Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog

New Jersey appeals court ruled that a Chancery court’s order holding that certain trust expenditures “shall not” act to deprive the beneficiary of any Medicaid benefits should a Medicaid application be made, exceeded the court’s subject-matter jurisdiction because New Jersey’s Medicaid agency, the Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS), was the single state [...]

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Several months ago, I presented a program on Veterans Benefits and Social Security Disability Benefits at the Elder Law College, a seminar on Elder Law and Special Needs Law presented each year by the New Jersey Institute of Continuing Legal Education. I wrote a blog post summarizing the seminar material  presented at the Elder Law [...]

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On Saturday, April 27, 2013, I presented a session on the impact of elder law issues on divorce mediation at the 2013 Annual Divorce Mediation Seminar by the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators. The topics covered in my session included Social Security, including retirement, disability and survivors benefits, Supplemental Security Income benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, [...]

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The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is causing Medicaid applicants to be incorrectly denied benefits due to the way the federal agency is reporting the VA pension benefit to state agencies for the purpose of determining Medicaid eligibility. In that regard, the VA is issuing letters to state Medicaid agencies which breakdown the VA benefit [...]

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Recently, the New Jersey Supreme Court granted a Petition for Certification I filed asking the Court to review a decision of the appellate division denying a request by my client, a retired fireman, to designate as beneficiary of his public pension death benefits a special needs trust he established in his Last Will and Testament. This [...]

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In the event of a Medicaid denial as a result of an unauthorized transfer or gift to a third party, one avenue of redress that may be available to a Medicaid applicant is to seek a waiver of the penalty based upon the “undue hardship” exception in the Medicaid regulations. The standards under which a [...]

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As I explained in a previous post, the New Jersey Hospital Care Payment Assistance Program, commonly called “Charity Care,” is a state program for New Jersey Residents with low income and resources who have no health insurance and are not eligible for programs like Medicaid and NJ FamilyCare. There are many people in New Jersey [...]

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The New Jersey Hospital Care Payment Assistance Program, commonly called “Charity Care,” is a state program for New Jersey residents with low income and resources who have no health insurance and are not eligible for programs like Medicaid and NJ FamilyCare. There are many people in New Jersey who have no insurance or health benefits [...]

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A Rhode Island trial court holds that a niece who signed a nursing home admissions agreement on behalf of her aunt did not sign as a responsible party, and is therefore not personally liable for her aunt’s unpaid nursing home bill. Sunny View Nursing Home, Inc. v. Gorman (R.I. Super. Ct., No. KC 11-0491, Dec. 4, [...]

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New Jersey’s Medicaid rules are complicated, and seem like they’re always changing. One such change in the rules that occurs on a regular basis is the State Medicaid agency’s amendment to the Medicaid program’s “penalty divisor.”  On December 10, 2012, a Medicaid Communication, or notice, was released by the Division of Medical Assistance and Health [...]

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