The Legal Checkup Blog

MASS IN LINE FOR 26 PERCENT MEDICAID FUNDING HIKE IN NEW FEDERAL PACT

Posted by Judith Flynn on Wed, Dec 21, 2011 @ 09:12 AM

Hot off the press from the State House News Service:

 

The Patrick administration has struck a $26.75 billion deal with the Obama administration that the governor says will set the stage for a "new round of innovations" in Massachusetts's health care system and that federal officials say will serve as a precursor to sweeping changes in the way health care is delivered in the Bay State.

 

The deal, a three-year Medicaid pact authorized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, represents a $5.69 billion, 26.2 percent increase over the last three-year deal, which was approved by the administration of President George W. Bush in 2008. The last waiver deal, a three-year pact approved in 2008 by the Bush administration, was valued at about $21.2 billion and hailed as a victory for state health programs by Gov. Deval Patrick and U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy.

 

The new deal was reached last week when Patrick met with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius in Washington D.C., and details were finalized in the days since the meeting, according to an administration official.

 

MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program, provides 1.3 million low-income or disabled Massachusetts residents with subsidized coverage and has been a major part of the state's efforts to provide near-universal coverage.

 

Under the terms of the deal, also known as a Medicaid waiver, safety net hospitals in Massachusetts - including Boston Medical Center and Cambridge Health Alliance - will be required to make major changes to the way they deliver health care in order to access a $120-million-a-year pot of funds. The changes include moving away from a health care system that pays doctors based on the volume of tests they perform, rather than the health outcomes for their patients.

 

Gov. Patrick has pressed lawmakers to act on a bill that would make this shift the norm in the Massachusetts health care industry, but the Legislature has deferred action until next year. 

 

Under the waiver, Massachusetts will establish a pilot program aimed at expanding coverage for pediatric asthma services. This provision of the waiver closely mirrors a Medicaid program adopted in a state budget 18 months ago aimed at preventing unnecessary hospital admissions for pediatric asthma patients. The state will also "streamline eligibility procedures" for about 140,000 parents with children who receive food stamps, and the waiver also covers expanded "early intervention" services for children with developmental delays and disabilities.

 

Massachusetts officials also withdrew a number of requests, according to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which sent a letter to Patrick administration health and human services chief JudyAnn Bigby. The withdrawn proposals include integrated care for residents eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, which the Patrick administration plans to tackle independently.

 

The administration had also requested the ability to increase pharmacy co-pays "above allowable State plan levels" and to institute a co-pay for non-emergency medical transportation," according to the letter. The Medicaid waiver, a critical element of Massachusetts health care financing scheme, was due to be finalized in July, but negotiators sought a series of one-month extensions, unable to reach agreement as news of major pressure to cut federal spending dominated the dialogue in Washington.

 

Proponents of the deal said it would preserve the state's health care programs established in 2006, when Gov. Mitt Romney signed a health care law intended to guarantee access to insurance for nearly all Massachusetts residents. Since the law was signed, about 411,000 previously uninsured residents obtained health care coverage, and the Patrick administration estimates that 98 percent of all residents are insured. The cornerstone of that legislation, a health insurance exchange called Commonwealth Care, served as a model for exchanges included as part of the federal Affordable Care Act signed by President Obama nearly two years ago. Commonwealth Care helps enroll low-income residents in heavily subsidized private insurance plans. Commonwealth Care and a separate program that covers care for a diminishing pool of uninsured residents will receive $500 million a year, under the new waiver deal.

 

The Patrick administration has also committed to implementing all provisions of the Affordable Care Act by Jan. 1, 2014, when most major provisions of the federal law take effect. The waiver may carry some political significance heading into a presidential year, as Romney campaigns for the Republican nomination to take on President Obama. Romney has repeatedly been forced to defend the health care law he signed as an affordable plan that works for Massachusetts. But critics say the state's programs survive because of a broad lifeline provided by the federal government, a critique unlikely to be quelled by the major increase in Medicaid funding announced Tuesday.  

Tags: PACE, home care, long-term care, elder law, Legal Check Up, Estate Planning, Medicare, Community Care, priorities, Medicaid, Medicaid Home Care, termination of benefits, skilled services, federal law, rights, nursing home, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PAC, Personal Care Assistance Program

PEACE of MIND Gift Certificates are the perfect stocking stuffers!!

