Cutner & Associates, P.C. releases The Best Elder Law Blog

Add comment November 18th, 2005

Cutner & Associates, P.C., announces The Best Elder Law Blog. The firm’s Elder Law lawyers have decided to create a web log that will be useful and informative for clients, and for professionals in the field, such as geriatric social workers, nursing home social workers, and hospital workers in charge of patient discharge planning. This will be the place to look first for news and up-to-date information of concern to the elderly or disabled, and to those who care for them, in New York State.

Cutner & Associates is creating The Best Elder Law Blog to provide useful and timely information, because of the complexity of the laws and regulations relating to assistance and benefits for the elderly or disabled, and the confusion and misinformation that exists in this area of law.

New York State’s Medicaid program is an excellent example of this situation. New York runs the most generous Medicaid program in the country. According to a recent article in the New York Times (“At a Bronx Clinic, Hurdles Before Medicaid Care,” October 17, 2005), state officials say that New York spends considerably more per patient, and makes a higher percentage of people eligible, and for more services, than almost every other state in the country.

However, according to this article, more than one-fifth of the people eligible for Medicaid in New York are not enrolled, and 40 to 50 percent lose their coverage yearly, frequently by failing to complete annual renewal forms.

The reason for this: “Too many people who need Medicaid are bewildered by it.” “The detail and complexity [of New York’s basic Medicaid application] can trip up even experienced health care workers.”