What IS a Geriatric Care Manager???

Tax Day is Coming Round Again. Are You and Your Preparer Prepared?

Medical and Dental Expenses

If, for a taxable year, you itemize your deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A, you may be able to deduct expenses you paid that year for medical and dental care for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents. You may deduct only the amount by which your total medical care expenses for the year exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. For years beginning after December 31, 2012, you may deduct only the amount by which your total medical expenses exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income. You figure the amount you are allowed to deduct on Form 1040, Schedule A.

IRS Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses, contains additional information on medical expenses including who will qualify as your dependent for purposes of the deduction and how you figure and report the deduction on your return.

Medical care expenses include payments for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or payments for treatments affecting any structure or function of the body.

Tax Time

Medical care expenses include the insurance premiums you paid for policies that cover medical care or for a qualified long-term care insurance policy covering qualified long-term care services. If you are an employee, medical expenses do not include that portion of your premiums paid by your employer under its sponsored group accident or health policy or qualified long-term care insurance policy. Further, medical expenses do not include the premiums that you paid under your employer-sponsored policy under a premium conversion policy; for example, a federal employee, participating in the premium conversion program of the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) program, may not include the premiums paid for the policy as a medical expense.

Taxpayer Breakdown

If you are self-employed and have a net profit for the year, you may be able to deduct (as an adjustment to income) the premiums you paid on a health insurance policy covering medical care including a qualified long-term care insurance policy covering medical care including a qualified long-term care insurance policy for yourself and your spouse and dependents. You cannot take this deduction for any month in which you were eligible to participate in any subsidized health plan maintained by your employer, your former employer, your spouse's employer, or your former spouse's employer. If you do not claim 100% of you self-employed health insurance deduction, you can include the remaining premiums with your other medical expenses as an itemized deduction on Form 1040, Schedule A. You may not deduct insurance premiums paid by an employer-sponsored health insurance plan (cafeteria plan) unless the premiums are included in Box 1 of your Form W-2.

Taxpayer Breakdown!

LTC insurance deductions on tax qualified policies are as follows - You can claim the allowable premium deduction or the actual premium itself, whichever is less.

LTC Deductibles

Other deductible medical expenses may include but are not limited to:

• Payments of fees to doctors, dentists, surgeons, chiropractors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and nontraditional medical practitioners
• Payments for in-patient hospital care or nursing home services, including the cost of meals and lodging charged by the hospital or nursing home
• Payments for acupuncture treatments or inpatient treatment at a center for alcohol or drug addiction, for participation in a smoking-cessation program and for drugs to alleviate nicotine withdrawal that require a prescription
• Payments to participate in a weight-loss program for a specific disease or diseases, including obesity, diagnosed by a physician but not ordinarily, payments for diet food items or the payment of health club dues
• Payments for insulin and payments for drugs that require a prescription
• Payments for admission and transportation to a medical conference relating to a chronic disease that you, your spouse, or your dependents have (if the costs are primarily for and essential to medical care necessitated medical care). However, you may not deduct the costs for meals and lodging while attending the medical conference
• Payments for false teeth, reading or prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses, hearing aids, crutches, wheelchairs, and for guide dogs for the blind or deaf
• Payments for transportation primarily for and essential to medical care that qualify as medical expenses, such as, payments of the actual fare for a taxi, bus, train, or ambulance or for medical transportation by personal car, the amount of your actual out-of-pocket expenses such as for gas and oil, or the amount of the standard mileage rate for medical expenses, plus the cost of tolls and parking fees

You may not deduct funeral or burial expenses, over-the-counter medicines, toothpaste, toiletries, cosmetics, a trip or program for the general improvement of your health, or most cosmetic surgery. You may not deduct amounts paid for nicotine gum and nicotine patches, which do not require a prescription.

You can only include the medical expenses you paid during the year. Your total deductible medical expenses for the year must be reduced by any reimbursement of deductible medical expenses. It makes no difference if you receive the reimbursement or if it is paid directly to the doctor, hospital, or other medical provider.

It Will Be Okay

See Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses, for additional information. IRS Publications may be downloaded from the IRS.gov website, www.irs.gov, or ordered by calling 800–829–3676.

