This e-zine was originally sent on March 18, 2010.  It may have been edited somewhat from the version that was originally emailed, so be sure to sign up to make sure you are getting our e-zines fresh!

“Old times never come back and I suppose it’s just as well. What comes back is a new morning every day in the year, and that’s better.”
- George Edward Woodberry

Hello,

Did you go somewhere fun for spring break?  We just got back from Colorado where we’ve had a blast!  No skiing but we did get to see some snow a couple of days before the “warm” weather came.  The kids had a blast watching a play, visiting the Molly Brown house, ice skating, and jumping around the rocks at Red Rocks Auditorium just outside of Denver.  It was nice having some time off, but now it is time to get back to work!

This week, I’d like to talk about some changes to banking regulations.  A couple weeks ago, a new law went into effect.  “The Card ACT” brought some new credit card rules in play, and I wanted to give you a “heads up” about the changes which affect YOU.

Read on!

Aaron Miller’s
“Straight Talk” Personal Strategy
How To Use New Credit Card Laws To Your Advantage

You may not have heard, but a new credit card law (“The Card ACT”) went into effect recently. The provisions of this new law that will impact most of us are the ones around interest rates, over-limit fees, payment allocation, and monthly statements. Now, if you don’t use credit cards in your family life, this doesn’t apply to you…but most people do, and you should know about what’s now being done by credit card companies in response to this new law.

So, here is a quick summary of what you should know so that you can take full advantage of these pro-consumer changes:

Interest Rates
The new rules will make it harder for credit card companies to raise a customer’s rates across the board. Under the so-called “universal default practice”, a consumer who was late on a payment for one credit card might have seen the interest rate rise on that card and another, unrelated credit card.

But now… interest rate hikes are going away during the first year an account is open and on existing balances. However, banks and card companies will still be able to raise interest rates in *some* cases, such as when you are more than 60 days late paying your bill or an introductory rate expires after six months.

Another important exception: Issuers can raise your rate before the first 12 months is up if your rate is “variable” and tied to an index–and that index rises. These indices are at historic lows, but when rates begin to rise (to keep inflation at bay), so will payments.

Over-Limit Fees Rising
Another major change involves the fee charged when a consumer charges more than his or her credit limit. Until now, many card companies have allowed consumers to continue charging beyond set limits–tacking on sometimes hefty over-the-limit fees in the process. Cardholders will now have to “opt-in” for over-the-limit spending.

How Payments Are Applied To Balances
With the new rules, card issuers have to apply payments to the part of a bill with the higher interest rate. For example, if an account has a $5,000 balance with a regular rate of 15 percent, and a $5,000 balance at a promotional rate of 5 percent, the monthly payment must be applied first to the balance with the 15 percent rate. This is good news for the consumer.

Monthly Statements
Credit card statements will have to show how long it will take to pay off a credit card if only minimum payments are made. The statements will also have to show how a consumer may pay off the entire bill in 36 months if payments are increased.

Lastly, you should be aware that, because of these new rules, credit card issuers will be forced to find other sources of revenue. Already, we’re seeing card companies take an “airlines” approach–identifying ticky-tack fees which can be justified as a “normal” course of business. Rewards transactions & international charging are two very-common places which card issuers are already applying fees. So watch your statements carefully.

Wishing you all the best!

Aaron Miller

Miller Law Firm, PLLC
Your Life Is Our Life’s Work!
101 E. Park Blvd., Suite 600
Plano, Texas 75074
Connect via: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

PS–If you are receiving this and are NOT a subscriber to our weekly “Straight Talk” Personal Strategy Email series, click here to sign up.

To ensure we don’t make the folks at the IRS ornery, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose, or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. PHEW!

This e-zine was originally sent on March 6, 2010.  It may have been edited somewhat from the version that was originally emailed, so be sure to sign up to make sure you are getting our e-zines fresh!

“Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else does and thinking something different.”

- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Hello,

Wow, these last few weeks have been so jammed that these e-zines are going out later and later.  Sorry about that.  We’ll get back on track for the next one.  I’m about to head to ANOTHER hockey game!  This time with  my second oldest daughter.  She missed out on the first one because she had a girl scout event, so she is really looking forward to this one.  (She really hopes she’ll see that monkey chasing the gorilla….)  What’s more fun for me is that I’ll get a chance to spend some one on one time with her.  As the middle child, she may not get as much one on one time as the others, so Wendy and I really try to be sure we make sure she gets that.

Well, last week, we talked about nursing home placement, and I’ve heard from quite a few friends and clients who passed it along to *their* friends and family for whom (I hope) it’s especially useful.

THANK YOU!

