Elder Law Prof Blog

1		Understanding the Labour Market for Older Workers: A Survey IZA Discussion Paper No. 4033 John S. Heywood and Stanley Siebert University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and University of Birmingham Date Posted: March 2, 2009 Last Revised: March 2, 2009 Working Paper Series 19 downloads
2		Exempting High-Level Employees and Small Employers from Legislation Invalidating Predispute Employment Arbitration Agreements UC Davis Law Review, Forthcoming, Santa Clara Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 09-10 E. Gary Spitko Santa Clara University - School of Law Date Posted: April 23, 2009 Last Revised: April 23, 2009 Accepted Paper Series 8 downloads
3		The Curious Case of Disparate Impact Under the ADEA: Reversing the Theory’s Development Into Obsolescence Minnesota Law Review, Vol. 94, No. 2, 2009 R. Henry Pfutzenreuter IV University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - School of Law Date Posted: April 16, 2009 Last Revised: April 20, 2009 Accepted Paper Series 2 downloads
4		Divided by a Common Language: Why the British Adoption of the American Anti-Discrimination Model Did Not Lead to an Identical Approach to Age Discrimination Law Journal of International Aging, Law & Policy, Vol. 4, 2009 Timothy S. Kaye Stetson University College of Law Date Posted: March 21, 2009 Last Revised: May 12, 2009 Accepted Paper Series

May 13, 2009 in Discrimination | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

2009 SS Trustees Report revises last year's estimates

The Social Security Board of Trustees today released its annual report on the financial health of the Social Security Trust Funds. The Trustees project that program costs will exceed tax revenues in 2016, one year sooner than projected in last year’s report. The combined assets of the Old-Age and Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds will be exhausted in 2037, four years sooner than projected last year. The worsening of the long-range outlook for the Social Security program is due primarily to the recent economic downturn and faster reductions in mortality than previously assumed.

In the 2009 Annual Report to Congress, the Trustees announced:

The projected point at which tax revenues will fall below program costs comes in 2016 -- one year sooner than the estimate in last year’s report.

The projected point at which the Trust Funds will be exhausted comes in 2037 -- four years sooner than the estimate in last year’s report.

The projected actuarial deficit over the 75-year long-range period is 2.00 percent of taxable payroll -- up from 1.70 percent in last year’s report.

Over the 75-year period, the Trust Funds would require additional revenue equivalent to $5.3 trillion in today’s dollars to pay all scheduled benefits.

“Today’s Trustees Report contains some disappointing, but not unexpected, news about the financial condition of the Trust Funds,” Commissioner Astrue said. “We should be neither casual nor hysterical about the revised insolvency dates. As with the economy as a whole, the Social Security system will weather this recession. However, the sooner we get on with the task of reforming the system, the easier it will be to make the tough choices that we all know we need to make.”

Other highlights of the Trustees Report include:

Income including interest to the combined Old-Age and Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds amounted to $805 billion ($672 billion in net contributions, $17 billion from taxation of benefits and $116 billion in interest) in 2008.

Total expenditures from the combined OASDI Trust Funds amounted to $625 billion in 2008.

The assets of the combined OASDI Trust Funds increased by about $180 billion in 2008 to a total of $2.4 trillion.

During 2008, an estimated 162 million people had earnings covered by Social Security and paid payroll taxes.

Social Security paid benefits of $615 billion in calendar year 2008. There were almost 51 million beneficiaries at the end of the calendar year.

The cost of $5.7 billion to administer the program in 2008 was a very low 0.9 percent of total expenditures.

The combined Trust Fund assets earned interest at an effective annual rate of 5.1 percent in 2008.

The Board of Trustees is comprised of six members. Four serve by virtue of their positions with the federal government: Timothy F. Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury and Managing Trustee; Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security; Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services; and Hilda L. Solis, Secretary of Labor. The two public trustee positions are currently vacant.

The 2009 Trustees Report will be posted at www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/2009/.

