In his pre-session presentation at the 2020 ASNP Annual Meeting, “Special Needs Planning Integration with Veterans Benefits,” Doylestown, Pennsylvania ASNP member Richard L. Newman provided an overview of VA health care and disability benefits, and concluded with a...

Written By: Lelia Wardwell Mander Trusts are important vehicles in special needs planning. They not only set aside funds to pay for the care of the person with special needs while maintaining eligibility for programs like Medicaid, but they provide ways to preserve...

Shopping online has become a literal lifeline during the COVID-19 pandemic for many at-risk individuals.  But for millions of people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) who are currently unable to enter grocery stores, online shopping is not an...

Not everyone will get the relief payment the federal government is sending to help Americans through the economic hard times triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Among those left out are seniors and adults with special needs who are claimed as dependents. The...

Speaking at the 2020 ASNP Annual Meeting, ASNP member Melanie Marmion discussed how the SECURE Act’s new rules regarding retirement accounts are “a game changer” for special needs planning. In her presentation, “SECURE Act and Special Needs Planning: The Latest...

Retirement account owners, many of whose retirement balances have been pummeled by a stock market drop due to the coronavirus pandemic, do not have to take mandatory withdrawals this year. Federal law requires individuals who were age 70 1/2 before the end of 2019 to...

The COVID-19 pandemic has sent unemployment to its highest levels since the Great Depression, and older workers have been particularly hard hit, with one in five over age 55 now out of work, according to one estimate. Many people continue to work beyond retirement...

The closure of Social Security offices has caused problems and worries for recently unemployed seniors who need to apply for Medicare after losing their employer coverage. In response, the federal government has announced that seniors affected by the crisis have...

Written By: Andy Jones As the economic devastation from the coronavirus pandemic continues to mount, new research suggests that many Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients will turn to payday loans to meet basic living expenses, much to the distress of consumer...

An esteemed panel made the case for special needs planning that goes beyond standard approaches in a 2020 ASNP Annual Meeting session, “Advanced Strategies for Enhancing Person with Disabilities’ Quality of Life.”  The father-son duo of ASNP Advisory Board...

The federal coronavirus relief bill has sent direct emergency payments to some 150 million Americans in the wake of the pandemic. Among the recipients are possibly millions of deceased individuals, raising questions about what their survivors should do with the money....

Written By: Andy Jones Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has scaled back its normal operations, and this means that eligibility reviews and other  standard procedures for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental...

While it is important to have an updated estate plan, there is a lot of information that your heirs should know that doesn't necessarily fit into a will, trust or other components of an estate plan. The solution is a letter of instruction, which can provide your heirs...

Whether you have already completed your estate plans or are called to do so now, the current COVID-19 pandemic is surely making all of us think about our own health, the health of our loved ones, and our ability to survive as we wish. For all of us, the language used...

A provision in one of the coronavirus relief packages signed into law prevents states from terminating Medicaid benefits during the pandemic. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“CV Response Act”), signed into law on March 18, 2020, prevents states from...