• Navigating Holiday Celebrations When a Loved One Has Dementia

    Living with a person who has dementia often means dealing with one curve ball after another, especially during the holiday season. If you’re responsible for planning holiday get-togethers for your family, how can you create memorable experiences that work for everyone—even loved ones who have dementia? These suggestions will help.

    Get educated.

    Learn all you can about the type of dementia your loved one has. Knowledge brings understanding. If you and other family members understand dementia, you will be less surprised by the inevitable changes.

  • Ways to Pay for Long-Term Care - Part 1

    Have you ever paid for long-term care? If not, brace yourself. Long-term care is expensive and getting more costly every day. According to the 2021 Genworth survey, care in a semi-private room in a nursing home averages $7,908 per month, with care in a private room averaging more than $9,034 per month.

    Do you have that kind of money laying around? Most of us don’t.

  • Bridging the Elder Care Gap

    By Robin Lacrimosa

    I’ve worked for decades in the senior care industry in Georgia. I got my start in the early 1990s when I hired on as an activity assistant in a memory care unit right after graduating from college. I fell in love with the work and haven’t looked back. Since then, I’ve made a career in the elder care field. I led organizations charged with administering federal grants that fund services for older adults. I worked as a patient affairs coordinator for a local hospital. I served as the director of adult daycare centers.

  • How to Mess Up a Complaint – Part 2

    When an elderly loved one is living in a long-term care facility and you see something that needs to be corrected, issuing a complaint is often the right thing to do. How can you make sure your complaints are heard? How can you make sure they are resolved? We posed these questions to Linda Anderson, a Certified Elder Law Attorney and the founder of Anderson Elder Law, a Life Care Planning Law Firm in Media, Pennsylvania.

  • How to Mess Up a Complaint – Part 1

    When an elderly loved one is living in a long-term care facility and you see something that needs to be corrected, issuing a complaint is often the right thing to do. How can you make sure your complaints are heard? How can you make sure they are resolved? We posed these questions to Linda Anderson, a Certified Elder Law Attorney and the founder of Anderson Elder Law, a Life Care Planning Law Firm in Media, Pennsylvania. “People tend to make the same mistakes over and over again,” she said. “Here are three of the most common.”

  • Medicaid Planning Mistakes – Part 4

    What are the most common mistakes people make when attempting to qualify an elderly loved one for Medicaid? Matthew Bravette, one of the attorneys at Bratton Law Group, a Life Care Planning Law Firm with offices in the Southern New Jersey and Philadelphia areas, has helped thousands of clients navigate the complicated and confusing Medicaid application process. He has seen more than his share of mistakes, and one of the biggest is not working with an experienced elder law attorney, the kind you will find at a Life Care Planning Law Firm.

  • Scams We Hate: Robocalls and Spoofing

    In 2021, there were 92,371 older victims of fraud resulting in $1.7 billion in losses. This is a staggering amount. Financial crimes against older adults can be devastating, often leaving victims with no way to recoup their losses.

    One of the most common ways scammers connect with victims is over the telephone. Robocalling and caller ID spoofing are two schemes that go hand in hand.

  • When Your Loved One is Respite Resistant

    When you’re a caregiver with nothing left to give, arranging for respite care for your loved one, either at home or in a nearby long-term care facility, is a good way to hit the reset button.

    Unfortunately, it’s not always that easy. What do you do if your attempts to take a break are met with resistance or outright hostility from your loved one? What happens if the person you're caring for says, "No, I don't want to go anywhere. I don't want anyone else to be here with me. I don't want anybody else in my home."

    What do you do if your loved one is resistant to respite?

  • How Will the Prescription Drug Provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act Affect Medicare Beneficiaries?

    On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes a broad package of health, tax, and climate change provisions. The law includes several provisions to lower prescription drug costs for people with Medicare and reduce drug spending by the federal government. These provisions will take effect beginning in 2023.