Strengthened Elder Abuse Legislation

On Tuesday Senate Democrats, including Mark Schauer of Bedford Township, plan to introduce a ten-bill package designed to protect seniors from predators by ratcheting up penalties and providing additional tools for prosecutors. The legislative action, based on recommendations made by Gov. Jennifer Granholm's Task Force on Elder Abuse, helps kick off "Older Americans Awareness Month" in May. "Our seniors deserve a system that keeps them safe," Schauer, a member of the Governor's Elder Abuse Task Force, said in a press release. "This legislation puts more appropriate penalties in place to help prevent these crimes, and gives prosecutors the additional tools they need to convict predators." These bills include legislation that would require the forfeiture of an inheritance by individuals who abused, neglected, or stole from a vulnerable adult; increase penalties and sentencing guidelines for the crime of financial exploitation of vulnerable adults based on the dollar amount involved, in some cases doubling it; allow the testimony of a vulnerable adult to be presented by videotape or closed circuit television to accommodate physical limitations; provide for consecutive sentences for any crimes against vulnerable adults, increased sentencing guidelines for a death in an unlicensed care facility and increased penalties for obstructing an investigation at an adult care facility.

Source: Battle Creek (MI) Inquirer (5 May 2008)

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080505/NEWS01/305050005/1002

3 indicted in scam of elderly

Federal officers in Raleigh have indicted three Canadian men in a fraud scheme against older people that includes a devious new wrinkle -- using previous victims as unwitting money launderers in telemarketing scams against other seniors.

Canadians Clayton Atkinson, Jamaal McKenzie and David Stewart -- no ages or addresses were given, and all had aliases -- face a 34-count indictment charging them with using mail, wire and other methods to move stolen money and property.
A joint probe last year by the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found that about $900,000 was moved through Raleigh and other locations to the defendants in the Montreal area, an indictment handed down in March says.

"Between about December of 2004 and March of 2005, Atkinson defrauded an elderly resident of Raleigh ... causing a loss of approximately $80,000 to the victim," FBI agent Joan Fleming said in an affidavit.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Raleigh would not identify the victim and did not know the status of any extradition effort.

Experts in senior fraud have said that scam artists typically find new, more sophisticated methods to target victims and cover their tracks as law officers bolster their efforts to catch them.

As many as 5 million older Americans fall victim to financial abuse annually, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission says.

According to the indictments filed in U.S. District Court in Raleigh, the suspects first tricked vulnerable older people into believing they had won a lottery prize of up to $15 million. The victims were told they first had to pay taxes or other fees to collect their "winnings" -- a common tactic.

But the twist came when the original victim was told to send cash or a check to an address that turned out to be a second victim. The second person had previously been defrauded by the scam artists but was told he or she could get a "loan" to use as a final payment before getting the jackpot.

The second victim was allowed to keep part of the money -- some mailings held as much as $20,000 -- before shipping it to a Canadian drop site, where it was funneled to the scam artists.
Using telephone taps and package tracing, law enforcement found the Canadian apartment of Atkinson, known to the suspect as "Howard Clark," Fleming's affidavit says.
The Mounties waited outside, then called the cell phone.

For the full article please click the link below to go to Thomas Goldsmith's story:

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/wake/raleigh/story/1052595.html

New problems with funeral plans

It is being reported that in some Michigan counties the Michigan Department of Human Services is causing unnecessary problems for certain types of funeral plans. First, DHS is contending that you may own only one burial space item for an individual. This means you could own a casket, but not a burial plot. This violates common sense and federal law. Second, DHS is contending that you cannot prepay funeral service expenses for a spouse. Again, this is against all applicable law and makes no sense.

This is just another example of the heavy-handedness displayed by the Michigan bureaucracy. DHS is making the illegal changes in policy in the hopes that our clients will not have the funds or resolve to fight these injustices.

Proposed PEM changes

The rules that govern Michigan's Medicaid are called "Program Eligibility Manuals" and are available online here: PEMS.

New changes have been proposed that would drastically change Medicaid planning for single people.

