For better and for worse, Medicaid is the primary method of paying for nursing home care in the United States. But navigating the Medicaid system is complicated and confusing. Here are the basics. Medicaid (sometimes called by other names, such as “Medi-Cal” in California, “MassHealth” in Massachusetts, and “TennCare” in Tennessee) is a joint federal-state program […]

Having a conversation around the topic of estate planning is often difficult for adult children. This is because it means coming to terms with your parents’ own mortality and discussing issues on which you might not agree. Even though the subject might be uncomfortable to broach, it is good to have this conversation with your […]

Parents and other family members who want to pass on assets during their lifetimes may be tempted to gift the assets.  Although setting up an irrevocable trust lacks the simplicity of giving a gift, it may be a better way to preserve assets for the future. A trust is a legal entity under which one person — […]

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued new guidance on whether families can visit loved ones in nursing homes. The guidance allows indoor visitation even when the resident has not been vaccinated. The coronavirus pandemic has hit long-term care facilities particularly hard, with more than 170,000 residents and employees dying of COVID-19. Most […]

President Biden has signed the latest COVID-19 relief bill, which in addition to authorizing stimulus checks, funding vaccine distribution, and extending unemployment benefits, also provides assistance to seniors in a number of ways. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) delivers a broad swath of relief, covering families, employers, health care, education, and housing. […]

In late 2019 Congress passed the Secure Act which represents some of the most significant changes to IRAs and qualified retirement plans since 2006. One of the most important and far reaching of these is the elimination of the opportunity to receive distributions from these accounts over the course of the beneficiary’s life.  Many people […]