Elder Law
	Life Care Planning
	Estate Planning
	"Compassionate Conversations"
	Long-Term Care Insurance
	Veterans Benefits
	Reverse Mortgages

LIFE CARE PLANS!

Senior & Special Needs Solutions, LLC is a member of the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association (www.lcplfa.org) and is dedicated to supporting independent and dignified living for older adults. Our Life Care Planning clients have access to a team of specialists who are supervised by an elder law attorney and include a Gerontologist, Social Worker, Nurse Case Manager, Medicare/Medicaid Specialist, Reverse Mortgage Professional, and Veterans Benefits Coordinator. Our team works together for you to:

• Define your needs
• Organize your options
• Prioritize your plan
• Mobilize available resources

• Those who are curious about the recent changes in the law and are wondering how those changes might determine their legal and health care decisions
• Anyone who might need assistance because of physical or cognitive impairment
• Family members who are supporting a loved one who needs care
• Family members with a loved one already receiving care in a nursing home and are interested in how to qualify for Medicaid
• Individuals who have assets to protect and want to plan ahead for the "what if's"
• Families with special needs children
  

Your choices today will impact your life tomorrow. Call today to schedule a consultation – first 30 minutes are FREE!

314.729.0200

Compassionate Conversations:

Most people avoid talking about end of life issues because it is a difficult and emotional conversation to have with family members and close friends. Susie Pekios specializes in helping individuals and their family members sit down together to understand the legal language of health care directives and how that language will be interpreted by the medical community.

Susie's experience and knowledge is invaluable for those who want to make informed choices and clearly communicate their wishes. Estate planning documents are important, but a clearly stated health care directive is essential!

Call 314.729.0200 to schedule an appointment today.

Susan Neal Pekios, MA, MSW

Susie has worked in healthcare since 1981, specializing in person centered, value based, advance care planning. With over 20 years as a hospital social worker and three years in hospice, Susie brings knowledge of the medical system's advance directives and marries it to the person's broader wishes for quality of life despite health issues and functional limitations. Her goal is identification of wishes, respect and ultimate honoring of these wishes. Susie does counseling in advance care planning as well as consumer and professional education. She holds the Consumer Education Committee Chair position on the Missouri End of Life Coalition and is the Vice President of the Gateway Alliance for Compassionate Healthcare.

Topics:

• Paint a picture of "living well" at end of life
• How to have conversations about quality of life at end of life - a real gift to others
• What topics to discuss - customized to fit you and your needs, wishes, family
• How to have a successful talk with your healthcare provider
• Making sense of Advance Directives and Advance Care Planning - a better way
• Choosing your agent (proxy) to speak for you when you are unable to do so
• How to determine when enough is enough - benefits and burdens
• The psychosocial sides of the dying process - what behavior changes mean
• Supporting each other in difficult times - acknowledging sacred blessings
• Ethical Decision Making at End of Life

Veterans Benefits:

The over-65 and now disabled wartime veteran may qualify for much-needed money to pay for medical bills. Elder Law attorney, Daniel Reuter is a graduate of the Veterans Benefit Institute, Chicago, IL and is qualified to provide advice to the over-65 disabled wartime veteran so that he or she may obtain up to $1,842 per month in medical assistance. Homebound veterans needing in-home health care may qualify for up to $1,427 per month. Even the surviving spouse of a wartime veteran may qualify for long-term care cost dollars. The VA can pay a surviving spouse who needs regular "aid and attendance" up to $998 per month.

Elder law is legal advocacy devoted to the issues of aging and long-term care. VA benefits, estate planning, tax planning, Medicare/Medicaid, and disability law are within the elder law focus.

VA Aid & Attendance and the Medicaid Bomb:

Dan Reuter warns there might be a firestorm of litigation caused by the current "annuity seller-assisted living facility joint promotions." The 2006 changes in the Medicaid Act create huge Medicaid penalties when a senior citizen tries to avoid paying long-term care expenses by gifting their assets to other family members. Nonetheless, many seniors are being sold on giving their assets away to qualify for VA benefits.

The growing popularity of the VA Aid & Attendance program has been fueled by annuity sellers promoting their products with the enthusiastic cooperation of assisted living facilities. The annuity seller looks at the frail veteran as an annuity prospect. The assisted living facility provides access to the senior citizen resident to stretch the resident's ability to pay the costs of facility care.

Tragically, the senior citizen and family are often not aware of the "Medicaid penalty trap" that is caused by certain asset transfers. The annuity seller emphasizes that the resident can transfer assets with no Veterans Administration penalty - but the Medicaid penalty is either ignored or misrepresented. Medicaid penalizes any gifts within five years of an application for assistance.

The assisted living facility and the annuity sales organization present the annuity seller as offering a "free service" for wartime veterans. The truth is that the annuity seller may be compensated by a commission of up to 12% for their "free services."

According to national assisted living statistics, 90% of their senior residents who apply for a VA benefit will need full skilled nursing home care in less than three years. The Medicaid penalty rules will deny payment to anyone who has given away assets during the prior five years. Mr. Reuter predicts that thousands of families will face huge fees due to early termination of VA benefit-related annuities and/or denial of Medicaid benefits due to this "Medicaid Bomb."

"Who are the families going to sue when Mom or Dad cannot get Medicaid?" asks Attorney Reuter. He envisions that families will feel deceived by both the assisted living facilities and the annuity sellers. Ominously, Reuter forecasts, "The assisted living facility will be the easiest target. The facilities are experts in Medicare, Medicaid, and long-term care issues. They have a duty to warn their residents about the Medicaid penalty. The assisted living facilities are burying their heads in the sand regarding their joint promotions with the annuity sellers. When the Medicaid Time Bomb goes off, they will have nowhere to hide."

Elder law attorneys know the legal issues of long-term care. They counsel clients with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, etc. to obtain the benefits of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans benefits. Attorneys need to work with the assisted living facilities to stop this Medicaid Bomb from exploding and to protect them from the approaching legal firestorm.

Call 314.729.0200 for more information