As you probably have gathered, I write you these weekly notes because I sincerely desire to offer my experience and expertise to the family issues that too often become rushed in the midst of a crisis. I read every response, and I’m so grateful to be connected to a group of families who are so committed to one another, and so responsive. Keep ‘em coming…

And, of course, I’m always grateful for your referrals–they’re the lifeblood of our firm. While many lawyers spend an arm and a leg for expensive yellow page advertisements, we’ve found that our BEST advertising is the relationships we maintain with our clients and friends. No, I’m not averse to advertising our services–it’s simply that friends who are referred by our clients turn out to be our best kind of clients.

So, thanks for your continued referrals!

This week, I’m continuing the series started last week, and will give you some thoughts on what to look for when you check out a nursing home facility in person…

Aaron Miller’s

“Straight Talk” Personal Strategy

Making Nursing Home Placements That Work (Part 2)

So you’ve narrowed down your list, and it’s time to take a closer look at the options.

Good news: you don’t need to schedule your visits in advance. If you show up during regular business hours, you should be able to meet with an administrative staff member, who should be able to answer all your questions.  But you may also want to set aside time to tour a second time (in the evening or on the weekend), simply to see if there is a drastic difference in the atmosphere of the facility or the care being provided.

Lastly, it is very important to tour at least two facilities so you can see the difference in the physical facility and the staff.

While you are touring the facility, pay attention to your gut feelings.  Ask yourself:

• Do they seem to genuinely care for the residents?

• Is the facility clean?

• Are there any strong odors?

• Is the staff friendly?

• Do I feel welcome?

• How long did I have to wait to meet with someone?

• Did the admissions director ask about my family member’s wants and needs?

• Do the staff seem to get along with each other?

Put on your radar, and listen and observe. You want to be sure that the facility is giving proactive care, not just reacting to crisis.

And you’ll want to be armed with some questions, so here are a few examples of the types of questions the staff should be able to answer:

• How do you ensure that call lights are answered promptly, regardless of your staffing?

• If my father is not able to move or turn himself, how do you ensure that he is turned and does not develop bedsores?

• How do you make sure that someone is assisted with the activities of daily living like dressing, toileting and transferring?

• Can residents bring in their own supplies?

• Can residents use any pharmacy they wish?

• How many direct care staff members do you have on each shift? Does this number exceed the minimal number that state regulations require, or do you just meet the minimum standard?

• What sources of payment do you accept?

• How long has the medical director been with your facility?

• What is your policy on family care planning conferences? Will you adjust your schedule to make sure that I can attend the meeting?

While touring each facility, make notes and

Don’t Neglect Expert Help.

In addition to finding the facility you like best, don’t forget that you need expert legal assistance as part of the planning process. Without proper planning and legal advice from an experienced firm, many families needlessly squander their life savings on long-term care, and unnecessarily jeopardize their own care and well-being, as well as the security of their family.

If we’re able to help you with this process–great. If not, we’re happy to point you in the right direction, to ensure you’ve got an experienced advocate working on your behalf.

That’s what we do.

To your family’s wealth, health, and happiness!

Aaron Miller

Miller Law Firm, PLLC
Your Life Is Our Life’s Work!
101 E. Park Blvd., Suite 600
Plano, Texas 75074
Connect via: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

PS–If you are receiving this and are NOT a subscriber to our weekly “Straight Talk” Personal Strategy Email series, click here to sign up.

To ensure we don’t make the folks at the IRS ornery, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose, or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. PHEW!

This e-zine was originally sent on March 1, 2010.  It may have been edited somewhat from the version that was originally emailed, so be sure to sign up to make sure you are getting our e-zines fresh!

“Old times never come back and I suppose it’s just as well.  What comes back is a new morning every day in the year, and that’s better.”

- George Edward Woodberry

Hello,

I’m not sure why it is, but time has really been flying by for me lately.  It seems like before I know it, I look up and the day, week, and month are gone.  It probably isn’t just me, I’ll bet.

Well, last weekend was spent at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas with my oldest daughter (and later my second) waiting for her history fair project to be judged at the regional competition.  She didn’t place, but she and her project partner got to hang out with her friends, and I got to look at a bunch of airplanes and a space module.  I’ve never been there before and it is really a neat museum.  And if you like that sort of thing, the Cavanaugh Flight Museum near Addison airport is also a ton of fun.

Since the Olympics have been on, I’ve tried to make sure we watch a little bit with the girls.  They don’t go much for watching sports generally, but I’m trying to make sure they see some sports that they may not have known existed (curling?).  Who knows what will spark there interest.

One thing I really enjoy are the stories that go with the Olympics – from the drama between Apollo Ohno and the South Koreans, to the hockey upset in the game between the US and Canada, to the Canadian figure skater that recently lost her mom and skated anyway and did fantastic.  The dedication and drive that these athletes have is phenomenal.

