Right now estate planning lawyers look like ants after the anthill has been kicked over.  We are frantically scurrying in a blind search for answers to The Big Question:  What are the estate planning rules now?

For years, Congress has known that the current rules would fall off a legal cliff on January 1, 2010.  Congress always promised to fix the “temporary” expiration of the rules before now…  But as we have seen, who can trust Congress to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done?

All nationally known estate tax gurus have believed that the likelihood of 2010 with no estate tax was as improbable as the Cubs winning the World Series, pigs flying, etc.

Okay, so there is no estate tax this year…  What does that mean to your existing will or trust estate plan?  Answer:  You should contact a skilled estate planning attorney to schedule a review of your existing estate plan!  ALMOST ALL EXISTING HUSBAND-AND-WIFE ESTATE PLANS MUST BE REVISED TO AVOID SOME UNEXPECTED BAD RESULTS!

I am telling all of my current estate planning clients that we will make their wills/trusts convertible so as to accommodate new tax law changes.

Ignorance is not bliss!  Now is the time to schedule a review of all existing estate plans!

Last weekend I was blessed to attend the Chicago preview showing of the HBO special documentary entitled “The Alzheimer’s Project.”  This is an exciting joint project of the Alzheimer’s Association and HBO which is designed to give us all new insight and hope that we can push back against Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).  For those of us in Chicago the documentary was even more personal, in that it included a live interview with Dr. David Bennett of Chicago’s own Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center.  The medical staff and researchers at Rush Hospital are one of the premier teams investigating Alzheimer’s Disease.  Dr. Bennett is the director of a large group study entitled “The Religious Order Project.”

 “The Alzheimer’s Project” focused on some individuals with early-onset Alzheimer’s, which affects people who are younger than 65. We learned several new and startling things.  Most people are aware that Alzheimer’s Disease is a brain disease wherein brain function is progressively destroyed by the emergence of plaques and tangles. Surprisingly, there are individuals whose  autopsy reveals the presence of the AD plaques and tangles, but the individual did not exhibit memory loss during their lives—some people continue to function in a normal manner.  This phenomenon is not yet understood but is currently being referred to as “cognitive reserve.”  The presence of this cognitive reserve gives researchers a hopeful avenue of new investigation. 

In addition, part of the question-and-answer portion of the program focused on current drug therapies.  Today there is not a drug which cures or delays the disease.  Our current drug therapies are limited to enhancing the remaining brain function during the continuing degenerative progression of the Alzheimer’s Disease.  Dr. Bennett told the audience in Chicago that there are numerous medical research and drug trials going on right now which demonstrate new possibilities to not only delay but possibly create a vaccine against Alzheimer’s Disease. There is a high probability that medical science will have these enhanced weapons available to the public within the next five to ten years.  This is great news of a brighter view of aging for  millions of people who would otherwise face the prospect of AD. 

If you missed this wonderful program, you can watch each of the documentary films individually online, by streaming them to your computer through HBO’s website. I highly recommend that you click here to see all of the resources that you can download and stream from the HBO program entitled “The Alzheimer’s Project.”

HD Quilt Square

In March I was privileged to speak at the Illinois Conference on Huntington’s Disease.

I learned that Huntington’s Disease (HD)—like Alzheimer’s Disease, ALS, and Parkinson’s Disease—all originate from damaged brain cell mutations.  Sitting in the conference room with me were those who have been diagnosed with the disease, the loved ones who care for them, and family members who live with the threat of developing the illness themselves.  You see, the greatest horror of Huntington’s is that it is a hereditary disease that passes from parent to child, often striking up to 50% of family members!  At-risk young people live in dread of “crossing over” to becoming stricken with Huntington’s symptoms like involuntary muscle movement and cognitive decline.

I was especially moved by a display called the Huntington’s Disease Memory Quilt.  The quilt is an ongoing project, pieced with squares to commemorate the lives of those lost to HD.  Because Huntington’s Disease is hereditary, there were many quilt pieces arranged together for multiple family members afflicted by the disease. The effect was moving and staggering.  The top row contained a number of pieces in honor of the lost loved ones from just one family.  Another square which brought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes depicted a semi-barren tree shedding its leaves, and read:

O Lord, I ask that you please
Let no more leaves fall
From our family’s tree.
May those who investigate
Find a cure.
Help those who care
Have strength to endure.
Hear our prayer, Dear Lord!

