New York Probate and Estate Administration Blog

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" »

Every good New York Estate Planning Lawyer knows that estate panning is about preparing for the unthinkable. They frequently work with people for whom the prognosis is poor, stepping in to facilitate estate planning, long-term care planning, or to establish and administrate the estate after the death of a loved one.

Unfortunately, even the most seasoned New York Estate Planning Lawyer cannot plan for the unexpected when the source of confusion is the federal government, as has been the case in recent years. Estate planning lawyers rely heavily on the ability to map out the future for the people they work with- to meet with a client, and give them a picture of what the taxation structure will be like for the next five or ten years. Attorneys in Queens and New York are aware of any changes which take place in these areas.

The estate planning community has been in a state of flux over the past year. Because Congress failed to make a prompt decision regarding estate tax legislation, no estate taxes were imposed by the internal revenue service for tax year 2010. Nearing the end of the congressional year, congress passed the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, which contains significant cuts and changes to the current estate tax laws.

At least one New York Estate Planning Lawyer questions the usefulness of such a change. While at face value, raising the estate tax cap should be a good thing, the problem is in the planning. Because the law has a two year cap, and then will have to be reevaluated, it is impossible for tax lawyers to effectively advise their clients on a successful long-term strategy. To give a comparison, the tax laws which are being replaced had been in effect for almost 10 years.

Continue reading "Thoughts on the New Estate Tax" »