Navigating Frailty

This episode is all about the basics of Medi-Cal benefits for seniors in need of long term care. Learn about the challenges of application, the rampant misinformation about eligibility, the ramifications of Medi-Cal denial, and, most importantly, your rights. Do you know whether you or your aging loved one are eligible? Do you know how to complete the massive Medi-Cal application? Do you know what a "fair hearing" is? 

My first episode of 2021! This episode tackles the murky but pressing topic of California's Proposition 19. As of this episode's recording, the enormous changes to reassessment rules and parent-to-child property transfers in California are set to take effect in mere weeks, on February 16, 2021. At this time, there are more unanswerable questions than there are answerable ones. Even the (unmistakably competent) Assessor for LA County - in a recent webinar - admitted that most California counties don't know how Prop 19 will be handled. This proposition passed on last year's ballot with approximately 51% of the vote but hardly anyone understood it fully. It was sold as a relief measure for wildfire victims and responders but the messaging behind it obscured the whole truth.  Adult children in California have long enjoyed the ability to pay the same property tax rates as their parents did following an inheritance or gift of real estate. Under Prop 19, this will be considerably less true. Real property will be reassessed at its full market value under all but the narrowest of circumstances. 

Our final episode of 2020 is all about a crucial, often-overlooked topic: the importance of holding a "family conference" before you or your aging loved one begin to confront the challenges of frailty or dementia or disability or loss of independence.  How to host an effective meeting. What questions to ask and what information to cover. What materials to bring. How to move beyond the stigmas and guilt and awkwardness. How to address practical and financial family issues realistically and constructively. Tune in for information anyone with senior family members needs to know.

All about the issues of Medi-Cal Estate Recovery. Do you know whether or not you have a "probate estate"? Is your family home at risk of being lost to the State of California when your loved one in a Nursing Home passes away? Do you know what you will do when that happens? Have you made any preparations to avoid this? If your spouse, your parent, your grandparent - whoever - is currently receiving Medi-Cal benefits (or might need them someday), then you simply need to know this information.

Our premiere episode!All about the special challenges elderly folks in California, and their family members, are likely to struggle with in the coming year. Topics include rising care costs, Medi-Cal estate recovery, rising demand for home care, caregiver well-being, why advance planning is increasingly critical,  and of course seniorhood in the age of COVID-19.