It went on to read, “Four fallen leaves—Bill, Billy, Ken, and Vera.”

Although Huntington’s Disease is a relatively rare disease that affects about 1 in 10,000 persons, the families that suffer from this killer often sustain a 50% casualty rate.  Here at Law ElderLaw, we have decided to help work toward a cure.  There is a “Team Hope Walk for a Cure” taking place in Wheaton, IL on Sunday, May 17, 2009.  I am going to be there with some of our team.  If you would like to join us, we would love to have you on our team!  Click here to join us or to create your own team!  If you live outside of Illinois but still want to help, you can find a walk in your state by clicking here.  We hope many of our friends will be able to come join us on May 17th and help us Walk for a Cure!

Page Williams with her horse

When I started practicing elder law, the only people I saw as clients were of my parents’ generation.  But now my own boomer generation is also coming through the doors.  Some are afflicted with early onset Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, and they are surprised that they now need long term care.  In 1921 Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford dreamed that the movie industry folks would always “take care of our own” and started The Motion Picture & Television Fund, which in turn funded the Motion Picture & Television Country House & Hospital (commonly referred to as Motion Picture Home)—a home that is now closing due to bankruptcy.

My friend and fellow boomer Page Williams recently sent me an e-mail which expressed her anxiety about her own long term care prospects. She is a board member of a union representing theatrical, stage, movie, and TV show workers who are not actors, producers, or writers.  But what’s really bothering her is that “Like millions of boomers, I chose not to marry or have children.  But I don’t think that we unmarried boomers fully realize that there’s a lot more to worry about now than just long term care for our geriatric parents.”  As an entertainment worker, the closing of the Motion Picture Home has her scared. “I always used to joke with my friend Terry as we were riding along on our horses that some day we would be old and gray and sitting around the MP Home having a drink and remembering these days.  Now I wonder what’s going to happen to us.” 

Like other boomers, Page sees promises of retirement era benefits vanishing long before the boomers themselves even arrive at the gates.  Members of her union have paid into the Motion Picture & Television Fund for years with the expectation that if they needed it, that senior home would be there for them.  In great contrast to ordinary nursing homes, the Motion Picture Home has benefited from high profile pre-Oscar fundraising events generating up to $15 million in contributions per year.  Nonetheless, the hospital board says they just can’t carry the alleged $10 million per year nursing home deficit any longer.  They, like other facilities around the country, are receiving insufficient reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid, the primary sources of governmental health care funding for North American seniors.  Jim Lott, executive director of the Hospital Association of Southern California, complained that Medicare provides reimbursement for only about 87 cents of each dollar that the hospital spends on care. Medicaid reimbursement is even worse, with the state only delivering about 78 cents for each dollar cost of care. 

All over the country, hospitals and nursing homes are closing due to inadequate and long-delayed reimbursement dollars owed to them by both the state and federal governments.  The closing of Motion Picture Home is one more warning that both seniors and boomers must work together to insist that our government provide health care reforms that ensure quality end-of-life care.  As we listen to government claims that they are going to provide universal coverage, it would be nice to see examples of our government actually providing excellent care.  Unfortunately, those examples do not exist. 

What this means for our readers is that it’s time to get serious about your own long term care security, especially if you’re a boomer. Do not delay investigating—and investing in—long term care insurance. There are some new “hybrid insurance products” that will pay out with either a life insurance death benefit or a long term care health policy. Call your trusted financial advisor today.

In a recent conversation with friend and financial advisor Rocky Greene, the subject turned to the lowered level of trust people are willing to extend to financial professionals in recent days, because so many people have lost their investments—sometimes their entire retirement or life savings—in the stock market.  After being betrayed by the heads of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, major investment houses, and even the governor of Illinois, people are afraid to trust, and afraid to invest again.  This fear of professionals is not making people safer—it is actually making individuals even more vulnerable to ongoing losses that can devastate their accounts.

At times like these, when people are in a state of fear, they put a complete stop on any forward movement because they’re afraid of the unknown.  According to Rocky, freezing up is the worst thing you can do.  He uses the following analogy, “if your child is sick, you don’t wait until your child turns blue to go to the doctor.  You take your child to the doctor right away!  If you’re not satisfied with the opinion of that doctor, then you get a second opinion.  But you need to do something.”  Investment management is not so different from child management. 