"Doesn't Anybody Stay in One Place Anymore..."

www .nia .nih .gov

Question: What is a geriatric care manager, and how can I find one? A friend of mine thought that having a professional “on the scene” to help my dad would take some of the pressure off me.

Professional care managers are usually licensed nurses or social workers who specialize in geriatrics. Some families hire a geriatric care manager to evaluate and assess a parent’s needs and to coordinate care through community resources. The cost of an initial evaluation varies and may be expensive, but depending on your family circumstances, geriatric care managers might offer a useful service. They are a sort of “professional relative” to help you and your family to identify needs and how to meet them. These professionals can also help by leading family discussions about sensitive subjects. 

When interviewing a geriatric care manager, you might want to ask:

• Are you a licensed geriatric care manager?

• Are you a member of the National Association of Professional

Geriatric Care Managers?

• How long have you been providing care management services?

• Are you available for emergencies around the clock?

• Does your company also provide home care services?

• How will you communicate information to me?

• What are your fees? Will you provide information on fees in

writing prior to starting services?

• Can you provide references?

The National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers, www.caremanager.org, can help you find a care manager near your family member’s community. You can also call or write the Eldercare Locator for recommendations. In some cases, support groups for diseases related to aging may be able to recommend geriatric care managers who have assisted other families.

Everything is a Reflection of Everything

Faith is my acceptance of His acceptance of me. 

And because He accepts me, I accept me 

And because He accepts you, I accept you.

There is something important here 

But I just can't put my finger on it.

We are told we have all the answers, all that we need, inside of us. 

God lives inside of us and He knows. 

If He is in us and He knows, then somewhere in us, we know too.

I think I am not supposed to take 

Your inability to give me what I need and desire personally, 

But I don't know how to do that.  

If you're the one for me, why is this so hard? 

Love, 

Sarah

The upcoming book, "It's All About You" 

You Can't Change Your Destiny

Welcome to Tarot.com
Scorpio Horoscope for Today

Tuesday.
Circumstances appear to be pushing you into a corner today, but the lightning bolt of awareness strikes just when you start to feel hopeless. Your new perspective changes the rules of the game. You're not restrained by old patterns any longer if you can see yourself in a different light. Ironically, the external situation may stay the same for a while, but at least you are now free to explore alternative options before deciding what to do next.

Medicare & You

Medicare 2011

Everything you might need to know

Call Elderplanning if you want help sorting through the maze.

Plan Long Term Care Coverage

Article: PLAN LONG-TERM-CARE COVERAGE.

Medicaid is a government program which provides assistance to those who cannot afford to pay for their own care out of their income or assets. Many in the community don't apply for benefits because they don't know they qualify.

We often read about how much Medicaid and Medicare programs are struggling. Both programs are going to have to clamp down to find a way to survive, and they will start asking more questions and making more applicants and recipients accountable for their actions. They have no choice if they want to be around for the taxpayers who are currently feeding the funds.

The best planning for Medicaid is done ahead of time. There is nothing wrong with creating a trust as part of an estate plan. There is nothing wrong with transferring or gifting assets to those you love. Don't wait until the unexpected day you are admitted to the nursing home or are told you need 24-hour supervision to put a plan in place.

Start looking at the possibilities as you face your retirement and are doing your long-range planning. Set up that revocable or irrevocable trust ahead of time. Transfer assets to your children - for their future or yours - ahead of time. Take a look at long-term-care insurance, part of a successful long-term-care plan.

The more dollars you have, the more options you have. If you are reading this and are facing care costs and decisions now, you still may have options you don't know about.

Contact a reliable, objective, honest professional to assist you in the proper planning techniques. Care managers will help you sort through the maze of options and costs and help you choreograph a plan that works best for you. Ask if he or she can explain the "penalty period" to you. If he or she can't, he or she is not the right one for you.

Planning ahead with the right advisers will help you avoid disputes at a time when it may be all you can do to get through another day of sickness or disability. We all make better decisions when we are unpressured, healthy and resilient.

Don't waste any more time saying, "It will never happen to me." Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and you will be prepared for the future.

Kate McGahan is executive director of CNY Elderplanning and author of "The Medicaid Primer: What You Need to Know to Apply for and Receive Benefits in New York State."