Aging in D.C. Legal Institute
- ashaine
- Oct 19, 2018
- 2 min read
Recently, I attended the D.C. Bar’s inaugural Aging in D.C. Legal Institute to supplement the education of lawyers about issues affecting the aging population. I am a member of both the D.C. and New Hampshire Bars, so this was a program of which I became aware and wanted to attend. The conference dealt in depth on a multitude of issues, including Medicaid planning and qualification, and financial fraud schemes to which the elderly may be exposed.
Medicaid
The Medicaid part of the program dealt with some of the basics of application preparation, but the most interesting part of this presentation occurred when people had a chance to ask questions. It was enlightening to hear people talk about various problems they had encountered when preparing applications for their clients and share ideas on how to handle them. There was a lot of expertise among the attendees.
Fraud
The financial fraud program segment reviewed some of the common schemes that senior encounter and highlighted red flags that a family member, friend, or trusted advisor can look for to spot when someone has been the victim of an illegal scheme. The program also presented guidance on how to talk with fraud victims considering the trauma they have experienced to maximize the opportunity to learn the information you need when advising such a victim.
In Conclusion
Throughout the conference, teams of experts from many different disciplines, including psychologists, social workers, law enforcement, and lawyers, came together to enrich the knowledge of the attendees. Of course, some of the details of the laws discussed would vary by state, so I added my own knowledge with respect to the applicable laws in New Hampshire, as the focus of my practice is here. Nonetheless, the majority of what I learned was applicable in any jurisdiction. Certainly many portions of the conference covered familiar ground, but I gained a lot of new insight as well.
Thank you for your post. I understand that you are very concerned about this. Obviously, I am not familiar with the specifics of your circumstances and, thus, am unable to give you specific legal advice. I can tell you that individuals on medicaid have limits on both the assets they can retain and the income they can earn. In New Hampshire, the current limit on income is $70 per month. If an individual is on medicaid and staying in a nursing home, the nursing home is entitled to keep any income they receive in excess of that monthly allowance to put toward the cost of their care. If, after reading this description, you continue to have concerns, please rea…
I believe my payee at rest home committed fraud against my mass health and SSI I have all my notes I kept about the Director and way she kept my SSI checks for 6 months while I was given the amount of $72.00 a month, I told this to Social Security, I am being held responsible for $4,000 I have to pay back for those 6 months, yes it bothers me but it bothers me more that this woman is getting away with this and I'm not the only person she has done this too, but because I was to naive to the law like the others, no-one seems to listen!!!!! She has since built new home in Mai…