Posted by Judith Flynn on Mon, Dec 19, 2011 @ 18:12 PM

The holidays are a perfect time to give the gift of Peace of Mind.  PEACE of MIND gift certificates provide you with an easy way to initiate a positive conversation about estate and long-term care planning, and encourage your loved ones to get their affairs in order.

Your loved ones will not be offended by this thoughtful gift that still leaves them in control.  Best of all, it will not need to be returned because it  is the wrong size or color (although it can be returned if they choose not to use it, of course).

Exclusively from the Elder Law Office of Judith M. Flynn, PEACE of MIND Gift Certificates may be purchased in any dollar amount, or for specific services such as:  

* a Legal Check Up;

* Estate Planning Package (including Probate Avoidance and Tax Minimization);

* Asset Protection Package

* Special Needs Planning Package;

* College Student Health Care Proxy/Durable Power of Attorney Package.

Contact us today to learn more at http://www.thelegalcheckup.com/contact-us/

Tags: long-term care, asset protection, elder law, Legal Check Up, Legal Documents, Estate Planning, disability planning, Medicare, family, Medicaid, Medicaid Home Care, Durable Power of Attorney, Living Wills, Health Care Proxy, Last Will & Testament, nursing home

Give thanks for your health and security, and take steps to protect it for the future.

Posted by Judith Flynn on Fri, Nov 18, 2011 @ 14:11 PM

I've been feeling compelled to once again urge folks to update their basic estate planning documents and take steps to protect themselves and their hard-earned assets because I have seen a significant increase in crisis cases over the past few months.  One panicked daughter could not find out if her mother had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital as she suspected because mom’s Health Care Proxy did not have HIPAA (the health privacy law) release language in it.  The hospital would not speak with the daughter even though she was the named Health Care Agent because the Health Care Proxy is only effective when the principal is deemed incapacitated by a doctor. 

Then I received a call from Margaret to schedule an appointment for her mom (Betty), as her dad (Joe) was hospitalized and would need nursing home care when discharged.  After my meeting with Margaret and Betty, I knew I had to focus on this topic once again.  You see, this family represents the typical readers and, in fact, the typical clients.  Margaret has two siblings, and all of the children have been urging Betty to see an attorney.  They had actually cut my ad out of the SSSN a year ago for mom, who carried it in a folder with some other important information.  Whether Betty was in denial of her husband’s decline, too overwhelmed to deal with the issues, or just resigned that it was too late to do any thing to protect the estate, she didn’t make the call.  Margaret and her siblings did not want to overstep their boundaries and respected Mom’s independence.

So, there we were, faced with crisis planning to ensure that Joe receives quality care while preserving as much of the estate as possible for Betty’s security. There are more options available with advance planning, for sure, but we could still protect most of the estate with crisis strategies. Joe and Betty own four pieces of real estate and have other assets valued at approximately $519,000. Joe may not have more than $2,000 in his name and Betty is only allowed to retain about $109,000. The primary residence is non-countable by MassHealth in this case. Therefore, our plan needed to address the three additional properties and other “excess assets” of about $410,000.  We could protect two of the properties by utilizing exemptions in the MassHealth regulations to convey them out of Joe and Betty’s names.  One property would need to be sold, and we could take all of the excess assets (including the proceeds of the sale of the fourth property) and purchase an annuity that will pay a significant monthly income to Betty.  By converting the countable excess assets to an income stream for the community spouse, we could protect the estate.  Not bad for a crisis plan, right?  Not so fast … while we were able to develop a fantastic plan to protect nearly the entire estate, we can’t implement it!!  Not yet at least.

In order to implement this fantastic plan, we need Joe to sign the Deeds to convey all of the properties out of his name and to transfer all other assets to Betty.  If Joe had executed a comprehensive Durable Power of Attorney that provided Betty with the authority to sign such documents on Joe’s behalf, we could implement the plan using the DPOA.  But he didn’t.  As I tried to explain the problem to Betty and Margaret, Betty reassuringly said, “But he can still sign his name…”  I wish it was that easy, but it is not.  Due to Joe’s dementia, he would not understand what he was signing and I could not, therefore, notarize his signature on the Deeds.  While this plan could have been implemented within a week or two with a proper DPOA, we were instead required to seek the authority of the Court.  We filed a Petition asking the Court to appoint Betty and Margaret as co-guardians of Joe.  Since a guardian (even if it is the spouse) may not convey property of the Ward without Court approval, we must also file a Petition for Authority to Establish an Estate Plan, along with a number of emergency motions to try to get the approval as quickly as possible.  Betty must pay privately for Joe’s nursing home care until we obtain the Court’s approval to do the transfers under the guardianship and obtain MassHealth eligibility.  

