Ironies abound as the leading edge of the “Baby Boom” generation heads into its 60s (and retirement). The generation that vowed never to trust anyone over 30 will shortly have to figure out minimum distribution rules from Individual Retirement Accounts, Medicare’s Part D coverage and its limitations, and how to deal with the physical declines and personal losses that accompany aging. A new book released this month may help them navigate some of the currents and shoals.
Authors Kenney Hegland (professor of law at the University of Arizona) and Robert Fleming (elder law attorney with the Tucson firm of Fleming & Curti, PLC, editor of Elder Law Issues and webmaster for elder-law.com) have announced the release of Alive and Kicking: Legal Advice for Boomers. The new book is available online at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and by special order from bookstores everywhere.
“We were going to call the book Geezer’s Law, but cooler heads prevailed,” write the authors. The book is infused with humor, filled with sly cultural references, and fun to read. Dr. Andrew Weil, author of Healthy Aging, calls it “an engaging, even uplifting, book about a subject most of us who are getting on in life often avoid: arranging our affairs for our latter years to avoid medical, financial, and legal troubles. I will use it myself and recommend it to patients, friends, and loved ones.”
Topics covered include advice on health care, estate planning, divorce, remarriage, starting a business, living wills, nursing homes and more. You can read about how to protect yourself from scams, age discrimination and elder abuse. You can gain insight into the important questions that accompany the condition of aging: What can you do to make your own children treat you better than you did your parents? Will you have to give up both driving and sex?
“If you are getting older (or hope to),” write the authors, “you’ve picked up the right book.” Hegland and Fleming believe that the condition of geezerhood should not be accompanied by a loss of intellectual interest. Instead, “we’ll come and go, talking of Michelangelo, telling bad jokes, and reciting wonderful poetry: spoonfuls of spice with your maturity medicine.”
“Studies tell us that learning new things is good exercise and Alive and Kicking is one heck of a workout,” writes Joy Loverde, author of The Complete Eldercare Planner. Baird Brown, pioneering elder law attorney, describes Alive and Kicking as “a must read for anyone who wants to understand many of life’s imponderable questions,” and Professor Rebecca Morgan, former President of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, calls it “a truly valuable resource for everyone needing to learn more about the issues that they, or their parents, will face”
Last weekend we spent an entertaining and productive four days in New Orleans. We made the trip to attend the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys’ annual Institute, an intensive series of continuing education programs. Participants represented 37 states and the District of Columbia, and presentations ranged from Medicaid policy developments to issues of capacity and undue influence among the elderly.
In addition to the excellent seminar presentations, of course, there was wonderful food at Antoine’s and other New Orleans eateries, and the night life was exceptional. The principal reason for the trip, however, was continuing education, and the information was timely and relevant.
Sally K. Richardson, Director of the Health Care Financing Administration Medicaid Bureau, spoke to those in attendance. She signalled a new spirit of cooperation from the federal bureaucracy, raising hopes for more simple and understandable Medicaid/ALTCS regulations sometime in the future.
Denver attorney Jim Hill put on an entertaining and informative demonstration of a will contest case. It was interesting, but not surprising, to hear about family disputes over probate estates in other states.
Considerable discussion centered on the use of “Miller” trusts for nursing home residents with too much income to qualify for ALTCS. Fewer than half of the states have rules excluding patients with too much income, but the problems in those states are dramatic, and Arizonans took some perhaps perverse comfort from the shared difficulties. Several participants pointed out the absurdity of denying eligibility for excess income, but only until the applicant has paid an attorney to prepare an income trust; the effect is to take money from health care and send it to lawyers.
Sunday morning, Institute attendees awoke to a front-page spread in the New Orleans Times-Picayune on the devastation caused by Alzheimer’s Disease. The articles, the first in a multi-day series, effectively highlighted the change in public perceptions of Alzheimer’s generated by former President Ronald Reagan’s recent announcement that he has been diagnosed as suffering from dementia. The articles reinforced both the national prevalence of the problem and the need for financial and medical planning.
We picked up many tips for dealing with ALTCS, guardianship and conservatorship, and estate planning issues. Next week we will share a few.
By Joan Ardern, Community Liaison, Care Coordinators, Inc.
(Second of three parts)
There are advantages to hiring a home health agency rather than hiring someone privately. Agencies are on-call twenty-four hours a day. A progressive agency will have updated training programs for their caregivers. Another advantage of an agency is that it has the ability to provide a substitute in case of an emergency. The agency also assumes responsibility for payroll, worker’s compensation insurance, and related paperwork.
A major pitfall with either hiring privately or through an agency is the potential for a well-intentioned caregiver to assume more responsibility than intended. Clients may find themselves by-passed on major decisions concerning their care. A good agency will monitor the care being provided and ensure that the caregiver adheres strictly to the assigned responsibilities.
Another way to find a caregiver is to use a new type of service that emerged in the late 1980s–the private case management company. The case management company can provide an assessment and evaluation of client needs, financial management, hiring and monitoring of caregivers, and (in some cases) protective services such as guardianship and conservatorship. The case management company can be an effective choice for the family who does not want to deal directly with the process of hiring the caregiver. A private case manager will first assess the needs of the client and then coordinate appropriate services from professionals for the individual’s care. Essentially, you will be paying the case manager to conduct the research to find the proper caregiver and to monitor the caregiver. The cost of the caregiver should remain the same whether provided through a home health agency or a case management company.
About this Series
Joan Ardern, Community Liaison for Care Coordinators, Inc. has written this three-part series on “Choosing a Caregiver.” The first installment appeared in last week’s Elder Law Issues, and the final segment will be printed next week.
Lawyer Sentenced
Phoenix lawyer David Mason was sentenced to seven years in prison last week on fraud and theft charges. Mason was also ordered to pay almost $400,000 in restitution to several clients and estates he had administered.
Mason plead guilty to the charges last month. He admitted using his Sun City law office to gain control of clients’ estates and then misappropriate funds.
Mason has been suspended by the State Bar of Arizona since 1992. His conviction and sentence will result in automatic disbarment. Mason had previously served as a circuit judge in Aledo, Illinois, before moving to Sun City.
A Jolly Good Fellow
Elder Law Issues’ Editor, Publisher and Author Robert B. Fleming has been named as a Fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. The Academy, at its annual Symposium in Seattle last week, named Fleming and five other elder law attorneys as Fellows in recognition of their contributions to their respective communities and the practice of elder law generally. The other new Fellows hail from Florida, California, Ohio and Georgia. They join the fifteen national elder law leaders already selected for Fellowship in previous years.