May 13, 2009 in Social Security | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Not elder law: secrets of world's oldest underwater city to be revealed

The oldest submerged town in the world is about to give up its secrets — with the help of equipment that could revolutionize underwater archaeology. The ancient town of Pavlopetri lies in three to four metres of water just off the coast of southern Laconia in Greece. The ruins date from at least 2800 BC through to intact buildings, courtyards, streets, chamber tombs and some thirty-seven cist graves which are thought to belong to the Mycenaean period (c.1680-1180 BC). This Bronze Age phase of Greece provides the historical setting for much Ancient Greek literature and myth, including Homer’s Age of Heroes. Underwater archaeologist Dr Jon Henderson, from The University of Nottingham, will be the first archaeologist to have official access to the site in 40 years. Despite its potential international importance no work has been carried out at the site since it was first mapped in 1968 and Dr Henderson has had to get special permission from the Greek government to examine the submerged town.

Source and more: Science Daily, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090512093635.htm

May 12, 2009 in Other | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

ABA Senior Lawyers Division eNews for April/May online...

Of note is a summary of legislative and regulatory proposals affecting seniors:

Bills Introduced

S 776 (Casey, D-PA), to assist in creating substantive culture change in long-term residential care by establishing a small house nursing home loan program to provide for the establishment, renovation, and construction of small house nursing homes; to Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. S4172, CR 4/1/09.

S 750 (Boxer, D-CA), to amend the Public Health Service Act to attract and retain trained health care professionals and direct care workers dedicated to providing quality care to the growing population of older Americans; to Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. S4062, CR 3/31/09.

Notices
On 4/13/09, the AoA, HHS, announced a request for public comment on the information collection requirements relating to SMP (formerly Senior Medicare Patrol) Program outcome management. Comments are due 6/12/09. FR 16874.

On 4/8/09, the AoA, HHS, announced a request for public comment on a proposed collection of information, the Annual Reporting Requirements for the Older Americans Act Title VI Grant Program. Comments are due 6/8/09. FR 15984.

On 4/7/09, the Administration on Aging (AoA), HHS, announced a request for public comment on an existing approved collection of information for semi-annual and final reports pursuant to requirements in Title IV of the Older Americans Act, which AoA uses to support projects for the purpose of developing and testing new knowledge and program innovations with the potential for contributing to the well-being of older Americans. Comments are due 5/31/09. FR 15729.

Get the issue here: http://www.abanet.org/srlawyers/

May 12, 2009 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

April 2009 issue of Bifocal now available on line

http://www.abanet.org/aging/publications/docs/april_09_ABA_bifocal_J.pdf

Articles include:

North Dakota Adopts Emeritus Pro Bono
Practice Rule

CLE Podcasts from 2008 National Aging and
Law Conference Now Available!

Financial Fraud Likely to Increase in 2009

Help Is on the Way: Senior Legal Hotlines
Respond to Elder Abuse

State Elder Bar Round-up: Washington,
New York, and New Mexico

Webinar—Reading Between the Lines:
Basic Financial Issue Spotting (April 15)

Call for Nominations for National Family
Caregiving Awards

...and more. Get it here:

May 12, 2009 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

Huffington post notes that "elder abuse is a women's issue"

By Martha Burk, Political psychologist, co-founder, Center for Advancement of Public Policy:

"Mother's Day is over for another year, but there's a hidden problem with many of our mothers that just goes on and on. Take the case of Ruth, an 89-year-old woman who was in fairly good health when she entered an Iowa nursing home for physical therapy in 2008. When she left to go home 25 days later, Ruth's leg was rotting and consumed by gangrene. She died three months later. State and federal officials rightly called it neglect, and fined the nursing home $112,650.

The nursing home owner is of course contesting the ruling. He runs a lobbying organization and is complaining about the fine to Iowa legislators, accusing the inspections department of "flogging" nursing homes and blocking seniors' access to care by imposing huge fines.

Ruth's case, highlighted in the Elder Abuse: A Women's Issue, the annual Mother's Day report being released today on Capitol Hill from Older Women's League (OWL), is by no means an isolated one. Domestic and institutional elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation cause serious harm to anywhere from 500,000 to 5 million individuals in the United States every year. Females make up approximately 66% of the victims. That means up to 3 million older women are battered, beaten, swindled, or neglected by relatives and so-called caregivers. "

May 12, 2009 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Obit: Icon Marilyn French dies at age 79

Marilyn French, author of The Women's Room and regarded as one of the great feminist writers, has died of heart failure aged 79 in New York. The native New Yorker died on Saturday in a Manhattan hospital, said Carol Jenkins, a friend and president of the city's Women's Media Center. Her 1977 novel about a housewife's rebellion against male domination sold 20m copies and was widely translated. French's final novel is due to be published this autumn. She was also working on a memoir. French is survived by her son, Robert French, and her daughter Jamie French. In a 2004 poll of listeners to BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, The Women's Room was voted one of the five books that have most changed the way women see themselves.