I ran across this about the American skier Lindsey Vonn.  She’s known as perhaps the world’s top female skier having dominated the World Cup the last couple years–but she entered these Olympics with a serious shin injury which left many to wonder if she could even compete.  Take a look at the video of her run and the sheer explosion of joy when she saw her time.  It is awesome.  Watch it here: http://bit.ly/bQAVvC

This week I’d like to talk about something a little different.  For far too many people, the “story” of their lives doesn’t end as well as they might have hoped. Care facilities (when they’re necessary) can be a blessing…or they can be a nightmare. So, to help you make sure that your family (and your friends’ families) make the best decision possible, I’ve put together a two-part series on nursing home placement–and how to do it right.

Feel free to forward this along to anyone who may be affected by these issues. We’re always here to help!

Aaron Miller’s

“Straight Talk” Personal Strategy

Making Nursing Home Placements That Work (Part 1)

It’s a fact: most nursing home admissions happen under extremely stressful circumstances.

It’s an overwhelming task, to find the best nursing home placement for a loved one, perhaps because, where do you even begin?

But, although this is a job that no one wants, it can be done with forethought and confidence that the best decision was made for everyone involved. It’s easier (and better for your loved one), if that first placement is well thought out. Yes–a nursing home resident can be moved from one facility to another, but this type of disruption is rarely in everyone’s best interest as it can be disturbing on a variety of levels.

So it’s best to do it right–from the beginning.

Here’s a great place to start your search:

The Federal Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has a part of its Web site called “Nursing Home Compare”.  Surprisingly, for a government service, it’s actually quite handy:

http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare

This area identifies facilities that have a history of poor performance–and ones which do well. In fact, the Nursing Home Compare site labels nursing homes it calls “Special Focus Facilities” — those that have repeatedly violated state and federal health and safety rules and that rank in the worst 5 to 10 percent of all inspected facilities in a given state.

You’ll want to cross those off your list from the very beginning.

Using this website, you can see detailed inspection information about each nursing facility that interests you, comparing various government-rated “quality measures” such as:

• Percent of High-Risk Residents Who Have Pressure Sores

• Percent of Residents Who Spend Most of Their Time in Bed or in a Chair

• Percent of Residents Who Have Moderate to Severe Pain

• Percent of Residents Who Were Physically Restrained

Et cetera.

The site also rates the care and services that each facility provides to its residents, and allows you to view how each facility stacks up in staffing hours for each type of health care worker against the state and national averages.

And there’s other comparison tools available. For example, U.S. News and World Report has recently started providing rankings of America’s nursing homes.

http://health.usnews.com/sections/health/best-nursing-homes/index.html

These rankings rely on the data from the above, government site–but they DO provide some advanced search engine capability. Nursing homes are presented in tiers within each star category, based on their total stars in all three of the major areas. The topmost tier, for example, consists only of five-star homes that got 15 stars. The next tier down is five-star homes with 14 total stars, and so on.

Within each tier, nursing homes are listed alphabetically. If you’re looking for a nursing home by location, and turn up too many, search terms can be combined in order to narrow the results.  For example, perhaps you want to search just for nursing homes that have a religious affiliation, or that accept Medicaid residents. Or you can launch a multipronged search, perhaps searching for non-profit four-star nursing homes that accept Medicaid and are located within 25 miles of a particular city.

Placing your loved one in a nursing home that accepts Medicaid is vitally important if you plan to use the services of a law firm to help you with Medicaid Asset Protection.

Another free Web site that lets you compare nursing homes is www.MemberoftheFamily.net, which features easy-to-read, color-coded assessments of nursing homes nationwide.

However–here’s my big caveat when it comes to just looking at ratings : Nothing can substitute for visiting a nursing home in person. After all, every nursing home will have some deficiencies; working with extremely disabled and impaired persons is very difficult.

So, to find the best possible nursing home for your family’s situation, the first step is to determine what is most important for your family in looking for a facility. And I hope that you would agree that the potential resident’s needs and desires must be included in this evaluation. Consider variables such as location of the facility, whether a special care unit (such as for dementia) is available, and what types of payment sources are accepted.

The second step is to identify the facilities in your area which meet the criteria you have established.

In my next Note, I’ll give you some pointers on how to conduct an onsite tour properly–what to look for, questions to ask, etc.

And, of course, we’re here to help. Give us a call if we can serve you in any way!

To your family’s wealth, health, and happiness!

Aaron Miller

Miller Law Firm, PLLC
Your Life Is Our Life’s Work!
101 E. Park Blvd., Suite 600
Plano, Texas 75074
Connect via: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

PS–If you are receiving this and are NOT a subscriber to our weekly “Straight Talk” Personal Strategy Email series, click here to sign up.

To ensure we don’t make the folks at the IRS ornery, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose, or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. PHEW!