Risk Factors

Seniors Getting Screwed Out of Medi-Cal

Here are some of the onerous provisions of the law that passed February 1 by the house.

It imposes penalties for asset transfers backwards for three to five years. This means thousands of Medi-Cal (and Medicaid in other states) applicants will be denied eligibility for long-term nursing care because they made asset transfers before even considering going into a nursing home. For example: If Grandpa gave his grandson $5,000 for his college fund four years ago, he'll be denied Medi-Cal benefits four years later.

Anyone who has more than $500,000 equity in a house will be denied Medi-Cal benefits.

Nursing home evictions may occur: under current federal and state laws, a nursing home cannot evict a resident who qualifies for Medi-Cal (Medicaid). However, they can evict residents for non-payment. So, current residents who will become ineligible because of the new rules may be evicted even if they have already exhausted their life savings paying for the nursing home on a private pay basis.

There will be a special treatment of annuities, which includes the requirement that The State be named as the remainder beneficiary.

Source: Gary Lieberman of Elder Law Attorneys writing in the Mill Valley

Herald.

There are a number of risk factors that contribute to successful suicide attempts in the elderly:

Single – analysis shows that not having a partner is a major contributor.
Isolation – some seniors lose the ability to drive as they had always done
Medical conditions that cause restricted ambulation; i.e. unable to get to or on a bus.
Significant life events – the loss of a loved one; a move from the home to a care facility
No supportive social network – as seniors become more senior, friends, relatives and neighbors start to die off as they too age.
Lack of a primary care physician – the shortage in family doctors means that often the elderly are not given the attention and care they deserve.
Family history of depression.
Medications – combinations of medicines, new medications and self-medicating (alcohol for example can be sources of depression.
Access to firearms – about 75% of men shoot themselves compared with women at about 30%.
Severe and chronic pain – this is a very common cause of depression in all age groups, but the incidence rate in the elderly is much higher than the national average.