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BMA Blog |
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Touching Lives · Providing Dignified Lifestyles
Posts Tagged ‘Social Security’
Friday, February 15th, 2013
By Rick Banas of assisted living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
Here is some great advice for older adults from Ella York of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
Ella serves as Community Outreach Liaison in the Attorney General’s Carbondale office. She spoke recently at the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in Benton, Illinois, about what older adults can do to protect their hard earned dollars from fraud and scams.
Never Give Out Personal Information
to Someone Who Has Called You
Do not give out personal information over the phone unless you have initiated the call and you know the person with whom you are speaking.
If someone calls you and starts asking you for personal information, the best thing you can do is hang up on them. This is true if you have caller ID because you cannot trust the number that shows up on caller ID. Scammers have learned how to fake the telephone number that will show up. This is true if the caller claims to be from your bank, saying that there is a problem with your account. This is true even if the caller claims to be from Medicare or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Nobody from Medicare should be calling you and either asking you for or looking to verify personal information. The FBI certainly does not need to call you to get personal information.
Be Very Protective of Your Social Security Number
Do not carry your Social Security Card or your Medicare Card with you. Your Medicare number is your Social Security Number. If you want something to carry with you to show health care providers, make a photo copy of your Medicare card and black out the last four digits of your Medicare number. Doctors should accept it. If you are visiting a doctor or other health care provider for the first time, you may want to take your Medicare card with you. After the visit, be sure to take it out of your purse, wallet or pocket and return it to a safe place.
Regularly Check Your Credit Card and
Medicare Statements and Your Credit Reports
Review your credit card statements, even if you have not used your credit card, to be certain that there are no unauthorized charges on your account. Likewise, be sure to check your Medicare statements to be certain there are no unauthorized charges, especially for medical procedures such as hip and knee replacements and for medical equipment such as wheelchair and scooters. If you see unauthorized charges, you need to immediately notify Medicare. Do not assume that because Medicare is paying that it is Medicare’s problem. If sometime down the road you need a wheelchair, scooter or a right hip replacement and your Medicare statements indicate that you recently received one, Medicare is not likely to easily authorize the request.
Obtaining and reviewing your Credit Report also helps verify if you have been a victim of Identity Theft.
You want to verify that the personal information in Section 1 of the Credit Report is accurate. You want to review Section 2, which lists every single line of credit under your name and whether each line of credit is in good standing. This is the only way to see if someone has opened a new Credit Card account in your name without your authorization. You also want to be sure to review Section 3, which lists any Public Records such as Court Judgments or Liens that have been placed against you. In the last section of your credit report, you’ll find a list of everyone who has asked to see your credit report.
If there is a mistake or something on your Credit Report that should not be there, call up the credit reporting agency and let them know. If you believe that you have been or might be a victim of Identity Theft, call the ID Theft Hotline in addition to the credit reporting agency. You can call 1-866-999-5630, TTY 1-877-844-5461, in Espanol 1-866-310-8398.
Free credit reports are available to you from the Equifax, Experian and TransUnion Consumer Reporting Agencies (CRA). You are entitled to one free report from each agency each year so you can stagger when you obtain the reports. For instance, you can obtain a report from a different CRA every four months.
To request your free credit report, Ella recommends going to www.annualcreditreport.com or calling 1-877-322-8228. Don’t confuse this website with the free credit report.com website, she said, because the www.freecreditreport.com website will charge you for the report.
For more information about services available to older adults, visit http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/seniors/index.html
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
Tags: affordable assisted living, assisted living, bma, Community Outreach Liaison, Consumer Reporting Agencies, Credit Card, Credit Report, Ella York, Equifax, Experian, FBI, Fraud, Heritage Woods of Benton, ID Theft Hotline, Illinois Attorney General’s Office, Medicare, Medicare Statements, Personal Information, Scammers, senior living, Social Security, supportive living, TransUnion
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Friday, February 1st, 2013
 Guest Blog by Elder Law Attorney Anthony Ferraro
Shortly after the ball dropped in Times Square to mark the start of 2013, the U.S. Senate passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA) by an overwhelming 89 to 8 vote. The compromise legislation, which was adopted at about 2 a.m. on Jan. 1, was designed to avert the fiscal cliff.
ATRA is generally classified as tax legislation, but has built into it numerous provisions affecting public benefits, elder care, Elder Law and our seniors and boomers in general.