More at BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8034946.stm

May 5, 2009 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

New study suggests that caregiving for elderly parents helps extend caregiver lifespan

Boomers sandwiched between growing children and ailing aging parents often worry that the stress from all that caregiving might shave years off their lives. But it turns out that the opposite may be true — the nurturing they give may be repaid by a longer lifespan, a study shows. Earlier studies found that people who had cared for sick relatives died at a younger age than people who didn’t help. But researchers from the University of Michigan suspected the caregiving wasn’t the problem. “We thought that it wasn’t the helping that was harmful, and that the harm seen in those studies came from watching someone die,” says study author Stephanie Brown, a social psychologist and an assistant professor in the department of internal medicine at the University of Michigan.

Source/more: MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30565985/

May 5, 2009 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

A favorite website about old stuff....

The Ancient Maps Web List, http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/AncientWebPages/AncientL.html

May 5, 2009 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

Some new, cool stuff from NAELA

To visit the Online Education Library click here

NAELA Rolls Out the Online Education Library

Keep up with Elder Law and Special Needs Law issues with the new NAELA Online Education Library - without leaving your office! You'll find instant access to online and telephonic seminars, webinars, podcasts, MP3's and session materials. The Online Education Library is user friendly, features simple online ordering as well as value-priced programs. Continued Legal Education credits apply to some programs.

NAELA's New CareerCenter

Let our focused job center help match qualified legal staff with your office needs. The new NAELA Career Center will be open on May 11th to any job seeker interested in Elder and Special Need Law. Post your job at NAELA Career Center at a fraction of the cost.