I am reminded on a daily basis that the message of the importance of advance planning warrants repeating – over and over and over again.  Don’t be caught carrying an ad a year from now – take steps today to protect yourself.  Update your documents while you can still (knowingly) sign your name! Schedule a Legal Check Up to get started at http://www.thelegalcheckup.com/contact-us/

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Tags: long-term care, asset protection, elder law, Legal Check Up, Legal Documents, Estate Planning, disability planning, family, lack of capacity, Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Proxy, Last Will & Testament

Social Security - Disability Benefits Expedited for 13 Immune System and Neurological Disorders

Posted by Judith Flynn on Tue, Nov 01, 2011 @ 21:11 PM

Social Security is adding 13 new conditions involving the immune system and neurological disorders to the list of Compassionate Allowances.

The Compassionate Allowances program fast-tracks disability decisions to ensure that Americans with the most serious disabilities receive their benefit decisions within days instead of months or years.

"Social Security handles more than three million disability applications each year, and we need to keep innovating and making our work more efficient," Commissioner Michael J. Astrue said.  "With our Compassionate Allowances program, we quickly approved disability benefits for more than 60,000 people with severe disabilities in the past fiscal year."

The new Compassionate Allowances conditions include:

Malignant Multiple Sclerosis
Paraneoplastic Pemphigus
Multicentric Castleman Disease
Pulmonary Kaposi Sarcoma
Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma
Primary Effusion Lymphoma
Angelman Syndrome
Lewy Body Dementia
Lowe Syndrome
Corticobasal Degeneration
Multiple System Atrophy
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
The ALS/Parkinsonism Dementia Complex

For more information on the Compassionate Allowances initiative, see the press release at www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/ss-expands-compassionate-allowances.html

 


Tags: long-term care, elder law, disability planning, federal law

RED CARPET PREMIERE of guardianship training video ...

Posted by Judith Flynn on Tue, Nov 01, 2011 @ 17:11 PM

Sign up now for the annual dinner meeting of the Massachusetts Guardianship Association (MGA), featuring the “RED CARPET PREMIERE” of the new training video for family guardians and conservators.

December 6, 2011 at 5 pm

Newbridge on the Charles

6000 Great Meadow Road

Dedham, MA  02026

The video was produced by Northnode, Inc. in collaboration with the MGA and the Office of the Chief Justice of the Probate Court, Paula M. Carey.  The video, "Stepping In When Help Is Needed," was made possible through funds provided by the MGA and a generous grant from the Office of the Attorney General, Martha Coakley.  If you are a family guardian or conservator or a professional who deals with people who need guardians or serve as guardians, we welcome you to this premiere. Spread the word - all are welcome, but RSVP is required as outlined below.

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Seating is limited -- registration is required no later than November 28th:  call the MGA at 617-350-6500 or e-mail jflynn@thelegalcheckup.com. 

 

Tags: elder law, Legal Check Up, Estate Planning, disability planning, Community Care, family, loved ones, Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Proxy, Last Will & Testament, parents

Class Action Lawsuit Regarding Medicare "Improvement Standard" Moves Forward

Posted by Judith Flynn on Wed, Oct 26, 2011 @ 13:10 PM

A great decision just came down from The United States District Court for the District of Vermont in the class action lawsuit known as "Jimmo" vs. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The Defendant's Motion to Dismiss the case for Failure to State a Claim was DENIED.

For more details, go to www.thelegalcheckup.com/legislative-alerts/ 

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Tags: long-term care, elder law, Legal Check Up, Medicare, termination of benefits, skilled services, federal law, improvement standard, rights, nursing home

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES BENEFIT INCREASE FOR 2012

Posted by Judith Flynn on Wed, Oct 19, 2011 @ 15:10 PM

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES 3.6 PERCENT BENEFIT INCREASE FOR 2012

Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 60 million Americans will increase 3.6 percent in 2012, the Social Security Administration announced today. The 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits that nearly 55 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2012. Increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2011. Some other changes that take effect in January of each year are based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $110,100 from $106,800. Of the estimated 161 million workers who will pay Social Security taxes in 2012, about 10 million will pay higher taxes as a result of the increase in the taxable maximum.  Information about Medicare changes for 2012, when announced, will be available at www.Medicare.gov.   For some beneficiaries, their Social Security increase may be partially or completely offset by increases in Medicare premiums.  The Social Security Act provides for how the COLA is calculated. To read more, please visit <http://www.socialsecurity.gov/cola>.

