New York Probate and Estate Administration Blog

President Barack Obama has responded to calls from legislators to create a plan to reduce the deficit by proposing to limit the growth of Medicaid and Medicare while raising taxes on richest sector of the American populace.
Obama says his plan would reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years. For every $3 federal spending is cut, $1 would be raised in new taxes. In Nassau and Suffolk Counties, seniors are watching carefully to see what happens.
“We have to live within our means, we have to reduce our deficit, and we have to get back on a path that will allow us to pay down our debt,” the president said in a speech at George Washington University. “And we have to do it in a way that protects the recovery, and protects the investments we need to grow, creates jobs and win the future.”
NY City Probate Lawyers have noted that Obama’s plan could save $480 billion in Medicare and Medicaid, which provide medical care for the elderly and the poor, respectively. Unfortunately for him, any tampering with the income of these programs may well offend the president’s own party.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has stated that if changes to these, and other, federal entitlement programs are not made, the only way to balance the budget would be massive tax increases. The CBO says the debt will increase by $7 trillion over the next ten years if no changes are made. It also said entitlement spending would go from 10 percent of the United States gross domestic product to 16 percent in the next 25 years.
“So here’s the truth,” the president said. “Around two-thirds of our budget – two thirds – is spent on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and national security.”
Obama’s plan, like the opposing deficit-reduction plan proposed by Senator Paul Ryan (R-Wis), does not make any changes to Social Security.
President Obama will let Vice President Joe Biden lead negotiations with House and Senate leaders to create a new compromise and reduce the federal deficit significantly, NYC Probate Lawyers have learned.

Continue reading "President Calls for Taxes on the Rich" »

Five of thousands of Medicare patients with “chronic” medical conditions not receiving coverage, together with five national organizations serving patients with multiple illnesses, filed a lawsuit recently in an effort to provide better care for these patients, said a NY Probate Lawyer. Patients in New York City and Long Island have been made aware of these conditions and the efforts to change things.

“It is illegal and unfair and an inappropriate application of the Medicare law,” said the founder and executive director of the Medicare Advocacy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that filed the lawsuit in Vermont federal court. “It is a major barrier to access to medical care and access to necessary care.”

The lawsuit basically says that coverage is being denied because of “an improvement standard,” which basically means that patients are denied treatment for occupational therapy and other physical remedies in situations that seem helpless. Examples include debilitating conditions like Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

“This is not just a theoretic problem but one that affects patients every day,” the executive director went on to say and added that the practice of denying coverage has been going on for much too long.

Many therapies that can be given at home are being denied and could strongly improve these patient’s conditions, said a NY Probate Lawyer. He added that the goal of this lawsuit is mainly to change the language in Medicare laws so that coverage will no longer be denied based on “the improvement standard.”

A representative from Medicare could not be reached for comment but one patient speculates the company will come forward in the next few weeks with a statement.

Continue reading "Lawsuit against the federal government seeks better treatment for Medicare patients, according to New York Estate Planning Lawyers" »