Florida Elder Law Blog - A blog by Elder Law Associates, South Florida's premier elder law attorneys, who handle elder law, medicaid planning, guardianships and much, much more.
A fast-growing generation of elderly people, needing care, is starting to put a great deal of pressure on caregiving family members. More and more we are seeing articles and books about the burden of long term care on families. (Of course, before making any firm plans, please consult a qualified Florida Elder Law Attorney.)
According to research By the National Care Planning Council, only about 16% of long-term care services are covered by the government. The other 84% are provided free of charge by family caregivers or provided by services paid out-of-pocket by families or from those receiving care. And the bulk of government care services are provided only after a care recipient has depleted all of his or her savings. The Council also estimates that at any given time approximately 22% of the population over age 65 is receiving some form of long term care support. About 44.4 million adult caregivers provide 21 hours a week of care with 4.3 years average time spent providing care.
Dilemma of Finding Eldercare Services
The need for care usually occurs without warning, when a stroke, heart failure or other medical condition or illness incident to age suddenly happens to an aging senior. Family members end up in panic mode trying to understand and educate themselves on what needs to be done and what resources are available. If they need to take time from work to handle the crisis then it becomes urgent to find answers and solve caregiving needs. The need to balance work with urgent caregiving responsibilities creates untold stress on employed family caregivers.
Most family caregivers simply don't know where to turn for help and advice.
Long term care services are complicated and provider contacts are fragmented throughout the community. For the majority of Americans, eldercare becomes a frustrating do-it-yourself process. How do you find out what government services are available and what they will pay for? What legal documents are necessary and how do you protect assets? What type of home care or facility care is needed? Should you quit your job to become the caregiver? Will the government or insurance pay you for caregiving to help replace your lost income?
The question often arises as to whether to use long term care professionals or go it alone in arranging care and services.
“Using care professionals is the most cost effective and efficient way to provide help for a loved one. Hiring professional advisers or providers to help with long term care is no different than using professionals to help with other complex issues such as car repairs, dealing with taxes, dealing with legal problems, or needing trained employees to help run a business. With their education and training, long term care professionals also bring experience that only comes from dealing with countless hands- on caregiving challenges”.
One Central Source for Locating Help and Advice
The National Care Planning Council recognizes the need for family caregivers to educate themselves and find the needed resources and professional help quickly.
To fill the need for caregivers nationwide, the National Care Planning Council web site "Long Term Care Link", was developed as a comprehensive resource for long term care planning. There are hundreds of pages containing articles on long term care covering all aspects of caregiving and care services. Books are also available on how to plan for long term care and how to apply for your veterans benefits for long term care.
If you are looking for government and community resources, there are lists with applicable website links. Some of those lists include National and State Area Agency on Aging Services, Senior Centers and Veterans Service Offices.
There are over 100 links to websites filled with reference materials. For example; the Gerontological Society of America, National Nursing Home Survey, Elder Law Answers, Senior Corps.
Find Eldercare Professional Service Providers in Your Area
The National Care Planning Council lists eldercare specialists and advisers who help families deal with the crisis and burden of long term care. These specialists can be found under the services category lists like the ones below, on the website. Each professional is listed under the State and area in the State that he or she services. A caregiver can go to the National Care Planning Council website and find someone in the area of need and read about the services of the listed company, individual or facility. Website visitors needing help can then call, email or fill in a request form to receive contact from a listed provider.
Listing categories on the website include the following specific services.
- Care Management, Guardianship, Conservatorship and Dispute Resolution
- Non-Medical Home Care
- Home Health Agency – Medicare-Covered Home Care and Hospice
- Home Maintenance, Deep Cleaning, Remodeling and Yard Work
- Veterans Benefits -- Consultant for the Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit
- Geriatric Health Care Practitioner or House Call Doctor
- Reverse Mortgage Specialist
- Elder Law Advice and Medicaid Advice
- Estate Planning, Tax Planning, Trust Management Services and End-Of-Life Planning
- Care Facility or New Home Search, Relocation, Downsizing and Real Estate Services
- Adult Day Care Services
- Insurance Products, Retirement Planning and Financial Advice
- Funeral & Burial Preplanning
THE NATIONAL CARE PLANNING COUNCIL INTRODUCES
ITS STATE CARE PLANNING COUNCIL WEBSITES
A state care planning council is an informal statewide alliance of eldercare specialists and advisers that helps families deal with the crisis and burden of long term care. When you go to your state care planning website, your search for help is right in your neighborhood.
Purpose of the State Care Planning Council
- Educate the public on the need for care planning before a crisis occurs.
- Provide, under one source, a list of providers representing most of the available
- government and private services for eldercare.
- Offer a trusted team of providers and advisers that the public will recognize in their area and can turn to for expert help in dealing with the challenges of long term care.
One Stop Shopping for Eldercare Services
State Care Planning Council websites offer a closer-to-home option for finding help and services to solve caregiving problems. Many of the local service providers work together as a team to help meet specific eldercare needs of the individual.
For example:
Tim and Debra, both in their late 80’s, were adamant about staying in their home. Both were taking medications and were mobile with walkers. Their daughter, Julie was concerned about their safety in the home, especially with avoiding hazardous falls, bathing and preparing meals. Tim insisted he could drive his car, even though he was a hazard on the road. Julie had taken the car keys and therefore faced an argument every time she went to their home.
