Voice Cloning Scam – Part 1
I most recently wrote about financial scams in this blog back in October but a recent story on the tv news caught my eye. I wanted to share it here as another example of the “dark side” of technology to which seniors especially can be susceptible. It involves voice cloning. Advances in technology have also made fraud easier to pull off. In this case artificial intelligence (AI) allows for someone to create fake audio of someone’s voice and it doesn’t require any special equipment. It’s something almost anyone can do online and can fool friends and family of the person whose voice is “faked”. Here’s how it works. You might get a phone call from your granddaughter who is in trouble. She needs money wired or electronically transferred. Maybe a kidnapper gets on the phone and says he’ll return her for a ransom. It sounds like your granddaughter’s voice, except it’s not. Scammers are able to find real audio of your granddaughter on social media. AI technology allows them to create new audio of your granddaughter that sounds just like her. This type of capability is readily available on the internet for anyone to use. The FTC is now warning the general public
2023 Medicaid Penalty Divisor
As I have written about frequently in this blog, many of the Medicaid and VA benefit numbers are updated annually. Most are adjusted in lock step with Social Security’s cost of living adjustment (COLA). With inflation being as high as it has been in many years, the COLA for 2023 was also higher than it has been since 1981. One Medicaid number that doesn’t adjust with Social Security is the Medicaid penalty divisor. That is the number by which any transfers for less than fair value are divided to calculate the penalty - or waiting period - for Medicaid benefits. This time period begins when a Medicaid application is filed and the applicant has proven that he/she has met all the other Medicaid requirements. In other words, Medicaid would be approved but for the transfer of assets. The more money transferred, the longer the penalty. The divisor is supposed to represent the average cost of nursing home level care in the state. With inflation running at 8.7%, one would think that the cost of long term care certainly has increased along with other goods and services, if not at 8.7% then somewhere close to it. New Jersey announced that, effective April 1, 2023 its Medicaid divisor has increased from $374.39
Protecting Your Money If Your Bank Fails – Part 2
In my blog post last week I began discussing the subject of FDIC insurance, a topic on many people’s minds in light of the recent bank failures. I discussed the types of accounts that are covered by the insurance. I also explained that there is a limit of $250,000 of insurance per depositor per account type. What does that exactly mean? Account types include single accounts, joint accounts, retirement accounts revocable trust accounts, irrevocable trust accounts and for profit and not for profit entity accounts. The $250,000 insurance limit applies separately to each category. All single individual accounts owned by the same person at one bank are added together and insured up to the maximum limit of $250,000. Joint accounts are accounts that have more than one owner. Each co-owner’s joint accounts at one bank are added together and insured up to the $250,000 limit. So, a person can have individual accounts as well as joint accounts at the same bank. Each category is insured for up to $250,000. Retirement accounts are a different category. These include IRAs, 401ks, profit sharing accounts and 403b accounts. A depositor is entitled to $250,000 insurance protection for all accounts at one bank in these categories. This is treated separate and apart from individual accounts and joint accounts. Revocable
Protecting Your Money If Your Bank Fails – Part 1
As many readers of this blog know, our office concentrates much of our practice on long term care planning as well as estate planning, including planning for younger families. I have always found that our older clients seem to be more aware of FDIC insurance that protects their bank accounts than do our younger clients. Or maybe it’s just that they talk about it or ask questions about it more often. Having more experience - by virtue of being older - with periods of financial crisis when bank failures are more common, I guess it is only natural that our older clients are more attuned to it. Yet, during periods of crisis such as the current high inflation rates or the mortgage meltdown back in 2008, it is understandable that the general public focuses more on it. So let’s jump right in. When a bank collapses like SVB or Signature Bank, what happens to the money its customers have on deposit there? Do they lose it? The short answer is “no” or “probably not” and that in large part has to do with government backed insurance offered by the FDIC. Not all banks are FDIC insured banks and not all accounts in an FDIC insured bank are covered by
The Imperfect Medicaid Approval – Part 2
In my post last week, I wrote about a trend we are seeing with our Medicaid applications - with every approval we get there almost always is something incorrect about the decision. Last week I told you that some of the mistakes can be easily corrected. Others, however, require that we file an appeal, known as a fair hearing. The fair hearing is the first level in the Medicaid appeal process. The appeal is scheduled to be heard in the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) before an administrative law judge. Strict timelines apply, however, to the right of appeal. A notice of appeal must be submitted to the OAL within 20 days of Medicaid’s decision. We have had to file such an appeal in a number of our cases when our requested start date for Medicaid has not be granted. In other words, our application was approved but for a date later than what we asked for and typically there is no explanation as to why. This happens because rarely do we file the application before our requested start date. First of all, the mountain of documents required and the level of detail necessary causes the paperwork associated with each application to reach into the thousands of pages. It can sometimes take
The Imperfect Medicaid Approval -Part 1
In this week’s blog post I return to the topic of Medicaid. As I often tell people these days, Medicaid application are more challenging than they have ever been. But even after we get our cases approved, rarely is there an instance in which the approval is a perfect one. There almost always is something about the approval that is wrong or needs to be modified. For example, the cost share calculation may be incorrect. Remember that the long term care Medicaid programs are designed with a cost share. The recipient must give part of his or her income towards the cost of care, with the State picking up the rest. In the case of a single applicant, there are limited amounts that can be kept from income to cover health insurance premiums and personal needs such as the cost of a cell phone or small personal items. In the case of a married couple where only one spouse is receiving Medicaid benefits, there is a calculation to determine the amount of the Medicaid spouse’s income, if any, that the healthy spouse can keep. This is known as a spousal allowance. The healthy spouse’s income and certain housing expenses are factored into the calculation. It is a somewhat convoluted calculation