Tags: long-term care, elder law, disability planning, Medicare, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PAC, SSI Living Arrangement G Supplement

DISPELLING THE MYTHS ABOUT PAYING FOR LONG-TERM CARE

Posted by Judith Flynn on Mon, Oct 17, 2011 @ 18:10 PM

We all want to age in place in our own homes, on our own terms -- any place other than a nursing home.  Sometimes situations change quickly, however, and for a number of reasons it just may not be possible to remain safely in the community.  It is at these times of crisis that folks often discover that all the ideas they had about their long-term care security and how they would pay for nursing home care if needed are basically … well, wrong.  There are five major payment sources for nursing home care, each worthy of its own full-length column, but I offer the following brief summary to help dispel some of the myths on this topic. 

The most common misconception I hear from seniors is that Medicare is going to cover all of their nursing home costs.  This simply is NOT true.

MEDICARE

Medicare will only cover “skilled” care, and only if all of the following conditions are met:

  • You have Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) and have days left in your benefit period;

  • You have a qualifying hospital stay, which is an inpatient stay of three consecutive days or more, starting with the day of admission and not including the day of discharge. (ALERT:  If you are held for “observation” for part of your hospital stay prior to being admitted, you may not have met the minimum requirement.  This is an issue that should be promptly appealed.)

  • Discharge to the rehabilitation facility either directly or within 30 days;

  • Your doctor orders the services you need for SNF care, which require the skills of professional personnel such as registered nurses, LPNs, phsyical, occupational, and speech therapists, and are furnished by or under the supervision of these skilled personnel;

  • You require the skilled services on a daily basis (5 days per week qualifies).

 

 

The availability of 100 days is not, however, a guaranteed coverage period of 100 days.  In fact, it is far from guaranteed with the average period of SNF care covered by Medicare being only 23 days.  You must also qualify according to the clinical criteria set forth by Medicare.  Medicare requires the facility to conduct periodic assessments of your condition and goals to determine whether you will be approved for extended skilled coverage.

Medicare will pay the full cost for days 1-20, and you will be responsible for a significant daily copayment from days 21-100.  Medicare does not pay beyond the 100-day period, unless you have a break in your coverage for at least 60 days.  In that case, with the above conditions met again, you would have a new 100-day period available.

(ALERT:  If you receive a Notice of Medicare Provider Non-Coverage informing you that your Medicare coverage will terminate because you have “reached a plateau,” “are stable,” “custodial care” or not improving, consider filing an immediate appeal.  If you need continued skilled services in order to maintain your present condition, then you are entitled to continued coverage under the Medicare Act and federal law.)

VETERANS BENEFITS

Nursing home care is not automatically available to all veterans enrolled in the VA health plan.  Only the following veterans automatically qualify for unlimited nursing home care:

  • Veterans who are seeking nursing home care for a service-related condition;

  • Veterans with a service-connected disability rating of 70 percent or more;

  • Veterans who have a service-connected disability of 60 percent and are unemployable;

  • A service-connected disability is a disability that the VA has officially ruled was incurred or aggravated while on active duty in the military and in the line of duty. The VA must rule that your illness/condition is directly related to your active military service, and it assigns each disability a rating. The ratings are established by VA regional offices around the country;

  • The VA may provide nursing home care to other veterans if space permits. Veterans with service-connected disabilities receive priority.

LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE

The popularity of long-term care insurance is growing, for obvious reasons.  The problem with this payment option, however, is that many people don’t consider purchasing long-term care insurance until they need it.  When they need it, they simply will not qualify for it.  If you have not had a diagnosis that would affect your ability to obtain long-term care insurance, look into it today.  Even if you pay more for it based on your age, the statistics show that your investment will be well worth it down the road.  In addition, there are tax incentives available for purchasing long-term care insurance, and certain qualifying policies can make your home a non-countable asset for Medicaid/MassHealth purposes.  Call my office if you would like a referral to a trusted insurance professional. 

PRIVATE PAYMENT

This is the most non-desirable payment option for extended nursing home payment, but most folks do not do adequate pre-planning.  Let me be clear.  Facilities provide care, and facilities need to be paid for their services.  Pre-planning is critical, however, to ensure that you take advantage of laws that allow you to protect your spouse and protect your own quality of care for the future.  Private payment can average from $10,000-$12,000 per month – could you afford to pay this expense for an extended period of time without putting your spouse or your security at risk?  Have you taken the necessary steps to ensure that your security will not be left to chance?

