Long-term care insurance will soon be getting more expensive for women. The country's biggest provider of long-term care insurance has announced plans to introduce gender-based pricing.

 

Life insurance has long had gender-specific pricing, but long-term care insurance has always been gender neutral. This is changing now that Genworth Financial has decided to charge more for policies purchased by single women. Other insurers will likely follow suit. Genworth hasn't said how much it will raise rates for women, but according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI), women will likely end up paying 20 to 40 percent more than men.

 

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The refusal of a retirement home employee to administer CPR to a dying resident has gained international attention and sparked debate about both the legal responsibilities of independent living facilities and the efficacy of CPR itself.

 

When Lorraine Bayless, 87, collapsed in the dining room of Glenwood Gardens, an independent living facility in Bakersfield, California, 911 was called. The phone was handed to an employee, whom the 911 dispatcher asked to perform emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while paramedics were en route. The employee, who described herself as a nurse, refused, saying that it was against the facility's policy to give CPR to residents. The dispatcher's repeated pleas to the employee to perform CPR or find someone who could were unavailing.

 

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We all know we should have one.  We all think we will have time to get around to it.  But one 97 year old New Yorker waited too long.  Roman Blum, a Polish immigrant and Holocaust survivor, was a true self-made man.  After losing his entire family during World War II, he came to the United States, and by the time of his death last year, had accumulated a net worth of almost $40 Million Dollars.

  

Even though he had no heirs, Mr. Blum could have created an estate plan to ensure that the money he had worked so hard for went to his friends or organizations of which he was a supporter. 

  

Instead, his estate is being auctioned off and the money will pass to the State of New York.  As a part of their due diligence, the public administrators of the estate are conducting in-depth searches for long-lost relatives, and are hiring geneologists in Europe to be sure that there are no surviving heirs. Unless an heir is found, the State is $40 Million Dollars richer.

  

Legos aren't just for kids! 

  

A recent national Lego competiition was focused on finding ways to improve the lives of the older population.  Called Senior Solutions, it challenged participants to partner with a senior to identify and learn about a problem faced by senior citizens and to create an innovative solution to the problem using legos and robotics.

  

  

The Japanese govenment has begun subsidizing research and development costs related to nursing home robots.  Because of the high percentage of the Japanese population in their older years, and a shortage of nursing home workers, four different types of robots are being created to perform the essential tasks of transfers, walking, monitoring, and cleaning.

  

  

The FTC recently issued warnings about a new telephone scam. The caller asks consumers to provide personal information in order to receive a "National Medical Card" (nonexistent) from the government claiming that it relates to the Affordable Care Act.  Never give your personal information to someone who calls you.  If they are legitimate, they will already have that information.

  

Severns Associates, P.C. is an elder law firm that has been practicing for over 30 years, and is regarded as one of the most experienced elder law firms in the Indianapolis region.  We focus on helping families work together without conflict to plan for both immediate and future needs. 

  

Our services include:

10293 N. Meridian Street Suite 150

Indianapolis, Indiana 46290