What does this mean for seniors and boomers? Consider the following:
 1. Tax rate changes – The bill permanently extended current tax rates for individuals earning less than $400,000 and couples earning less than $450,000. Wealthy taxpayers (those making more than $400,000) will revert back to a 39.6% (up from 35%) tax rate. Taxpayers in this wealthy category will also see an increase in their capital gains tax rate and dividend tax rate from 15% to 20%. Also, married couples that earn more than $300,000 and individuals that earn more than $250,000 will face a phaseout of the personal tax exemption.
2. Estate Tax Changes – The estate tax is alive and well. The federal estate tax exemption for 2013 will be $5.25 million per person and be indexed for inflation in future years. Effective January 1, 2013, the top federal estate tax rate will increase from 35% to 40%. Portability of the unused exemption will remain in place for spouses. And the gift tax exemption will remain at $5 million. The Illinois estate tax exemption will increase to $4 million per person for 2013.
3. Payroll tax – Since 2011, the payroll tax rate, which funds Social Security, was kept at 4.2%. Starting January 1, 2013, the payroll tax rate will now revert back to 6.2% for those earning wages.
4. Good news for doctors (and all of us) – For another year, doctors will not suffer the previously scheduled 27% reimbursement cuts to Medicare patients’ fees.
5. Older Americans Act funding – There is additional increased funding for important aging programs. For fiscal year 2013, Area Agencies on Aging will receive an additional $7.5 million in additional funds. The Aging and Disability Resource Centers received an additional $5 million. The National Center for Benefits and Outreach Enrollment will also see an increase of $5 million in funding. Also, Medicare State Health Insurance Programs (SHIP) will receive an additional $7.5 million in additional funding for 2013.
6. Sequestration – The scheduled automatic spending cuts are delayed by a few months. Half of the cuts would come from defense spending and the other half would come from non-defense spending.
7. Class Act is repealed – This was to be an attempt at a national long-term care insurance program. It was scrapped in exchange for the establishment of the Commission on Long-Term Care.
8. Commission on Long-Term Care – This commission will develop a plan for the establishment, implementation and financing of a comprehensive system that ensures availability of long-term care services and support. The commission will look into the coordination of Medicare, Medicaid and private long-term care insurance. The commission will have 15 members, including the President. The various members will represent the interests of consumers, older adults, family caregivers, healthcare workers, private long-term care insurance, state insurance departments, and state Medicaid agencies.
Let’s hope they come up with an affordable long-term care model for our boomers and seniors. The (NAELA)Illinois Supportive Living program provides a wonderful example.
Remember, the most painful financial crisis affecting seniors and boomers today is the devastating cost of long-term care ($6,000 to $10,000 per month, per person in the Chicagoland area!).
9. Other items – The bill extended Medicare programs for older Americans including the payment for outpatient therapy services and specialized Medicare advantage plans for special needs individuals. The bill also extended the Qualifying Individual program (QI program).
10. Note – This is complicated stuff. But don’t let it stop you. Keep reading in the months ahead to understand more about the changes and how they might impact you. Also note that this bill still doesn’t solve the problems regarding sequester and the debt limit debate. That heavy lifting is still coming. Things will certainly heat up between now and May in trying to resolve those issues.
Takeaways – Stay tuned in. Start your “senior” estate planning now.
Anthony Ferraro is a member of the
National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Inc. (NAELA)
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
Tags: affordable assisted living, American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, Anthony Ferraro, assisted living illinois, ATRA, bma, Boomers, Class Act, Elder Care, Elder Law, Elder Law Attorney, Family caregivers, Fiscal Cliff, Healthcare Workers, Illinois Estate Tax, Inc., Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Advantage Plans, Medicare Programs, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, older adults, Older Americans Act Funding, Outpatient Therapy Services, Payroll tax, Private Long-Term Care Insurance, Senior Estate Planning, Seniors, Social Security, State Insurance Departments, State Medicaid, Tax Legislation, Taxpayers, The Aging & Disability Resource Centers, The National Center for Benefits & Outreach Enrollment, U.S. Senate
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Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
By Rick Banas of assisted living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
 The BlueRidgeNow.com headline on Google certainly caught my attention in a way I was not expecting. I was doing a little further research for a Blog I was writing on Chainsaw Wood Carving Artist “Mountain Dan.” He had visited the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living community that we manage in Dwight on Aug. 29, 2012.
