Monday, February 27, 2023

Did You Miss These Two Items?

A dear friend of mine sent me this short video on how to make a SNF resident's room more easily identifiable to them: https://www.tiktok.com/@designsecretsss/video/7184175944666516779

Also, the latest edition of the Journal of Elder Policy has been published and is available here. The Journal is "an interdiscplinary journal about old age and policy", and prior issues can be accessed through the landing page.

February 27, 2023 in Consumer Information, Current Affairs, Health Care/Long Term Care, Other | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Borchard Foundation Center on Law & Aging Academic Research Grants Application Now Open

Forwarded from the Director Mary Jane Ciccarello

 

The Borchard Foundation Center on Law & Aging

Invites Applications for

 The 2023-2025 Borchard Fellowships in Law & Aging

 

Applications due April 3, 2023

 

 

Fellowship Information

The Borchard Fellowship in Law & Aging offers the opportunity to carry out a substantial project related to law and aging in partnership with a host agency. Two two-year fellowships are available to law school graduates interested in, and perhaps already in the early stages of pursuing, an academic and/or professional career in law and aging.

The fellowship is $58,000 a year for two years and is intended as a full-time position only. During the fellowship period, the Center’s director and former fellows are available to help fellows with the further development of their knowledge, skills, and contacts. Fellows may also receive from the Center financial support to attend appropriate professional education program opportunities. A fellow is expected to provide the Center with monthly activities reports. Fellows may live and work where they choose in the United States. Fellows must be either U.S. citizens or legally resident in the U.S.

A legal services or other non-profit organization involved in law and aging must serve as the fellow’s host agency and supervise a fellow’s activities and projects. The fellow’s host agency is responsible for providing employee benefits, employer’s FICA payment, administrative support, workspace, computer, telephone, and email access.

The two-year fellowship period starts typically on July 1 for those already admitted to the Bar and from not later than September 1 for those who must sit for the Bar exam after law school graduation.

Fellows participate in conference calls and other planned activities with other current and former fellows to encourage networking. Former fellows who successfully complete the fellowship period may also participate in the Center’s Former Fellows Grant Program.

Examples of some activities and projects by Borchard Fellows:

  • Working with an established legal services program to enable vulnerable, isolated, low-income seniors to age-in-place by addressing their unmet legal needs;
  • Providing holistic services to older clients facing consumer debt and foreclosure-related concerns;
  • Providing direct legal representation and holistic services to older tenants in “clutter cases”;
  • Implementation of a courthouse project to help elderly pro se tenants achieve long-term housing stabilization through the interdisciplinary use of legal representation and social services, allowing more elderly tenants to “age in place” at home; 
  • Development of mobile clinics to help Chinese-speaking elders improve their access to public benefits and health care;
  • Development of a medical-legal partnership for low-income older adults;
  • Development of educational outreach efforts and legal services for older LGBTQ+ adults;
  • Development of legal services and informational materials to caregivers working on behalf of beneficiaries with cognitive impairment;
  • Development of a non-profit senior law resource center providing direct legal services and public education;
  • Development of an interdisciplinary elder law clinical program at a major public university law school;
  • Development of a mediation component for a legal services program elder law hotline;
  • Development of an interdisciplinary project for graduate students in law, medicine, and health advocacy to foster understanding and collaboration between professions;
  • Development of training materials and statewide trainings for

lawyers, judges and other court personnel, and social service providers on new comprehensive state guardianship laws;

  • Development of legal services programs for older clients in consumer law and small claims matters, end-of-life matters, and in protection from financial and elder abuse for older clients whose first language is other than English;
  • Development of free legal clinics for older clients in suburban areas;
  • Development, administration, and interpretation of statewide senior legal hotline outcomes study;
  • Increasing access to legal representation for older adults in immigration detention facilities;
  • Organizing and/or attending national conferences on law and aging issues;
  • Writing and publication of law review articles on law and aging issues;
  • Writing and publication of state specific, consumer oriented handbooks on legal issues affecting older persons;
  • Analysis of Medicare policies;
  • Analysis of Medicaid Home and Community Based Services with a focus on improving racial equity;
  • Analysis of SSI non-disability appeals; and
  • Teaching elder law and related courses at law schools where fellows reside.

