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            At some point in time, Memorial Day has become a holiday that signifies the unofficial beginning of summer.  Of course, it is a much more important day than that.  It is a time to honor those who fought and died in the service of the United States of America.             Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day was the result of a desire to honor the memory of Union soldiers who died in the Civil War.  It was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, the commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans.  Interestingly, May 30 was chosen because that date was not the anniversary of any particular Civil War battle.  The purpose was to decorate the soldiers’ graves with flowers on that date.             The South initially refused to acknowledge Memorial Day, instead honoring Confederate soldiers on separate days.  That changed after World War I when the holiday was expanded to honor not just deceased Civil War veterans but any solider who died fighting in any war.  The name was changed from Decoration Day to Memorial Day, but not officially so until 1967.  A year later Memorial Day was moved to the

            It’s a question that I’ve been asked numerous times over the years.  It’s also one that has caused a lot of confusion.  I’ve spoken with some nursing homes who have told me their belief that it violates Medicaid rules.  That is incorrect.             Here’s the scenario.  Mom receives Medicaid, which pays for a semiprivate room, that is, one with a roommate.  If the family wants a private room for Mom, they can pay the additional charge, provided of course that the home has a single room available.            And what is that charge?  Usually, $20 to $30 per day which is the difference between the private room rate and the semiprivate room rate that the general public is charged.  In other words, Medicaid is picking up the semiprivate room rate but based on the much lower Medicaid reimbursement rate.  Medicaid is billed at a rate that is approximately 40-50% less than the rate that the general public pays.  But, while you and I must pay the much higher rate than does Medicaid, the good news is that the difference between a semiprivate and a private room is small.             If your loved one is in an assisted living facility it works the same

            A recent story that made the news and spread quickly via the Internet reminds us of the importance of having a support system in place because you just never know when you might need it.             In this case it came from a very unlikely source.  A Domino’s Pizza shop in Oregon noticed that one of their very good customers hadn’t placed an order in 11 days.  You wouldn’t think this is abnormal.  I haven’t ordered a Domino’s Pizza since my college days when their tag line was “Delivery in 30 minutes or less or the pizza is free”.  (They changed that a number of years ago after their drivers were involved in accidents which may or may not have been caused by their rush to get the pizzas delivered “on time”.)             But I digress.  In this case 11 days was unusual for Kirk Alexander who placed orders with the Oregon pizza shop every day.  The shop’s managers took it upon themselves to first call Alexander but couldn’t get through to him.  They then sent one of their delivery drivers to his home.  The driver knocked on Alexander’s door but there was no answer despite the lights being on.  He

            Last week I was telling you about the call I received from Shelly.  Her mom was sued by the nursing home where her husband resided for the last 4 months of his life.  She failed to file a Medicaid application which would have covered the cost of that care.  The nursing home obtained a judgment of $40,000 against her and is now trying to collect the money.             I asked Shelly about her mother’s assets.  “She owns a home which has a mortgage, has a minimal amount of money in the bank and $50,000 she is receiving from a life insurance policy on Dad’s life”, Shelly told me.  “The home is worth $250,000 but the balance on the mortgage is $150,000.”             I explained to Shelly that the life insurance proceeds could be attached by the home to satisfy the judgment.  When her dad entered the home her mom signed an agreement that provided that she would do everything necessary to process a Medicaid application if and when that became necessary.  Failing to do so would cause her to be responsible to pay for any services received that are not be covered by Medicaid.             While some nursing facilities will assist in

           Shelly called to ask the following questions, “Does my mom have to tell the nursing home where her bank accounts are located?”  In order to answer the question, I had to dig a bit deeper to find out what exactly was going on.  This is what I learned.            Shelly’s dad had been in the hospital and then moved to a nursing home.  Shelly’s parents had very little assets and the nursing home told her mom she needed to apply for Medicaid.  While it isn’t clear why that was never done, Shelly explained that her mother had been overwhelmed with everything and had “shut down”.              The application never was filed but Dad died 4 months after he entered the home.  Shelly and her mom thought that was the end of the problem until her mom received a bill for $40,000, the cost of care for those months.             What happened after that isn’t exactly clear from what Shelly was telling me but it sounds like her mom continued to ignore the nursing home to the point where they sued her and received a default judgment.  She didn’t enter an appearance in the lawsuit and the home’s attorney went before a judge to obtain

     As the population continues to age and we see the next generation of seniors coming through our office there are differences in the profile of an aging senior today vs. what we saw 15 or 20 years ago.      One change is in the amount of retirement assets that we see as part of the average client’s overall asset base.  It is much higher than 20 years ago.  Likewise, we are seeing fewer and fewer clients with substantial pensions.  We are also seeing clients in their 60’s working full time to try to put away more for retirement knowing that they do not have pensions to rely on for income and Social Security by itself is not enough.  In light of these changes, this week I’d like to take a look at some important changes to retirement account rules.      The amount that may be contributed to an employee’s or self employed retirement account did not increase much because the cost of living index did not increase much.  For 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans the annual contribution limit is still $18,000 with those over 50 years of age able to contribute another $6000 annually as a catch up contribution.  The total