I was waiting until today to post the Blog because the impact of the events of September 11, 2001 are what led him to take up chainsaw wood carving.
Becky Gish, the Resident Services Coordinator at Heritage Woods, had arranged for Dan to do a wood carving demonstration. He was in the area because he was one of the attractions at the Central States’ Threshermen’s Reunion that is held annually over the Labor Day weekend in Pontiac, Illinois.
Dan carved a 32-inch black bear out of a hemlock log. His daughter, Stephanie, put the hair on the bear and sanded the face. She is learning to chainsaw. A young man who is learning the art, torched it for color. The used spray paint and a combination of linseed oil and paint thinner to provide the finishing touches.
Heritage Woods was purchasing and dedicating the bear in honor of Hollis Porter, who was one of the first residents of the assisted living community. Hollis’ daughter, Barb, was there to see Dan in action and for the dedication ceremony for her mother.
Dan and I had a chance to talk about his life as a chainsaw wood carving artist.
He started at the age of 60 just a few months after 9/11. “I was doing high dollar landscaping work in North Carolina,” he said. “What happened to the market and to the economy shut us down.”
One option was to go back to the west coast and “do the timber thing.” He had years of experience working for timber companies.
Instead, he tried his hand at chainsaw wood carving. He said he had been “running a chainsaw since he was 10 years old” and was good at it. He also had seen what others were doing when it came to chainsaw wood carving.
On Jan. 2, 2002, he decided to take a block of wood to see what came out. “It was pitiful,” he said. “I cut its head off.”
Rather than be discouraged, he kept at it and discovered “a gift from God that had been dormant all his life.”
He spent 12 hours a day, seven days a week for 120 days straight wood carving. He wanted to build a sufficient inventory of wood carvings by Memorial Day weekend, when the tourist season starts in the Great Smoky Mountains.
“I can take a picture of any animal and do a wood carving,” he said. “I run the fastest chisel in town.”
“Most of what I do is with wood that has been rejected by sawmills,” he added.
He talked about his belief that, “God never lets someone who he gave a gift starve. There were times that were tough, but we never went without.”
But, he told me, you have to do your part and put in the work.
He also talked about how his 65th Birthday was his toughest. “I was programmed from the time I was a kid that at 65 you are done.” That is what he was told by others and what the government says. “The government even starts sending you a check (social security).”
He came to realize that “I’m done when God tells me I’m done, not when society says I should be.”
The bear, he prophetically added, “will last longer than any of us.”
The BlueRidgeNow.com headline read “Chainsaw Artist ‘Mountain Dan’ Smathers Dies at Fair: Heart Attack Fells 70-Year-Old Woodcarver from Etowah.”
The article notes that he was advised he needed a pacemaker. With one, however, he could no longer operate a chainsaw.
Dan saw wood carving as a means to an end. He loved to talk with people, especially as a way to spread the Gospel. People stopping by to watch him work and to look at his wood carvings gave him the opportunity to talk with them.
He died doing what he loved.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
   
Tags: 2001, Affordable Assisted Lifestyle Community, assisted living, Becky Gish, Blueridgenow.com, Central States' Threshermen's Reunion, Chainsaw Artist, Chainsaw wood carving, Chainsaw Wood Carving Artist "Mountain Dan", Dan Smathers, Great Smoky Mountains, Heritage Woods of Dwight, Hollis Porter, Labor Day Weekend, Mountain Dan, September 11, Social Security, Woodcarving
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Wednesday, August 15th, 2012
 By Rick Banas of assisted living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
Mahja Sulemanjel and Jorie Gustafson of HCR ManorCare conducted a free informational program on Medicare last week at the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in South Elgin, Illinois.
Here is some important information to keep in mind:
Medicare was created in 1965. The primary purpose of the program is to provide health coverage for individuals 65 years of age and older.
There are four parts to Medicare, with Part C being added in 1997 and Part D in 2003.
Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance)
Medicare Part A helps cover the cost of inpatient care in the hospital. It also helps cover the cost of skilled nursing care, hospice services and home health care.
There is no charge for Medicare Part A if you are eligible.
A person, or the spouse of a person, who has worked in Medicare-covered employment for at least 10 years (40 quarters), and is a citizen or permanent resident of the United States and at least 65 years of age is eligible. Among those who also are eligible are those who meet Social Security or Railroad Retirement disability requirements and those with end-stage renal disease.
