Category Archives for 2017

Do It Yourself Caregiving or Hire Decision Time

Do It Yourself Caregiving or Hire Decision Time

Deciding when or whether to give up doing tasks on your own or hiring someone or an agency employing someone  to do it for you is one of the most unrecognized stressful activities that we are called upon to accomplish on a regular basis.  This becomes especially relevant when considering whether to hire caregivers for […]

Continue reading

Is the Better Care Reconciliation Act Better?

Is the Better Care Reconciliation Act Better

This column, written in advance, has the task of appearing on July 4, Independence Day.  Coming from Philadelphia which has quite a history of involvement with American independence, I wonder whether our Founding Fathers (and Mothers) could have conceived we would be spending this time in the year 2017 wrangling over health care.  Probably not.  […]

Continue reading

Turning 65? –Clearing Up Confusion on Social Security and Medicare

Turning 65 - Clearing Up Confusion on Social Security and Medicare

Retirement used to be simpler.  At age 65 you would generally start collecting Social Security and also begin to be insured under Medicare.  It was the frequently accepted retirement date from your job and, with your gold watch and farewell party, everything was set. Today Boomers might decide to begin collecting Social Security at 62 […]

Continue reading

What You Need To Know When a Family Member Dies

What You Need To Know When a Family Member Dies

When you are dealing with illness and grief the chances are that you may not be able to pull together what to do when your husband, wife, parent or sibling dies. You might choose prayer with the help of scholars at www.chevrahlomdeimishnah.org for the deceased soul’s peace. You might look for a Will or the […]

Continue reading

Why Elder Law Attorneys and Financial Planners Should Work Together

Elder Law Attorneys and Financial Planners

A few years back a client unexpectedly stated during a meeting “I can’t plan.  Things keep changing.” Almost instinctively I answered “Because things keep changing you must plan.” This idea has inspired me ever since.  If we think about it, if nothing changed there would be little or no need for a plan.  If we […]

Continue reading

Medicaid Block Grant Proposal Cause For Concern

High Costs of Medicine with Copy Space Available

With all the health care language proposed in the now possibly resurrected American Health Care Act from the Trump administration and its allies it is easy to miss some basic ideas and tune out.  One of these ideas is to “block grant” the Medicaid program.  The significance could be easily missed. Here is a simple […]

Continue reading

Hospital Observation Status, Medical Bills and the NOTICE Act

NOTICE ACT

For the past few years I have been writing about a continuing problem for hospitalizations and insurance.  For Medicare recipients who are hospitalized, one crucial question has been whether that trip to the hospital will be covered and, if so, whether Medicare A or Medicare B will pay.  It makes a difference. On March 8, […]

Continue reading

American Health Care Act Redux

American Health Care Act

On March 14, 2017, I wrote a column explaining the then proposed American Health Care Act would result in many Americans being uninsured.  A redrafted bill, now passed by the House of Representatives with no support from Democrats would also have the same result but worse.  The majority of Republicans voted in favor but locally […]

Continue reading

Department of Aging Threatened By Merger Proposal

Department of Aging Threatened By Merger Proposal

When you buy your next Pennsylvania lottery ticket you might notice the message that the funds raised by the lottery benefit aging services in Pennsylvania.  “Does it really?” I’ve been asked.  Yes, really and one of the beneficiaries of the lottery fund is a State agency that for the past almost forty years has provided […]

Continue reading

Anniversaries

Everyone enjoys a celebration and I and my office are no exception.  Recently I personally and we at Colliton Elder Law Associates, PC have let slide some pretty significant landmarks that deserve celebrating that we would like to share with you as readers.  Here goes. 21 Years.  Yes, it was 21 years ago in January, […]

Continue reading

Lending Advice for Parents and Grandparents

Lending Advice for Parents and Grandparents

If you have saved over the years and even if you have only a few thousand in the bank above your living expenses, you might at some point be approached by an adult child or college aged grandchild for a loan or, what sometimes might be even more dangerous, cosigning on a loan or credit […]

Continue reading

Health Insurance Benefits Are No Game

health insurance benefits

Peggy Noonan, a former speechwriter for President Reagan, recently published a column for the Wall Street Journal titled, “High Anxiety Over Health Care Reform.”  www.wsj.com/articles, March 24, 2017.  In it she referenced the now well-known failure of the majority Republican House of Representatives to act on repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act otherwise […]

Continue reading

American Health Care Act Leaves Many Uninsured

Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act healthcare insur

It is sad to say but, if you wanted to draft a bill that caused as many Americans as possible to lose their health care coverage, you would be hard pressed to find a better candidate than the American Health Care Act, a bill recently passed out of two U.S. House of Representatives committees.  Thankfully […]

Continue reading

Long Term Care Myths and Answers

Having worked with families for many years who are confronting long term care, I have to admit I see some changes.  The most significant have to do with some of the myths surrounding care.  What has not changed is denial. Here are some of today’s major myths. I’ll never get sick but if I do, […]

Continue reading

Why Obamacare Is So Hard To Replace

Obamacare

Last month I wrote regarding one of the proposed Obamacare replacements recommended by Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.  See “Obamacare Replacement – A Blast From the Past, “ Daily Local News, January 17, 2017.  Ryan recommended State High Risk Pools for people with preexisting medical conditions, a strategy that had been tried previously without […]

Continue reading