Despite the losses in today’s market, people are at much greater risk if they are paralyzed with fear.  Don’t freeze up; instead, use this time to take action!  If you don’t trust your financial advisor any more, find someone you DO like and trust, who can assist you in moving forward.  And whatever you do, do not pay attention to the pundits on TV.  Those “professionals” are promoting the flavor of the month, trying to push people’s hot buttons to get ratings.  This is absolutely  the opposite of working with a professional who will endeavor to understand your concerns and priorities and guide you accordingly.  Change is not nearly as fearsome as you might believe—provided you have a trustworthy guide. 

So I asked Rocky, “Well, how can people know who to call?  What should a client look for in an advisor?”  His advice was simple: ask around and interview until you find someone you feel you can trust.  I admit that this particular advice can be somewhat challenging, especially when you have the specter of someone like Bernie Madaff, who made off with over $50 billion entrusted to him by individuals who are far savvier than the typical senior citizen in America.  But Rocky’s advice makes sense.  In the end, we all have to trust our instincts and just keep moving.

(In case you are wondering, Rocky Greene is not a slick new kid on the block; he is one of the old guard.  He does not have a website; in fact, almost all of his business comes from referrals.  Rocky is educated about the particular concerns of senior citizens as well; he is quite aware that elderly clients need to be able to have access to their money in the event of an emergency, and he states that there are appropriate products that do provide seniors with liquidity in the event of a nursing home or long-term care emergency.  Rocky can be reached at Greene Financial Services in Naperville, IL, e-mail rockyg@wideopenwest.com)

Juanita Matby and Gordon Newman, February 21, 2008 Tigard High School

I had never heard of a senior citizen senior prom until last week.  But in the spirit of St. Valentine’s Day, with its celebration of youthful romantic love, I decided to learn “What the heck is a senior senior prom?!”  What I discovered is a delightful idea that combines the youthful energy of high school and college students with the timeless wisdom of our elders.

We all know the indispensable ingredients of a prom which can transform an average evening and high school gymnasium into a magical wonderland.  Happily, some high schools and colleges have begun to encourage their senior students to host a senior citizen prom, or a “senior senior prom.”  A “senior senior prom” gives the prom a whole new significance—but most of the original recipe’s flavors are still there.  Any “senior senior prom” hosted by students will usually include:

• Dress-up clothes and flowers
• Dining and dancing
• The crowning of a prom king and queen
• Plenty of socializing (but now it’s intergenerational!)

The new senior senior prom idea is hot.  High schools, colleges, assisted living facilities, community groups, and even churches have begun to host these remarkable events.  Lizzie Mytty, writing for her college’s Marquette Tribune, wrote, “When the music started playing, students and seniors alike crowded the dance floor to do the twist, dance to the electric slide, and form conga lines.”  She went on to add, “It’s a success in… connecting students and senior citizens.  At the prom, seniors and students dressed in formal wear, talked, laughed, and danced to music from the 1920s to today.”

Encouraging today’s students to host today’s senior citizens and really get to know each other pays big dividends.  Senior citizens and students build bridges of friendship and communication.  Both groups throw away their negative ideas about the other.

If you are interested in helping to kick off a senior senior prom in your community, here are links to a few resources:

The Marquette Tribune
The Astra Chapter of the National Honor Society
The Daily Emerald; “Young at Heart Prom”

If you have ever attended or hosted a “Senior Senior Prom” please comment and tell us all about it, we would love to know more from the readers who are close to our hearts.  And may all of our readers enjoy a happy St. Valentine’s Day!

Have you been wondering if the proposed Obama-Biden “plan to lower healthcare costs and ensure affordable, accessible, health coverage for all” would provide long-term skilled nursing home care for frail seniors?  The short answer is…no! 

The key features of the plan focus on providing access to healthcare to “over 45 million Americans—including over 8 million children” who lack health insurance.  The Obama-Biden Plan has five main strategies: 

1. Invest in electronic health information technology systems
2. Improve access to prevention and proven disease management programs
3. Ensure that health providers deliver quality care
4. Lower drug and insurance costs
5. Reduce insurance costs for catastrophic illness coverage

Here is the principal goal as highlighted on the Obama website:  “Barack Obama and Joe Biden will guarantee affordable, accessible healthcare coverage for all Americans.”  Despite the presence of the seemingly straightforward words “healthcare coverage” and “all” in the sentence above, it’s critical to understand the definition of those words.  When it comes to healthcare and politics, even simple words may not have a common-sense meaning.  “Healthcare coverage” means “payment for acute healthcare costs.”  Acute care is the type of care given to recover from short-term diseases and accidents. 