Since Medicare helps cover inpatient care, be careful not to assume that just because you are in a hospital overnight or just because you are taken to a hospital room does not necessarily mean that you are an inpatient. Make sure that you are clear about whether the hospital has admitted you as an inpatient versus holding you for observation.
Also, be careful not to assume that Medicare benefits apply just because you have been admitted into a nursing home. Medicare does not cover custodial care or long-term care in a nursing home. Medicare coverage only may apply if you require daily skilled nursing or daily rehabilitation services and have been an inpatient in an acute care hospital for at least three consecutive midnights within 30 days of being admitted to a skilled nursing facility. Being in the hospital for observation does not count. You also must be admitted to a Medicare-certified bed. Up to 100 days may be covered, with co-payments applying after the first 20 days. Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance)
Medicare Part B helps cover medically-necessary health services such as the cost of doctors, outpatient services, durable medical equipment, and home health care. Some preventive services also are covered.
You pay a premium each month for Medicare Part B. Medicare Part C – Medicare Advantage
Medicare Part C are health plans offered by private companies. These plans provide all of your Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B coverage. Many also offer extra coverage such as vision, hearing and dental services and health and wellness programs. Most also include Medicare Part D coverage.
Different types of Medicare Advantage plans are available such as Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs), and fee-for-service plans.
You usually pay a monthly premium in addition to your Medicare Part B premium for a Medicare Advantage plan.
Each Medicare Advantage Plan can charge different out-of-pocket costs. Medicare Part D – Prescription Drug Coverage
 Through Medicare Part D, Medicare offers prescription drug coverage to everyone on Medicare to help them with the cost of prescription medications.
To get the coverage, you must join a plan run by an insurance company or a private company approved by Medicare.
A variety of plans are available, with each plan varying in terms of drugs covered, monthly costs and potential out-of-pocket expenses.
Keep in mind that if you do not enroll in a Medicare Part D Plan when you first become eligible and you do not have other creditable drug coverage, you likely will have to pay a late enrollment fee penalty. For More Information
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ( CMS) is the branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS) that is responsible for administering the Medicare program.
You can access a CMS Medicare & You Handbook by clicking here.
Additional information also is available at medicare.gov What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
Tags: Affordable Assisted Living Community, BMA Management, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, CMS Medicare & You Handbook, HCR ManorCare, Health Maintenance Organizations, Heritage Woods of South Elgin, HMO, Home Health Care, hospice services, Hospital Insurance, Medical Insurance, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part A, Medicare Part B, Medicare Part C, Medicare Part D, PPO, Preferred Provider Organizations, Prescription Drug Coverage, Railroad Retirement disability, Rick Banas, skilled nursing care, Social Security, US Department of Health and Human Services
Posted in BMA Management, Medicare | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
By Rick Banas of BMA Management, Ltd. The leading provider of Assisted Living in Illinois.
This past Sunday, Father Terry Keehan of Holy Family Catholic Community in Inverness, Illinois, asked a classic question about what motivates us in life.
“Why do you do what you do?”
At BMA Management, we have spent considerable time examining the question. We are a mission-driven company that believes strongly that the “why” has to drive what we do and how we do it.
For BMA, our why is our mission, which is to “Touch Lives” by making a difference in the lives of older adults and their families each and every day.
How we do that is by providing dignified lifestyles enriched by our values of love, compassion and dignity.
What we do is to operate senior living communities that focus on helping residents achieve as much independence as possible for as long as possible. We currently operate 36 communities, all of which are located in Illinois. Together these communities house more than 3,200 homes and apartments.
Thirty-three of the communities operate under the Illinois Supportive Living (SLF) program, which enables the communities to serve older adults of all incomes, including those on Medicaid or who only receive monthly Social Security benefits.
Our philosophy is to place those we serve first in each and every decision that we make.
We work hard at making sure that our mission, our values and our philosophy are not just nice words and statements that hang on the walls in our communities or are mentioned in handbooks and manuals.
Our why, our mission of “Touching Lives,” is our driving force.
What is your mission? Why do you do what you do?
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois
and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
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Tags: assisted living, assisted living in Illinois, BMA Management Ltd, Father Terry Keehan, Holy Family Catholic Community, Illinois Supportive Living Program, LinkedIn, Medicaid, Mission, Rick Banas, Senior Living Community, Social Security, supportive living, The BMA Blog, Touching Lives
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