Law Office of Donald D. Vanarelli Blog

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced increased deductibility levels for individuals with long term care insurance policies in 2013.  According to Revenue Procedure 2012-41, the deductible limits range from a low of $360 to as much as $4,550 per person. The limits represent an increase from 2012, as follows: Attained Age Before Close of Taxable Year [...]

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The settlement of Jimmo v. Sebelius, Docket No. 11-cv-17 (D.Vt., January 18, 2011), a nationwide class-action lawsuit, has resulted in a significant change in Medicare coverage rules. Under the settlement, Medicare will scrap a decades-old practice that required beneficiaries to show medical or functional improvement before Medicare would pay for skilled nursing and therapy services. [...]

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New Jerseyans with an autism spectrum disorder gained two laws recently which, it is hoped, will give them a better chance to lead meaningful, productive and independent lives. The first of the new laws, A-4226, expands New Jersey’s anti-discrimination law, the Law Against Discrimination, to ensure that no one who has autism and related neurological [...]

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In Rodbart v. County of Union, 2009 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 3084 (December 21, 2009), Union County was sued by three retirees who expected the County to pay their Medicare Part B premiums for life if they accepted early retirement. Two of the retirees were former Union County assistant prosecutors and the other served as [...]

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The IRS has announced the 2010 limits on the tax deductibility of qualified long term care insurance premiums. Deductible limits were increased for every age group, ranging from $10 for the youngest group to more $130 for the oldest. For the first time, the maximum deductible limit for an individual exceeds $4,000. The 2010 limits [...]

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The September 21, 2009 edition of amednews.com, the internet version of American Medical News, published by the American Medical Association, reported that the number of uninsured Americans increased by about 600,000 in 2008, despite government health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid enrolling about 1 million more people than they did the year before. Although [...]

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According to a recent article in the August 24th edition of The Dallas Morning News, seniors battered by the tough economy are selling their life insurance policies to replenish their retirement nest eggs.  Unlike younger investors, older adults may not have the time to wait for the market to recover all of their losses, so [...]

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When advising clients about how to plan for the possibility of needing long-term care, elder law attorneys generally put long-term care insurance (LTCI) at or near the top of the list of planning strategies, provided the clients can afford the coverage and are insurable. But are elder law attorneys walking the walk for themselves and [...]

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New Jersey allows a deduction of medical expenses, including long-term care insurance premiums, to the extent that they exceed 2% of adjusted gross income. N.J. Stat. Sec. 54A:3-3 New York, on the other hand, provides a tax credit of 10% of the premiums for long-term care policies approved by the Superintendent of Insurance pursuant to [...]

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The U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed earlier holdings that a conflict of interest exists in long term disability (LTD) cases when the same entity (such as an employer or an insurance company) determines whether an employee is eligible for benefits and also pays these benefits to the employee.  In metropolitan-life-insurance-company-v-glenn, 128 S.Ct. 2343 (2008), the [...]

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