 

Application Process

Applications are due on April 3, 2023. Applicants must submit a completed online application including an information form, an explanation of the applicant’s planned activities and projects, a statement about the applicant’s interest in law and aging, a current curriculum vitae, a law school transcript, a letter of support from the proposed supervisor, and two other letters of support.

All fellowship application information and the required online application are available between March 1, 2023, and April 3, 2023, at http://www.borchardcla.org/fellowship-program.

For further information, contact Mary Jane Ciccarello, Director, at [email protected].

February 26, 2023 in Consumer Information, Current Affairs, Grant Deadlines/Awards, Other | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sunday, February 19, 2023

New Article from Professor Kaplan on IRAs

I am remiss in not telling you sooner that Professor Richard  Kaplan has a new article. Anything he publishes is a must-read in my book. Here's the info

The Declining Appeal of Inherited Retirement Accounts is now in print: 42 Va. Tax Rev. 267-85 (2023).

SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4323136

Abstract: As retirement accounts proliferate and grow in value, American retirees are increasingly leaving substantial balances in these accounts to their adult children, siblings, and other relatives. Until recently, these new owners were able to withdraw funds from these tax-favored accounts over their lifetimes as their personal circumstances dictated. But legislation enacted in late 2019 and regulations issued in February 2022 have sharply limited the flexibility that non-spousal beneficiaries now have regarding these assets. This article examines those changes, analyzes their impact on the new owners of inherited retirement accounts, and considers what planning strategies are now appropriate.

Thanks Professor Kaplan!

February 19, 2023 in Consumer Information, Current Affairs, Retirement | Permalink

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Medicare and Social Security Projections-Not Unexpected?

The news from the Congressional Budget Office underscores the reality that the SSA and Medicare Trustees have been pointing out for a while now.  According to an article yesterday in The Hill, CBO warns of sharp uptick in Social Security, Medicare spending,

Federal spending on Social Security and Medicare is projected to rise dramatically over the next decade, far outpacing revenues and the economy on the whole while putting new pressure on Congress to address accelerated threats of insolvency, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). 

The increase is driven by a variety of factors, including Social Security’s new cost-of-living adjustment, the rising cost of medical services under Medicare and greater participation rates in both programs, as the last of the baby boomers become eligible for retirement benefits. 

Further, in Social Security set to run short of funds one year earlier than expected the director of the CBO explains

Social Security funds are set to start running a shortfall in 2032, one year earlier than previously expected, the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said on Tuesday.

“The Social Security solvency date — the exhaustion date for the trust fund — is now within the budget window,” CBO Director Phillip Swagel said, referring to the 10-year period covered by the agency’s annual report.

If the Social Security funds become insolvent and there is no change to current laws, beneficiaries would see a more than 20 percent reduction in their benefits, Swagel added. 

This is the CBO’s second update to the Social Security insolvency date in the last two months, after it adjusted its projection down to 2033 in mid-December.

And finally, in Axios today, Medicare politics are on a crash course with reality

By the numbers: Medicare spending is expected to more than double by 2033 — climbing to $1.6 trillion, or over 4% of the entire U.S. economy, according to an estimate released yesterday by the Congressional Budget Office.

[T]he program's trustees have said the fund that pays for Medicare's hospital coverage will soon reach a dangerous tipping point — paying out more than it takes in. On that trajectory, it eventually wouldn't be able to pay for the coverage it's supposed to provide.

Want to read the full CBO report? It's here.  

Misquoting Bette Davis, "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy ride."

February 16, 2023 in Consumer Information, Current Affairs, Federal Statutes/Regulations, Health Care/Long Term Care, Medicare, Retirement, Social Security | Permalink