For more information on NAELA's CareerCenter click here

May 5, 2009 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

Recent SSRN papers about MEDICARE

1		Choice Inconsistencies Among the Elderly: Evidence from Plan Choice in the Medicare Part D Program NBER Working Paper No. w14759 Jason Abaluck and Jonathan Gruber Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics Date Posted: February 26, 2009 Last Revised: April 1, 2009 Working Paper Series 12 downloads
2		Public Long-Term Care Insurance and the Housing and Living Arrangements of the Elderly: Evidence from Medicare Home Health Benefits CRR Working Paper No. 2008-15 Gary V. Engelhardt and Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley Syracuse University - Center for Policy Research and Syracuse University - Department of Economics Date Posted: March 18, 2009 Last Revised: March 18, 2009 Working Paper Series 4 downloads
3		Risky Business: Medicare's Vulnerability to Selection Games of Managed Care Providers University of Baltimore Law Review, Vol. 28, 1999 Charles Tiefer and Heather Lee Akehurst-Krause University of Baltimore School of Law and affiliation not provided to SSRN Date Posted: February 14, 2009 Last Revised: February 18, 2009 Accepted Paper Series 6 downloads
4		Treatment for Medicare's Budget: Quick Operation or Long-Term Care? St. Louis University Public Law Review, Vol. 16, No. 1, 1996 Charles Tiefer University of Baltimore School of Law Date Posted: March 22, 2009 Last Revised: March 22, 2009 Accepted Paper Series 2 downloads
5		Designing a Mixed Public and Private System for the Health Insurance Market Bryan E. Dowd University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - Division of Health Policy and Management Date Posted: February 11, 2009 Last Revised: February 11, 2009 Working Paper Series 40 downloads
6		Who Will Protect the Disruptive Dialysis Patient? American Journal of Law and Medicine, Vol. 32, 2006, U. of Pittsburgh Legal Studies Research Paper Stella L. Smetanka University of Pittsburgh - School of Law Date Posted: May 2, 2009 Last Revised: May 2, 2009 Accepted Paper Series
7		Private Medical and MassHealth Liens Made Simple Journal of Massachusetts Academic Trial Attorneys, Vol. 2, p. 1, 2008 Gabriel H. Teninbaum Suffolk University Law School Date Posted: February 21, 2009 Last Revised: February 26, 2009 Accepted Paper Series 50 downloads
8		*How Annuitizing* Differs from Privatization** Bruce Davis Jackson B. Davis Jackson, CPA Date Posted: February 15, 2009 Last Revised: February 15, 2009 Working Paper Series 31 downloads
9		Technology Diffusion and Productivity Growth in Health Care NBER Working Paper No. w14865 Jonathan S. Skinner and Douglas Staiger Dartmouth College - Department of Economics and Dartmouth College - Department of Economics Date Posted: April 13, 2009 Last Revised: April 17, 2009 Working Paper Series 13 downloads
10		Stylized Facts and Incentive Effects Related to Claiming of Retirement Benefits Based on Social Security Administration Data Michigan Retirement Research Center Research Paper No. 2008-200 Wojciech Kopczuk and Jae Song Columbia University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Economics and U.S. Social Security Administration Date Posted: February 5, 2009 Last Revised: February 11, 2009 Working Paper Series 4 downloads
11		Congressional Oversight of the Clinton Administration and Congressional Procedure Administrative Law Review, Vol. 50, No. 1, 1998 Charles Tiefer University of Baltimore School of Law Date Posted: March 19, 2009 Last Revised: March 19, 2009 Accepted Paper Series 2 downloads
12		Do Health Problems Reduce Consumption at Older Ages? Barbara A. Butrica , Richard W. Johnson and Gordon Mermin The Urban Institute , Urban Institute - Income and Benefits Policy Center and affiliation not provided to SSRN Date Posted: April 1, 2009 Last Revised: April 2, 2009 Working Paper Series 2 downloads
13		Dual-Eligible Medicaid Spending: Are We on the Flat of the Curve? CRR Working Paper No. 2008-16 Melissa Boyle , Joanna Lahey and Margaret E. Czervionke University of Southern California - Leventhal School of Accounting , Texas A&M University - George Bush School of Government and Public Service and affiliation not provided to SSRN Date Posted: March 17, 2009 Last Revised: April 2, 2009 Working Paper Series 2 downloads
14		Health Care Reform in a New Political Environment: Predicting the Shape of Change Susan Adler Channick California Western School of Law Date Posted: May 1, 2009 Last Revised: May 1, 2009 Working Paper Series 2 downloads
15		Re-Figuring Federalism: Nation and State in Health Reform's Next Round Lawrence D. Brown affiliation not provided to SSRN Date Posted: February 11, 2009 Last Revised: March 19, 2009 Working Paper Series

May 5, 2009 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

The latest elder law - related CRS reports

R40513
State Health Reform Strategies
April 14, 2009

States have taken the initiative to propose and enact health care reforms to address perceived problems related to health insurance coverage, health care costs, and other issues. These reform efforts vary in scope, intent, and target demographic group. While not all members of Congress agree in the need to reform health care, many have expressed interest in learning about these state efforts to inform ongoing debate at the national level. Each state has implemented a unique set of reform strategies to address concerns about health insurance and the health care delivery system. However, most health reform discussions, at both the state and federal level, focus primarily on insurance. Under this broad policy area, coverage and cost concerns are paramount. The primary objective related to coverage is reducing the number of uninsured persons. Related reforms may target a specific group, or address the uninsured population as a whole. Cost reforms primarily address concerns about the affordability of health insurance for individuals, families, and employers. This typically results in policies that invest public resources to assist consumers and firms with the cost of health insurance. This report identifies general approaches proposed at the state level to reform health insurance, and describes selected reform strategies. These descriptions are intended to be illustrative, not exhaustive. They include examples of both common and innovative initiatives to reflect the diversity of reform approaches, in terms of scope, policy levers used, and populations affected. The reform strategies have been identified according to targeted stakeholder groups: consumers, employers, purchasers of health coverage, and health plans. In addition, the report explores key design and implementation challenges related to coverage and cost, and provides a succinct state example for each reform strategy. This report will be updated as circumstances warrant.

