Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog

A New Jersey appeals court recently determined that a Medicaid applicant is not entitled to a fair hearing to appeal the state’s assessment of a one-month penalty period because her representative waited more than three months after the decision to request the hearing. Talarico v. Department of Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance and Health [...]

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A New York trial court held that because the state Medicaid agency failed to reconsider its earlier eligibility determination in a timely manner, its amended decision denying benefits is vacated. dickinson-vs-ny-department-of-health-and-onondaga-county-department-of-social-services, (N.Y. Sup. Ct., No. 08-4831, Dec. 3, 2008). After her application for Medicaid benefits was denied by the Onondaga Department of Social Services (DSS), Viola [...]

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In E.S. vs. Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services, petitioner, a 91 year old nursing home resident, transferred $42,053 to her son after paying the nursing home privately from her savings for two years. The nursing home payments and the gift combined to leave petitioner with no assets, so she applied for Medicaid. The [...]

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This year, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys held its Advanced Institute in Kansas City, Missouri from October 23 – 26. The program-of-events-10-31-08 shows that the presentations at the Institute covered a wide array of subjects. I attended two terrific sessions on the eligibility criteria for Veterans Administration (VA) service-related compensation benefits and non-service [...]

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As I reported in a May 22, 2008 blog posting several months ago, I received a denial notice from the Middlesex County welfare agency in a case in which the applicant’s Medicaid eligibility plan involved making a loan to a relative. The borrowing relative signed a promissory note agreeing to repay the note in monthly installments, including [...]

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Updated Figures for 2009. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)  has released the community spouse resource allowance and the maximum monthly maintenance needs allowance for 2009. The new minimum CSRA is $21,912 and the new maximum is $109,560. The new maximum monthly maintenance needs allowance is $2,739. The minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance [...]

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In a trio of cases which were consolidated because the cases presented a common question of law, NJ Administrative Law Judge Joseph A. Paone recently ruled that a Medicaid applicant’s prepayment for personal care services to be provided in the future by a family member under a Life Care Contract constituted a transfer of assets [...]

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A New York appeals court held that a community spouse is entitled to an increased minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance (MMMNA) because her basic monthly expenses are almost double her monthly income and therefore qualify as “exceptional circumstances” necessitating access to her husband’s income. Matter of Balzarini v. Suffolk County Dept. of Social Servs. (N.Y. [...]

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I recently litigated two different cases in the Superior Court, Union County, each involving the financial exploitation of the elderly. In one case, a non-relative “friend” took a frail, elderly widow into her home as a tenant. The elderly widow had no family in NJ. The friend acted as caregiver for the elder, and the [...]

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