MEDICAID

Medicaid is the federal program that is known as MassHealth inMassachusetts.  When you run out of funds to pay for your nursing home care, you can apply for MassHealth coverage.  An individual may only have $2,000 in assets, and a married couple may have a combined $111,560.  There are some assets that are “non-countable” in that limit, such as the marital home, life insurance with a face value of $1,500 or less, a car, life insurance that you can not access or surrender (such as a group or term policy).  There are a myriad of regulations that apply to specific situations, and penalties imposed if you give your funds away within the five years prior to applying for MassHealth.  It is imperative to do advance planning to ensure that you apply the regulations to your particular situation in a manner that will maximize your future security without jeopardizing your eligibility for this important benefit.

This summary is far from comprehensive, but I hope it causes you to reflect on your own situation.  If you would like more information on long-term care payment options or to schedule a Legal Check Up, contact us today.

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Tags: long-term care, asset protection, elder law, Estate Planning, Medicare, Medicaid, termination of benefits, skilled services, improvement standard, rights, nursing home, Veterans Benefits

Know Your (Nursing Home) Rights BEFORE You Sign

Posted by Judith Flynn on Mon, Oct 17, 2011 @ 00:10 AM

Marylou’s mom had a stroke and lost the use of one side of her body. Marylou wanted her mom to be moved to the nursing home in her neighborhood so she could visit her daily. She was told that they had a bed available, but that she would need to sign the Admission Agreement and some other documents right away, and to agree to pay privately for at least six months. Marylou obliged, and promptly signed all the documents that she was presented by the nursing home administrator.

It was not until two years later, after her mom had passed away, that the nursing home threatened to sue Marylou for an unpaid balance for her mother’s care. Marylou discovered that one of the documents she signed was an agreement to guarantee payment for her mother’s care. Marylou’s mom was on MassHealth for most of her stay, and her income was paid to the nursing home each month. If Marylou had not provided a personal guarantee for payment, she would not be facing a lawsuit.

Just recently I met with Tom, whose mother suffered significant injuries from an accident in a nursing home. Tom was inquiring about a potential lawsuit against the facility, but a review of the Admissions Agreement that Tom signed on his mother’s behalf revealed that he waived that right before she even moved into the facility. One of the provisions in the contract was an agreement to submit any dispute to arbitration rather than to a court of law.

Nursing homes are specifically prohibited from requiring residents to agree to arbitration or requiring a third party to guarantee payment for a resident’s care, but they can seek such guarantees on a “voluntary” basis. The problem is that people usually do not realize the significance of what they are “voluntarily” signing.

Had Marylou or Tom consulted an attorney before they signed the Admissions Agreement, they would have known their rights and ensured that any objectionable provisions were removed from the Agreements.

The message here is not that nursing homes are bad. In fact, most facilities train their staffs to properly disclose prospective residents’ rights. You must advocate for your own rights, however, and in order to do that you must first understand that you need independent review and representation in the nursing home admission process.

Nursing home residents are protected under federal and state laws. The Nursing Home Reform Law (known as OBRA ’87) promoted individualized care and protection for residents of any nursing home that participates in Medicare or Medicaid, regardless of their source of payment. Massachusetts nursing home residents are further protected by the consumer protection statutes enacted by the Attorney General (AG). The AG regulations provide that any violation of OBRA ’87 and similar laws intended to protect nursing home residents is a violation of the consumer protection statute, and the resident may be able to collect attorney’s fees and costs in addition to multiple damages.

Here are some of the protections these laws provide:

*Potential residents may not be forced to waive important rights or agree to unfair terms (such as an agreement to provide a third-party guarantee for payment or to submit any dispute to arbitration). The reality, however, is that folks are overwhelmed and want the available bed for their loved one, so they sign whatever they are asked to.

* Nursing homes are prohibited from discriminating against potential residents based on source of payment. They can ensure that they will get paid, but they can not discriminate against someone who will need to apply for Medicaid (MassHealth). The reality is that some nursing homes do give preference to potential residents who have the ability to pay privately. Some facilities will even request a guarantee from the resident or the resident’s family that they will privately pay for a certain period of time – say six months.

* Discharge of a resident for behavior or mental health problems is quite common and it is accomplished by a practice known as “dumping” where the facility sends the resident out for a psychiatric “evaluation,” and then refuses to readmit the resident. In reality, families do not know that the refusal to readmit is a violation of the law and triggers their rights to an appeal.

