WHAT'S NEW?
- BUSH ADMINISTRATION SETTLES NATIONWIDE CLASS ACTION IN MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG CASE
- Federal Agency Agrees to Additional Protections for Poor Beneficiaries
- Medicare Part D Settlement Agreement
- Click here to view the settlement agreement (6/19/08)
- NSCLC In Article About Nursing Home Quality
- In a recent article, Nursing Home Quality: More Hype Than Hazard? FoxBusiness News examines whether nursing homes are as bad as people expect. The article quotes NSCLC Attorney Eric Carlson, author of 20 Common Nursing Home Problems--and How to Resolve Them.
- NSCLC on ACSBlog: Supreme Court Won't Review ERISA Case
- In a guest post on the American Constitution Society's blog, NSCLC attorneys Harper Jean Tobin and Simon Lazarus write about the Supreme Court's denial of certiorari in an important ERISA case. By refusing to grant certiorari in Amschwand v. Spherion, the Court declined to revisit decisions that bar monetary compensation to beneficiaries who are illegally denied pension benefits, life insurance proceeds, and medical treatment.
- Media Coverage of NSCLC's Medicare Part D Settlement Agreement
- Read about recent media coverage of NSCLC's settlement agreement on Medicare Part D
- Faulty Nonpayment Notices Prevent Nursing Facility from Transferring Resident
- A Missouri trial court reversed an eviction ruling issued by the Missouri Department of Senior Services, in a case in which the resident had owed money but had paid in full before the administrative hearing.
- Gene Coffey in Wall Street Journal Article on Nursing Home Bills
- A June 29 Wall Street Journal article on nursing home bills quotes NSCLC attorney Gene Coffey
- It’s About Time: LGBT Aging in a Changing World
- SAGE’s Fourth National Conference on LGBT Aging, It’s About Time: LGBT Aging in a Changing World, sponsored by AARP, will offer you resources, information, tools, insights, and networking opportunities to effectively address what LGBT aging will look like in the 21st century.
- Public Policy Staff Attorney—Federal Rights Project
- NSCLC is expanding its Federal Rights Project and seeks an attorney to assist with public policy advocacy.
- NSCLC Appoints Paul Nathanson As Executive Director
- The National Senior Citizens Law Center (NSCLC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Paul Nathanson as the new executive director.
- AoA's Nursing Home Diversion Program
- The Administration on Aging’s Nursing Home Diversion Modernization Grant Program hopes to transform the long-term care system by giving grants to states “to assist individuals at risk of nursing home placement...to receive home and community-based services.”
- Court Upholds Rehab Act Claim for Blind Participants In SSA Programs
- The decision is an important victory for the estimated 3,000,000 participants in Social Security programs who are blind or have low vision, the overwhelming majority of whom are over the age of 80.
- South Florida Sun-Sentinel Lists Resources for Taking Care of Aging Parents
- An article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel lists resources for getting help with long-term care for parents and other loved ones. The article quotes NSCLC staff attorney Eric Carlson, who also serves as President of the Assisted Living Consumer Alliance.
- SSA Seeks Comments on Protecting Benefits from Payday Lenders
- The Social Security Administration (SSA) has published a notice of request for comments regarding an anticipated change in a problematic agency payment procedure.
- Millions Have Yet To File For Economic Stimulus Payments
- Large numbers of eligible seniors who do not normally file a tax return have thus far failed to file for this year’s special economic stimulus payments
- NSCLC Urges Senators to Enact Fair Pay Bill
- The National Senior Citizens Law Center submitted this letter to urge swift Senate action on S. 1843, the Fair Pay Restoration Act. The bill would will correct a May 2007 Supreme Court decision that severely undermined longstanding guarantees of pay equity prescribed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Act (ADEA) of 1967.
- Nursing Home Admission Agreements: Think Twice Before Signing
- This new guide from NSCLC discusses common admission agreement problems, based on a recent study of 175 nursing home admission agreements. The guide is meant to inform and empower nursing home residents, their families, and others with an interest in improving nursing home care.
- California Court Upholds Readmission of Nursing Facility Resident
- A Los Angeles trial court upheld a nursing facility resident’s right to readmission from a hospital. Vernon Convalescent Hosp. v. Cal. Dep’t of Health Services (Edward Bush, Real Party in Interest), Superior Ct. for County of Los Angeles, Case # BS 109596, Minute Order of March 21, 2008
- NSCLC in Roll Call on courts vs. Congress and consumers
- NSCLC Staff Attorney Harper Jean Tobin writes in Roll Call on how a recent federal appeals court decision exemplifies a trend of rolling back consumer protections and remedies and twisting congressional intent.
- Wall Street Journal Looks at Nursing Home Medicaid
- An article in the Wall Street Journal examines Medicaid payment of long-term care in nursing homes.
- Senate Bill Would Bar Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements
- A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate April 9 amends the Federal Arbitration Act to bar pre-dispute arbitration agreements for long-term care facilities and their residents (or anyone acting on behalf of a resident).
- Urban Outfitters in Nursing Homes
- Gene Coffey writes about the need for culture change in nursing homes in this latest post on the Talking Justice blog.
- Justice Scalia's Two-Front War
- Despite lip service to "judicial restraint" Scalia has been waging a war against consumer product regulation as well as protections for workers, at both the state and federal level. Read the full article by Simon Lazarus and Harper Jean Tobin at AmericanProspect.org.
- States File Suit Challenging Medicaid Case Management Rules
- The states of Maine, Maryland, New Jersey and Oklahoma have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the new Medicaid case management rule that went into effect on March 3, 2008. Maine Department of Health and Human Services v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, Case No. 1:08-cv-00363-HHK (D.D.C. February 29, 2008).