The first is that transferring non-countable assets - including cars - will/may be "divestment". Divestment means that a Medicaid applicant will be penalized for transferring an asset. The penalty is calculated by taking the value of the property transferred and dividing it by roughly $6,000. The resulting figure is how many months the Medicaid applicant will not receive Medicaid benefits.

The second proposed change is that partial amounts of transferred assets can no longer be returned. The entire amount must be returned for the penalty to be cancelled. This will be particularly concerning to attorneys who recommend "half-loaf" divesting, which is a technique utilizing gifting and returning gifts or purchasing short-term payout annuities.

Manufactured homes and probate

I recently had following issue arise: How do you ensure that a manufactured home avoid probate, therefore avoiding estate recovery, and be compliant with the Medicaid rules (ie. not be in a trust or gifted away.)

The Secretary of State advised our office that the Certification From the Heir to a Vehicle form will work to transfer the property as long as the combined value of the manufactured home and any vehicles is less than $60,000. This form can be filled out at the Secretary of State after the owner dies by the next of kin. No probate proceedings in court are necessary. This also works for a mobile home.

Economic Stimulus Payments

The following is a list of questions and answers from CMS on the Economic Stimulus Payments and Medicaid.

Medicaid Eligibility – Questions and Answers About the Treatment of Economic Stimulus Rebates and Digital Television Converter Box Coupons Under Medicaid.


Q. How will the recently enacted economic stimulus rebates be treated under Medicaid? Should they be counted as income and/or resources?

A. The answer is no, the rebates are not counted as income or resources under Medicaid, although the amount of time the rebates are not counted as resources is limited. The economic stimulus legislation (P.L. 110-185) provides that credits or refunds issued under the bill are not to be counted as income or resources in the month of receipt, and for the following two months, for purposes of determining eligibility for or the amount of benefits under any federal program, or under any state or local program financed in whole or in part with federal funds. Obviously that includes the Medicaid program.

Q. What does “amount of benefits” mean? Does that mean the rebates are not counted as income under the post-eligibility treatment of income process? What about transfers of assets for less than fair market value and estate recovery?

A. The rebates are not countable as income for either post-eligibility or transfers of assets. Counting the rebates as income under post-eligibility would result in increased income to the individual, which in turn would result in Medicaid reducing its payment to the provider. That means the amount of benefits payable on behalf of the individual would be reduced if the rebates are counted as income under post-eligibility. The same applies to transfers of assets for less than fair market value, and to estate recovery.

Q. The Department of Commerce is planning to send “coupons” worth $40 each to households for the purpose of purchasing television digital converter boxes. The coupons are to help defray the cost of purchasing the boxes, which will be needed by people who do not have digital television receivers when television signals are no long broadcast in analog format beginning in 2009. Will the value of these coupons be countable as income under the Medicaid program?

A. No, the coupons will not count as income under Medicaid. The coupon Commerce is distributing is actually a form of credit card, each worth $40. A person would take his coupon to a retailer and exchange it for a converter box. If the converter box costs more than $40, the person would pay only the difference.

Nursing Home Complaint Information

Many of our clients have trouble choosing a nursing home for a loved one. How can one find important information about the nursing home? The most important step is taking tours of all the nursing homes in the area. An actual tour will help clients get a feel for the quality of life and quality of care. In addition to taking tours, you can look up complaints made against a nursing home.

This website http://www.memberofthefamily.net/registry/mi.htm lists all the complaints against a nursing home for the last three years. Using this website you will discover that two of the five nursing homes in Traverse City are on the National Watch List. A nursing home is placed on the National Nursing Home Watch List when it has at least one substantiated complaint against it that caused actual harm to a patient and/or subjected the patients to immediate jeopardy.

The three Traverse City nursing homes that are not on the watch list are; Grand Traverse Pavilions, Bortz Health Care of Traverse City and Orchard Creek Skilled Nursing.

Being on the watch list does not mean that a nursing home is not providing quality care, it simply means that there have been past violations that caused harm or danger to the residents. The two Traverse City nursing homes on the watch list are; Tendercare Health Center-Birchwood and Tendercare Traverse City.

The listed website is a helpful tool to learn about conditions in a particular nursing home. A client can pull up the past complaints and ask the nursing home what it has done to address the issue.