Some of Michigan's Children Will Lose Health Coverage if Congress Does Not Agree on Funding the CHIP Program

Michigan will run out of CHIP funds to provide health insurance for children in February or March. Michigan's 2018 budget assumed that it would receive these funds and the full Medicaid expansion cost sharing.

For more details, follow the link below.

State Plans for CHIP as Federal Funds Run Out

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Jeff Bartel's Commitment to Philanthropy

This is the first part of a series looking at business leaders and their charitable work. I want to explore how different leaders prioritize corporate social responsibility and business ethics. Accordingly, I am putting the spotlight on Jeff Bartel, a Miami entrepreneur and Managing Director of the Hamptons Group, who was appointed to the newly created position of Corporate Responsibility Officer for Florida Power and Light back in 2010 before these roles became standard in the corporate ecosystem. I will cover some of the highlights from Jeff’s charitable work from 2006 to 2012 and plan to feature his charitable work from 2013 to 2022 in a future article. Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions In 2006, Jeff worked with Sarasota County officials to help them make a strong environmental commitment so Florida Power and Light ( FPL) could build its first solar array . Sarasota County voted to allow one of its underused park locations to erect the solar array and was projected to reduce carbon...

Medicaid's Five-Year Look-Back Period and Penalties for Gifting

Many of my elder law clients in northern Michigan have questions about the Medicaid look-back period and penalties for gifting. The first thing to know is that Medicaid planning to protect assets can be done at any time, even during the look-back period, or after a client is in a nursing home. With that initial piece of information in hand, we can proceed to an explanation of the Medicaid system for penalizing gifts. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services processes applications for Medicaid benefits. DHHS policy directs an eligibility specialist to investigate all gifts, or transfers for less than fair market value, that an applicant or his spouse made within five years of the applicant being in a nursing home and otherwise being eligible for Medicaid. Let's unpack that a little bit. First, there are two thresholds to cross before a gift penalty begins to run. The applicant must be in long-term care and eligible for Medicaid based on...

Adding Cost of Living Adjustments to Veterans Benefits

The Veterans Compensation Cost of Living Adjustment Act of 2018 aims to temporarily fix a common problem for veterans; benefits have stayed the same while the cost of living and inflation rise. Veterans benefits are effectively cut each year that Congress does not pass a COLA bill. Earlier this year, Congressman Mike Bost submitted the new bill; he is the Chairman of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs subcommittee. The bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to increase benefits as of December 1, 2018, using the same COLA used by the Social Security Administration. Congresswoman Elizabeth Etsy said that “ensuring our heroes’ benefits keep pace with the rising cost of living is the least we can do for them. With a cost of living adjustment, we will be able to put more dollars in the hands of the men and women who served our nation. Congressman Bost stated “it’s vitally important that we ensure the men and women who have served our na...

Traverse City Medicaid Attorney

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