Health Care Reform: An Introduction
April 14, 2009

Health care reform has emerged as an issue in the 111th Congress, driven by growing concern about widely discussed problems. Three predominant concerns involve coverage, cost and spending, and quality. Commonly cited figures indicate that more than 45 million people have no insurance, which can limit their access to care and their ability to pay for the care they receive. Costs are rising for nearly everyone, and the country now spends over $2.2 trillion, more than 16% of gross domestic product (GDP), on health care services and products, far more than other industrialized countries. For all this spending, the country scores but average or somewhat worse on many indicators of health care quality. These concerns raise significant challenges. Each of the concerns is more complex than might first appear, which increases the difficulty of finding solutions. For example, by one statistical measure, far more than 45 million people face the risk of being uninsured for short time periods, yet by another, substantially fewer have no insurance for long periods. Insurance coverage and access to health care are not the same, and it is possible to have one without the other. Having coverage does not ensure that one can pay for care, nor does it always shield one from significant financial loss in the case of serious illness. Similarly, high levels of spending may be partly attributable to the country's wealth, while rising costs, though difficult for many, may primarily mean that less money is available for other things. Solutions to these concerns may conflict with one another. For example, expanding coverage to most of the uninsured would likely drive up costs (as more people seek care) and expand public budgets (since additional public subsidies would be required). Cutting costs may threaten initiatives to improve quality. Other challenges include addressing the interests of stakeholders that have substantial investments in present arrangements and the unease some people have about moving from an imperfect but known system to something that is potentially better but untried. Health care reform proposals will likely rekindle debate over perennial issues in American health care policy. These include whether insurance should be public or private; whether employment- based insurance should be strengthened, weakened, or left alone; what role states might play; and whether Medicaid should be folded into new insurance arrangements. Whether changes to Medicare should occur at the same time may also be considered. Concerns about coverage, cost and spending, and quality are likely to be addressed within the context of these issues. The 111th Congress has already begun work on health care reform. Hearings have been held, and staffs of the committees of principal jurisdiction are working to draft coordinated bills. Some comprehensive reform bills have already been introduced, such as H.R. 15 (Representative Dingell), H.R. 193 (Representative Stark), H.R. 676 (Representative Conyers), H.R. 956 (Representative Kaptur), H.R. 1200 (Representative McDermott), H.R. 1321 (Representative Eshoo), S. 391 (Senator Wyden), and S. 703 (Senator Sanders). This report does not discuss or even try to identify all of the concerns about health care in the United States that are prompting calls for reform. Other concerns may also be important, at least to some, and will likely contribute to the complexity of the reform debate. The report may be updated to include other health care reform issues as the debate in Congress unfolds.

Selected Health Funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
April 13, 2009

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, which the President signed into law on February 17, 2009 (P.L. 111-5), provided more than $17 billion in supplemental FY2009 discretionary appropriations for biomedical research, public health, and other health-related programs within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ARRA also included new authorizing language to promote health information technology (HIT) and establish a federal interagency advisory panel to coordinate comparative effectiveness research. ARRA funds were designated as emergency supplemental appropriations for FY2009. Regular FY2009 appropriations for HHS were included in the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (P.L. 111-8), enacted March 11, 2009. This report discusses the health-related programs and activities funded by ARRA, including details of how the administering HHS agencies and offices plan to allocate, award, and spend the funds. It will be updated as new information becomes available. Unless otherwise noted, all the funds will remain available through the end of FY2010 (i.e., through September 30, 2010). Table 1 summarizes ARRA's discretionary health funding, by HHS agency and office. Table 2 provides more details on the funding, by type of activity funded, and includes a comparison of the amounts provided in ARRA, as enacted, with the funding recommendations in the earlier House and Senate versions of the legislation.

RL30922
Retirement Savings and Household Wealth in 2007
April 08, 2009

Once every three years, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System collects data on household assets and liabilities through the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). The most recent such survey was conducted in 2007, and the survey results were released to the public in February 2009. This CRS report presents data from the 2007 SCF with respect to household ownership of, and balances in, retirement savings accounts. Because the majority of assets held in retirement accounts are invested in stocks, trends in stock prices have a significant impact on households’ retirement account balances. As a result of the broad decline in stock prices in 2008, the retirement account balances that households reported on the 2007 SCF may be greater than many of those households would report in 2009. The effect of the current recession on household finances will be reflected in the next SCF, which will be fielded in 2010. Nevertheless, the 2007 SCF provides the most comprehensive and current data available on the amount and type of retirement assets owned by American households.

May 5, 2009 | Permalink | TrackBack (0)

It's baaaaccckkk....