Table of Contents
Cover Story:
Putting All The Pieces Together
County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef keeps Rockland in his sights
as he looks ahead to the Governor's race.
Feature Story:
Everybody's Going Downtown
What four of the county's villages are doing to encourage economic
development.
Feature Story:
The Expo's Coming!
Annual Business-to-Business event partners RBA with Mahwah Regional
Chamber of Commerce.
DEPARTMENTS:
Economics Roundup
• What's Your Investment Behavior?
• Taxes and Long-Term Care Insurance
Business Roundup
• HVCFI Accepting Applicants
• The Fine Art of Advertising
Retail Round-Up
• It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
• New in Town
Ask the Expert
• Human Resources
• Legal Matters
• Workplace Hotline
• Information Technology
Invest in Your Community
• Make-A-Wish Foundation
• JCC-Y of Rockland's Capital Campaign
• Other News
Odds & Ends
• From The Publishers
• PR Patter
• Reaching Out to Small Business
• Rockland Joins the Empire
• Big News for Local Small Businesses
Dedicated Section:
Rockland Business Association:
The President’s Desk
Empire Zone designation, grant programs drive new opportunities for
business.
The Investor Hotline
Avoid these three common mistakes
RBA Happenings
• Other News
• Committee and Council Info
• Calendar of Events
• New Members
Healthcare:
Taxes and Long-Term
Care
Insurance:
Medicaid isn't what it used to be
By Lawrence Thaul, CLY, CHFC, CLTC
Included in the all-new federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA ’05), soon to become enabled in New York State back to an effective date of 2/8/06, are measures making it much more difficult to have Medicaid pay for your nursing home and other LTC services. With a “Lookback Period” of five years measured beginning on the date of the application to Medicaid, New York is among the states clamping down on their hemorrhaging budgets with a new major restriction yet to be determined. New York individuals will not collect at all and New York will be delayed in obtaining benefits under this new law. Note that about three quarters of all nursing home costs in New York State are borne by Medicaid (source: New York Partnership).
DRA ’05 has an added restriction which hits home for New York metro area home owners: home values above $500,000 will become a Medicaid “countable asset” in determining how much must be “spent down” before Medicaid eligibility. (Note: states are permitted to set that level at $750,000 by legislation).
Silver Lining: Partnership Policies Expected to Grow across the
U.S.
The LTC insurance policies called Partnership, which exist in New
York, Connecticut, Indiana, and California, are vehicles created
over a decade ago which can help people obtain Medicaid benefits
sooner. Originally the brainchild of a federal/state government-insurance
industry think tank with the purpose of staving off the governmental
LTC cost explosion, the partnering of LTC expenses between government
and individuals is a strategy, which will see a boon across the
U.S. under DRA ’05. Generally speaking, there are two types
of Partnership policies in New York:
1. Medicaid’s asset test (currently $4,150 in New York) will not be applied at all once Partnership policy benefits are claimed and used up; and
2. Assets up to the amount of policy benefits paid out (e.g. Daily Benefit of $190 x 365 x 3years= $208,050) will not be Medicaid countable upon one’s application for Medicaid LTC benefits.
The paradigm shift the country is experiencing stems from the huge dollar drain LTC services places on government. In metro New York, expenses for housing and services are upwards of $100,000 per year. Insurers have seen this age wave approaching for years. Some have turned their surpluses into developing policies designed to pay benefits at just the time they are needed. That is, when either mental or physical infirmity requires human assistance in the performance of largely custodial care to carry on activities of daily living. What remains to be seen is whether these policies have been priced right to be profitable and thus sustainable.
DRA ’05 is only one piece of the restricting puzzle. The
New York State Assembly and Senate are currently considering
further restrictions on eligibility of individuals for Medicaid
home care.
There is no doubt that there are limited dollars. The public
debate is over where and how deep to make the cuts.
Never has advanced planning been as important in healthcare as it is today. RBD
Larry Thaul is an independent Chartered Financial Consultant
and co-founding partner of Millenium Financial in Rye Brook, NY.
He is certified in Long-Term Care and is an Officer of the National
Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors-Westchester, as
well as a member of The Estate Planning Council of Westchester,
Inc.
He can be reached for consultation at (914) 934-9700, ext.
252.