Lately, Julie noticed that the required medications were not being taken. Tim was a diabetic and required monitoring with his insulin and diet. Julie ordered “Meals on Wheels” which her mother quickly canceled. Frustrated at having no cooperation from her parents, Julie realized she needed outside help.
Checking the internet for resources in her area, she found the name of a Professional Care Manager in her area listed on her State Care Planning Council website. Jackie -- the professional care manager and family dispute professional -- had worked many times with families like Julie and her parents.
A meeting was arranged where all parties to the caregiving were involved. Tim expressed that he did not want to give up his freedom driving to the store or other places he liked to go. Jackie suggested selling the car and using the money to pay a taxi or community transit. She arranged for Tim to see a geriatric physician to get his diet under control for his diabetes. Some in-home help with bathing, meal preparation and medication reminders was arranged by having a local non-medical home care company come in daily. Jackie gave Julie explicit instructions on how to organize the house to help prevent falls. To pay for the extra expense, Jackie introduced a reverse mortgage broker who explained how their home equity-- on a risk-free basis --could provide the money they needed for their care.
Every service provider or adviser Jackie brought in worked side-by-side with her on the state care planning council. Jackie knew they could provide the needed help with expertise and integrity.
Julie found that using professionals gave her peace of mind and confidence that her parents' care was in good hands.
The State Care Planning councils are just starting to grow and be populated with professional service providers throughout the Untied States. Like the National, the State websites are filled with resource material and articles for the public use.
Labels: Florida Elder Care, Florida Elder Law Attorney
Some times helpful tips do not need explanation, facts and figures or supportive arguments. They just make sense on their own.
* Be a helper not a boss..
* Walk ahead going down stairs and behind going up stairs.
* When they can't hear you, change your pitch not just the volume.
* Take care of yourself.
* Empathize what an elder can do and avoid talking about what they can't do.
* Laugh.
* Ask for help.
* Medications are both savior and killer, be very, very careful.
* Alzheimer's patients should be agreed with, not corrected.
* Write down what the doctor tells you.
* Never transfer ownership of their money without consulting an attorney
* No skipping meals.
* Make conversation by asked about events from their younger life.
* Drink plenty of liquids.
* Install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and change the batteries.
Let us hear your one line tips. Send us an email at info@elderlawassociates.com.
Labels: Florida Elder Care
Here's an important story that we found in the Orlando Sentinel that could impact many of our Florida Medicaid clients. (Elder Law Associates are qualified
Florida Medicaid Planning Attorneys, with years of experience.)
-----
Florida Medicaid can't afford 1.4 million more uninsured and $1.6 billion more in costs, legislators say
Josh Hafenbrack, Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida officials have calculated that the health-care proposals being debated in Congress could add 1.4 million uninsured residents to the state's Medicaid rolls — and cost state taxpayers $1.6 billion a year.
Click here to read the complete article.Labels: Florida Medicaid Planning
We heard this story on NPR and thought it was interesting and thought provoking, especially to our Florida Elder Care clientele. It's about delirium, a sudden and frightening onset of confusion. A common but often unrecognized problem in hospitalized elderly people, delirium is estimated to affect more than 2 million seniors a year.
Click here to read or listen to the story from NPR's Web site: Treating Delirium: An Often Missed DiagnosisEllen Morris & Howard Krooks
Florida Elder Law AttorneysLabels: Florida Elder Care, florida elder law, Florida Elder Law Attorney
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the nation's special education students are entitled to a "free and appropriate public education."
Schools have argued that the law says parents of special education students must give public special education programs a chance before seeking reimbursement for private school tuition.
But advocacy groups and parents of some special education students contend that forcing them to try public schools first could force children, especially poor ones, to spend time in an undesirable situation before getting the help they need.
Justice John Paul Stevens said in his majority opinion that the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires a school district to pay for private special ed services if the public school does not have appropriate services.
"We conclude that IDEA authorizes reimbursement for the cost of special education services when a school district fails to provide a FAPE [Free Appropriate Public Education] and the private-school placement is appropriate, regardless of whether the child previously received special education or related services through the public school," Stevens said.
In the case before the Supreme Court, the family of a teenage Oregon boy diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - who was identified only as T.A. - sued the school district, saying the school did not properly address the student's learning problems. The family is seeking reimbursement for the student's tuition, which cost $5,200 a month. The family paid a total of $65,000 in private tuition.
In its appeal, the Forest Grove School District said students should be forced to at least give public special education programs a try before seeking reimbursement for private tuition. If not, parents would bypass public schools and go directly to private school - and then ask for reimbursement from school systems already burdened by ever-increasing costs.
The court's decision does not require reimbursement, but Stevens said school officials "must consider all relevant factors, including the notice provided by parents and the school district's opportunities for evaluating the child, in determining whether reimbursement for some or all of the cost of the child's private school education is warranted."
Justice David Souter, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented.
"Given the burden of private school placement, it makes good sense to require parents to try to devise a satisfactory alternative within the public schools," Souter said in the dissent.
This is the court's second attempt at resolving this issue. The high court split 4-4 on a similar case from New York City two years ago. Justice Anthony Kennedy recused himself in the New York case but was among those who ruled on the Oregon case.
Nationwide, the number of special education students placed in private schools at public expense has not changed significantly over the last two decades, Justice Department lawyers said, citing statistics from the U.S. Department of Education. Just under 67,000 pupils were in private placements in 2007 - just 1.1 percent of the country's nearly 6 million special education students.
Labels: Florida Guardianship, Florida Special Needs Trust
