Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

People with disabilities in NJ face major cuts in SSI

Excerpt from Media dis&dat: (click for entire article)

From The Star-Ledger in N.J. In the picture, Raymond Mendenko, right, talks to his grandson Ian Davis, 5, left, at his home in Wrightstown on Thursday. Next month, elderly and disabled residents will have their Supplemental Security Income checks reduced due to state budget cuts. Raymond Mendenko, who lives in a trailer with his wife Debbie, is unable to work due to a spinal cord injury. His SSI checks will be reduced from $350 to $96 a month.

    TRENTON — When head trauma from a car accident left Lorraine Bordo unable to work as a real estate agent, she turned to the government for help. For almost two decades, she has received Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, which helps the elderly and the disabled make ends meet.

    But now that help is drying up. Bordo is one of about 5,970 New Jerseyans whose SSI payments will be cut next month because the state eliminated $6.7 million in subsidies. The average cut per person is $209 monthly.

OMG Social Security!?

Excerpt from Boston.com: (click for entire article)

IF YOU watch the political debates in Washington, you’d think that the future of Social Security matters only to today’s retirees. But the Social Security’s future solvency is most germane to the 40-and-under crowd.

The President’s Deficit Commission reports that in 2037 the Social Security trust fund will be depleted. That will be an important year for me, as it happens to be the year I expect to retire. If we do nothing between now and then, retirement benefits will fall to about three-quarters of their current projected value.

This is a big deal. Today, the typical retired worker receives more than half of his or her income from Social Security. Losing a quarter of that will hurt. Proposed cuts like these have led students — students! — in Europe to take to the streets. So take heed Gen X, Gen Y, and Millennials: The retirement debate is about you.

Difference Is the Norm on These Dating Sites

Excerpt from The New York Times: (click for entire article)

Sherry Nevius, single and 52, is looking for a mate with all the important adjectives — caring, sincere, intelligent, funny. Oh, and one more thing: disabled.

Born with cerebral palsy, Ms. Nevius uses a wheelchair. She is independent and mobile, but would prefer to meet a man who could roll alongside her.

“That way we’re on equal ground,” she said.

Ms. Nevius has dated several perfectly nice able-bodied men, but none seemed willing to start a serious relationship.

Chris Osgood, on Nicklas Lidstrom: 'It’s ridiculous what he does'

Patti's Comments:  No doubt!

Excerpt from Freep.com: (click for entire article)

There were lots of positives on this three-games-in-four-nights trip the Red Wings just finished – Chris Osgood earning his 400th career victory, Patrick Eaves his first career NHL hat trick, Jiri Hudler producing a goal and an assist in two straight games, indicating perhaps at long last he’s going to emerge from invisibility.

Meanwhile, Nicklas Lidstrom continued his superb season, one I’m more and more confident will end in another Norris trophy. He contributed seven points in these past three games, including two goals. His second was especially significant, coming Wednesday after the Stars had pounded three goals by the Wings in a minute and change, as Brad Stuart put it. Again and again and again, year after year after year, Lidstrom has been the Wings steadiest, most dependable go-to guy.

WSU prof gets $1M federal grant for brain-heart study

Excerpt from : (click for entire article)

A physiology research at Wayne State University's medical school has received a $1 million federal grant to investigate the links among inactivity, the brain and the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Assistant professor Patrick J. Mueller is getting the money from the National Institutes of Health.

Physical inactivity is a big risk factor of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death worldwide.

Disabled filmmaker in Australia named national finalist in short film competition

Excerpt from Media dis&dat: (click for entire article)

Proving disability is no barrier to creativity, wheelchair-bound Fitzroy Crossing man Aquinas Crowe (pictured) has been named a national finalist in the short film competition Reel Australia.

Run by the Australia Day Council of NSW, the competition asked entrants to visually articulate in two minutes their ideas about who we are as a nation.

In his short film, Crowe, 25, pondered what the "real Australia" meant as simple scenes of his life played out, such as rolling through the pindan in his wheelchair and hanging out with elders, his cousin and children.

New Estate Tax Law Exposes 65,000 Small Businesses and Farms to Estate Tax

Excerpt from TaxProf Blog: (click for entire article)

With family businesses and farms accounting for a significant percentage of the “wealth” of elderly Americans (those 65 years of age or older), the return of the estate tax starting on January 1st will force many families to divert resources into measures to minimize the tax, rather than grow their businesses, according to a new report released today and authored by Duquesne University Economist Antony Davies.

Published by the American Family Business Foundation (AFBF), the report finds that up to 67% of estates subject to the estate tax in 2011 would own small business assets, with more than 22,000 farms, 29,000 private corporations and 14,000 real estate partnerships likely to be affected if the owner dies.

Under the “compromise” tax plan signed into law just before Christmas, the estate tax will be reinstated next year at a rate of 35%, with a $5 million exemption.

DMC to pay feds $30M settlement

Excerpt from Freep.com: (click for entire article)

The Detroit Medical Center has agreed to pay the federal government $30 million to settle claims that it engaged in improper financial relationships with referring physicians, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today.

The announcement comes the same day that the DMC is holding a “special announcement” about the pending sale of its facilities to Vanguard health Systems, Inc.,which is headquartered in Nashville, Tenn. The closing deadline for the sale is Dec. 31. Vanguard also signed today’s settlement.

According to the Justice Department, the settlement resolved allegations that the DMC violated several federal laws, including the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute, which restrict the financial relationships that hospitals may have with doctors who refer patients to them. Most of the relationships at issue in the DMC matter involved office lease agreements and independent contractor relationships that were either inconsistent with fair market value, or not put in writing.

Surrogate Decision Making in the ICU

Excerpt from GeriPal: (click for entire article)

Imagine your loved one is very sick in the ICU. So sick that the ICU doctor believes that there is only a very small chance of survival, and even if your loved one survived, he/she would have significant, permanent disability. If you were placed in this position, how would you want to make decisions about continued intensive medical treatments to support his/her life? Would you want to make it on your own? Would you want to share the responsibility for this decision with the ICU doctor? Would you just want the ICU doctor to make the decision for you with our without your opinion?

Now imagine we ask the same questions to surrogate decision makers of critically ill, incapacitated adults. How do you think they would answer? We now have some idea of how thanks to a study authored by Sara Johnson and her colleagues at UCSF and University of Pittsburgh.

The study, currently in press but accessible early online, presented two clinical vignettes to 230 surrogate decision-makers for incapacitated, mechanically ventilated patients at high risk of death. One vignette was based on a decision regarding life support similar to the one described above, and the other was about selection of specific antibiotic agents to treat an infection.

FTC Wants To Ban Mortgage Mod Services From Charging Up-Front Fees

Excerpt from The Consumerist: (click for entire article)

To combat mortgage relief fraud, the FTC would like to make a new rule that would ban mortgage modification services from charging up-front fees. "Homeowners facing foreclosure or struggling to make mortgage payments shouldn't have to contend with fraudulent 'companies' that don't provide what they promise," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement. "The proposed rule would outlaw up-front fees so companies can't take the money and run." Indeed, there are some shady operators in this area and consumers need to beware.

Here's a video from the FTC on avoiding foreclosure rescue scams. The big pieces of advice are to watch out for companies who 1) Make any guarantees 2) Ask for money up-front or 3) Tell you to make your mortgage payment to them.