: Brickings, Firebombings & Shootings for Hire
• AG Carr and Commissioner King Warn Northwest Georgians of Home Repair Fraud and Price Gouging in Wake of Severe Flooding
• Identity scams are at an all-time high. Here are ways to protect yourself

Health and Healthcare Related News:

• Scholarly Articles, Week of September 9, 2022
• Podcast: What You Should Know about Metabolic Syndrome
• Audio: Prescription Drug Cost Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act
• Suicide Prevention Research in a Rapidly Changing World
• Turning 65. What insurance options do I have?
• Cloudy Vision? It Could Be Cataracts
• Audio: ‘Science Friday’ and KHN: Examining Medicine’s Definition of Death Informs the Abortion Debate (possibly relevant in right-to-die cases)
• Too Often, Diabetes & Hearing Loss Go Together
• Reversing Course, FDA Committee Backs Experimental ALS Drug
• Walmart, UnitedHealth Pair To Provide Preventive Care For Seniors

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and VA Benefits:

• CMS develops form to contest multiple Medicare denials issued by Medicare Advantage Plans | Form | (@ EZ Elder Law)
• Creating a Roadmap for the End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
• New Tool Launches to Assess Extensiveness of Medicaid Adult Dental Coverage
• CMS Proposes Rules To Ease Enrollment In Medicaid, CHIP
• New case: Fujimori v. Dep’t of Human Services (HI Intermediae Ct. App. 8/31/2022) (Affirmed denial of eligibility based on transfer of life estate and failure to provide verification; applicant’s valuation of life estate was “a mathematical manipulation of the Medicaid program”)
• New case: Gardner ex rel. Strunk v. Department of Job and Family Services (Ohio Ct. App. 8/31/2022) (trial court erred in finding Ohio is not required to provide a reasonable efforts exclusion relating to the sale of real estate)
• New case: Murphy v. Commissioner (10th Cir., 8/31/2022) (Tax Court did not err in finding Murphy’s Social Security income to be taxable)
• ‘You Earned It, You Keep It’: New bill would eliminate federal taxes on Social Security benefits
• Chairman Sanders to Hold Budget Committee Hearing on Saving and Expanding Social Security
• The Disadvantage Of Free Healthcare Comes With A Price (Estate Recovery)
• AHA blasts ‘deeply flawed’ proposed HHS post-acute care model
• CMS wants to further evaluate Georgia ACA waiver that replaces HealthCare.gov
• Doctors Step Up Lobbying Against Looming Medicare Payment Cuts
• New case: Masters v. Ohio Department of Medicaid (Ohio Ct. App., 2nd Dist. 9/2/2022) (Suit for declaratory judgment dismissed where Ohio Medicaid refused to reduce lien on personal injury settlement to 15%; plaintiff had an administrative remedy and was required to use it)
• CMA Alert | September 8, 2022
  • Private Equity and Nursing Facilities: A Bad Combination for Residents
  • Center Submits Comments on 2022 Medicare Physician’s Fee Schedule
  • Center Comments on Medically Necessary Oral Health Coverage
• How to Report a Medicare Complaint

Special Needs News:

• Planning for Your Retirement, and for a Child’s Special Needs, All at Once
• EP Magazine’s Annual Education Issue
• How AI is changing special education
• What is “special educational provision” in law? |Special Needs Jungle
• ‘They just want parents to go away’: complaints soar as special needs schooling crisis spirals
• Graying on the Spectrum
• ‘We would have never called 911’: Georgia woman’s family wants mental health reform
• September webinar series: Closing Gap in Healthcare Inequalities Among People with Disabilities

Government Sources:

• Statement from VA Secretary Denis McDonough on the PACT Act
• NIH: Healthy Social Media Habits (aka Social Media Transmitted Diseases (SMTDs))
• CMS Releases the Chronic Pain Experience Illustration
• New HIPAA Administrative Simplification Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for EFT and ERA Letter 2022-04
• CMS: Streamlining Medicaid Eligibility & Enrollment Notice of Propose Rulemaking
• CMS: Healthy Aging: Recommend Services for Your Patients

Retirement and Financial News:

• Home Equity Investments Explained
• Protect Your Retirement Income from Inflation
• Single workers, families, retirees: How much cash you need in an emergency fund at every career stage, according to advisors
• Not Quietly Quitting But Quietly Returning, Older Workers Are Changing Work And Retirement
• The Hidden Costs of IRA Rollovers
• How can I make sure I won’t be overtaxed on my IRA?
• “Fair” Wealth Distributions (and an interesting 2016 post from the same author, Advice to a Neophyte Advisor)

Estate Planning

• The Future of Electronic Wills in Rhode Island After Covid-19
• Eight Planning Considerations for Clients Aging Alone
• LLC Operating Agreement vs Will. Who wins?
• Steps to Help Control Your Future
• Never allow the estate tax tail to wag the planning dog
• Can Family Trusts Protect Your Wealth After You Die?
• What Does the Executor of a Will Do?
• Estate Planning: 5 Tips to Pick Trustees, Executors and POAs
• “Who will manage my affairs if I lose mental capacity?”
• Estate Planning for Special Assets
• Anne Heche’s Son Seeks Control of Her Estate
• Podcast: The tax and legal aspects of trust situs
• New case: Estate of Wallace v. Newrez, LLC (Tenn. Ct. App. 8/25/2022) (In insolvent estate, proceeds from sale of encumbered property must be used first to satisfy perfected deed of trust before surplus is available for other claims)
• ‘After you’re dead, you can’t explain it.’ Parents usually split their estate evenly among their kids. But if they don’t — look out
• Why do I need a Trust?

Legal News:

• New case: Traver v. Felton Manor, LLC (Ga. Ct. App. 8/23/2022) (regarding fall at a personal care home after front automatic doors closed on plaintiff)
• DeKalb Jury’s $77M Med-Mal Verdict Appears to Set New Georgia Record (subscription required) (29 year old died 60 hours after being involuntarily discharged from mental health unit because he had a cell phone)
• Database for showing nursing home ownership has gaps, report says
• Fifth Circuit Holds Texas Counties Can be Sued for Failing to Provide Interpreters to Criminal Defendants
• PLR 202233014 (Estate tax deductions under §§ 2055 and 2056 for discretionary interests)
• PLR 202234002 (QTIP Election)
• PLR 202233002 (allocation of GST exemptions among CRATs)

New and Updated Pages:

• Spousal Refusal and Medicaid
• When you might need an attorney’s assistance with a Medicaid application
• Georgia Legal Forms and Guides

Interesting, But Not Elder Law:

• Take a Fresh Look at Oatmeal – It’s Not as Simple as You Think
• USB4 Version 2.0 Is Twice as Fast as Thunderbolt 4
• Including Your Pet in Your Emergency Plans for Disaster Preparedness Month
• America’s Rural Roads: Beautiful and Deadly
• AC Power vs DC Power, and inverters

Not New, But Worth Remembering:

• State Bar of Georgia: Find a Lawyer Directory
• EzElderLaw Financial Toolbox
• 2022 SSI and Spousal Impoverishment Standards
• Blogs and websites we follow

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