In the United States, public healthcare payers, such as Medicare and Tri-Care (for retired military) and the private healthcare insurers, reimburse healthcare providers only for acute care and acute illness rehabilitation.  These payers specifically exclude long-term care in a skilled care nursing home.  Care in a skilled care nursing home is defined as chronic care.  Neither Medicare nor private health insurance pay for chronic care in assisted living facilities or nursing homes.  Unfortunately, the bottom line for America’s frail seniors with a long-term illness is that the word “all” (as defined in the Obama-Biden Healthcare Plan) does not include them. 

Sadly, this means that under our current healthcare program and the Obama proposals, the majority of America’s seniors have no alternative but to pay their own nursing home bills.  If you have Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or another long-term illness—you are still on your own.  Even if Obama-care is enacted, you will be required to pay your own tab for long-term healthcare until you are impoverished enough to qualify for Medicaid.

But there are ways to prevent the impoverishment required to qualify for Medicaid, if you plan far enough ahead.  We recommend that boomers and seniors seriously consider long-term care insurance.  And to avoid some of the worst outcomes, please contact an elder law attorney who can help you plan today for better long-term healthcare tomorrow.

Greasy Temptation

“It creeps up on you.  One day you can’t seem to fasten your skirt, your pants feel snug, you notice a bulge over your seat belt.  You’re not alone; the average adult American gains about one pound per year.  And fat around your middle is the worst for your health, because it raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and possible dementia.”  (From the Nutrition Action Health Letter from the Center for Science and the Public Interest, December 2008.)

Like most North Americans, I’ve just finished a holiday eating binge.  It began when the first shot was fired on Thanksgiving morning to begin a marathon of eating that went on almost nonstop until I awoke on January 1st and got on the scale.  I feel a bit bipolar.  First it seemed like I could never get enough of those goodies laden with gooey fats, sweets, and calories—but now I want to remove all evidence of brownies, cookies, and eggnog from my gut.  That’s it!  I’ve looked in the mirror…  I’ve gotten on the scale…  I’m feeling fluffy.  Here we go again.  The January diet is a true national pastime, and one we seem to repeat over and over.  “But this year is going to be different,” we say to ourselves.  “This year I’m going to be a ‘smarter cookie’ when making food choices.”

Take a look at the Eat This, Not That! book series  recently published by David Zinczenko, Editor in Chief of Men’s Health Magazine.  Almost every page is a head slapper. The book has shown me how save over 500 calories when ordering a turkey sub sandwich.  I love to order those “healthy” Sierra turkey sandwiches at Panera Bread . What I did not realize is that this sandwich has 510 calories more than its equivalent turkey sub sandwich with cheese at Subway!  Who knew? 

With Eat This, Not That! you will find restaurant choices ranging from Auntie Anne’s Pretzels to Wendy’s.  You’ll be given good eating options for each restaurant so that you can save hundreds—probably thousands—of calories by avoiding foods that are filled with hidden fat and sugars.  It’s amazing to read how often foods that are labeled as having healthy ingredients such as turkey, salmon, chicken, and fruit juice are actually filled with high fructose corn syrup and trans fats.  This is a book you just can’t put down.

Zinczenko has given us a powerful tool to be able to enjoy the foods we love, but avoid the “waist inflators.”  I especially enjoyed the lists of the “worst foods in America.” The worst fast-food chicken meal is the McDonald’s five piece premium breast strips with creamy ranch sauce, which provides a whopping 830 calories; the worst [healthy] burger is a Ruby Tuesday’s Bella Turkey burger at 1,145 calories; and the worst coffee is the Starbucks venti strawberries and cream frappucino blended cream, which contains 750 calories.  

Mmm…  I’m beginning to crave a snack.  I think I’ll have Breyer’s all natural mint chocolate chip ice cream at only 150 calories per half cup, instead of the 330-calorie Haagen Dazs brand. Ahhh, the quest continues….
 
Happy healthy eating in 2009!