The Connecticut Elder Law Blog

The Boston Marathon and "Good Pain"

I just returned home from running the Boston Marathon and I was pretty excited with my time of 2:55, which was my 2nd-fastest time out of 11 Boston Marathon campaigns. However, I now have the challenging physical aftermath to deal with.  My quads and achilles tendons (particularly my left achilles) are downright killing me and they won't be back to normal for several days.  Suffice it to say that my young-and-crazy days of being able to do a workout a couple days after finishing a marathon are long gone. 

During the subway ride back to my car after the race, I e-mailed one of my paralegals and joked that she may need to ask one of my elderly clients if I could borrow their walker for a few days!  Then I realized that although I'm a good bit younger than my physically disabled clients, I will be able to relate to them on a certain level while I recover from the race.  Yes, the obvious difference is that I should be back to normal within a week (although my achilles may take a bit longer).  But in the meantime I'm getting a temporary taste of what life is like for many of my clients.

Driving home from a trip on your own and then unpacking your things, taking a shower and fixing dinner for yourself is usually not a big deal.  But each of those steps take on a whole new meaning if they take place within a few hours of finishing a marathon.  It's impossible to be comfortable for more than 30 minutes during the car ride, leaning over and picking things up off the floor requires a serious effort, and every downward and upward step calls for careful calculation to avoid over-straining the muscles.  How can my clients live like this?!

So my message is that you should try to avoid being too impatient with any slow-moving seniors that you encounter.  You'd be moving pretty slow too if your body felt the way theirs does.  And if you don't believe me, just hop into the next local marathon!

Nursing Home Admission and Timing the Medicaid Spend-Down

In this post I would like to mention that there is a distinct advantage if your loved one applies for admission into a nursing home while still having significant assets in his name. 

Federal law dictates that once someone is a resident in a nursing home then the facility must provide the same level of care that it provides to all other residents regardless of whether the nursing home's bill is being paid privately or by Medicaid. 

In other words, everyone gets treated the same.  At least that's the story once you're in a nursing home, but it's a whole different story before you get in.

Here's one thing most people don't realize: a nursing home receives only about 60% of their private rate when the resident is on Medicaid. 

Why is this significant?  Because if a nursing home has two applicants for admission and one empty bed, and one applicant has private funds while the other applicant is on Medicaid then the nursing home will take the private-pay applicant over the Medicaid applicant ten times out of ten.

So...when you're planning for nursing home admission, Medicaid eligibilty and the spend-down make sure that you discuss this important issue with your elder law attorney and plan carefully.

I hope everyone enjoys the weekend!