* A proposed transfer from one room to a non-Medicare certified bed requires 30 days written notice and the resident has the right to appeal and refuse the transfer. In reality, when Medicare coverage ends nursing homes frequently claim that certain beds are non-Medicaid rooms and for private pay only. In some cases, no written notice is issued and the family does not know that one should have been issued, much less that there is a right to appeal.

* For rehabilitation therapies, Medicare reimbursement rules do not require “progress.” The resident must need “skilled nursing services” or “skilled rehabilitation services” and even if the resident is not making progress, the facility has the obligation to provide services to “maintain” the resident’s condition and ensure that the resident’s ability to perform Activities of Daily Living does not diminish.

The reality is that residents are frequently terminated from this benefit because they are not making progress, and the families do not know that they have the right to appeal.

These are just a few of the common issues. If you are faced with the need to place a loved one in a nursing home, be sure to have the contracts reviewed by an Elder Law Attorney before you sign to ensure that you and your loved one are properly protected.

Tags: long-term care, elder law, Medicare, termination of benefits, skilled services, improvement standard, rights, nursing home, admission agreement, contract

The Silence is Deafening: Set the priorities that matter.

Posted by Judith Flynn on Thu, Oct 13, 2011 @ 22:10 PM

Those of you whom I have had the pleasure of meeting are probably aware that I lost both of my parents recently, just six months apart.  While my mother’s health had declined over the years, with at least annual hospitalizations for pneumonia and related issues, her death was sudden and unexpected.

nanny and pa

After my mother’s burial, my four sisters and I developed a schedule to take care of my father.  He was 83 and still living independently in his home, but we knew he would not eat a decent meal unless it was put in front of him.  So, we alternated days to bring him dinner and spend some quality time.  Similar to the best-selling book by Mitch Albom, I had the pleasure of Tuesdays with Danny.

My parents were married 59 years, and their type of devotion was the type that you just do not see these days.  My time with Dad was spent mostly listening because he was simply broken-hearted after the loss of my mother.  He was always known for his gift of gab, and he insisted that we make eye contact the entire time he was speaking.  Dad was the subject of many family jokes about his incessant chatter, but the stories he told were truly a gift.

During our time together after my Mom’s death, Dad told us again and again of his childhood, his days in the Navy, and his wonderful life with my mother.  His dad died when he was very young, before the days of Social Security.  There was not enough food for his mother to make him a lunch when he was going to school.  He had such great respect for his mother and told us repeatedly that despite her hardships, she was always smiling and never said a bad word about any body or any thing.

He was 16 when he graduated from high school and immediately enlisted in the Navy.  He ate four bananas as he walked to the weigh in, and he just barely made the minimum weight.  While his four years at sea consisted of long days and hard work, he appreciated the three square meals a day and the opportunity to see the world.

There were so many stories he shared of his Navy days, but my favorite – and the one that most symbolizes my father’s character - was of his first day on land after being at sea for many months.  The first thing my father did was go to a Western Union office and wire home most of his pay to his mother.  In fact, we found that telegram when we were cleaning out his house – “Dear Mom. Stop.  I’m doing swell. Stop.  I hope you are too. Stop.  Tell the family I miss them. Stop.  All My Love, Danny.  Stop” That telegram is now my most treasured possession.

After returning home from the Navy, my father met my mother at a picnic.  She fibbed about her age so he would date her, and the rest is history.  Long before the days of women’s liberation, my father so appreciated all that my mother did to raise their five children and maintain the home – the cooking, the cleaning, the ironing, etc.  They were true equal partners in all that they did.

As my Elder Law column is usually a place where I urge you to get your estate planning documents in place and consider long-term care planning strategies to protect your assets for your future security, you may be wondering why I am sharing these personal details with you.  All I can say is that I am compelled to tell each and every one of you to appreciate the opportunity you have to spend time with your loved ones today, and don’t take for granted that there will be a tomorrow.  We are all too busy these days with many different responsibilities competing for our attention, and we need to set the priorities that matter.

We were blessed to have so much time with my parents.  It was through their stories that we learned of the people and circumstances that shaped two people with values, character, and integrity second to none.  But, I would give any thing for one more day … one more story.  If this column inspires even one of you to appreciate your loved ones more today, then it has served its purpose.

(Note:  This is a reprint of my favorite column)

Tags: elder law, Legal Check Up, family, loved ones, priorities, parents, Navy