Elder Law

Family Law

Housing Law

MPLP 2002 Training Schedule

MPLP Index

Public Benefits

Technology

E L D E R  L A W

Autumn Brings Rich Array of Elder Law Training Opportunities

The busy fall conference season offers elder law advocates numerous in-state and national training opportunities:

AARP Long Term Care One Day Forum, Sept. 20, Lansing
MPLP Road Show Elder Law Day, Sept. 25, Lansing
Elder Law & Advocacy Annual Conference, Oct. 3-5, Treetops Resort, Gaylord
National Aging & Law Conference, Oct. 23-26, Arlington, VA
National Citizens Coaliton for Nursing Home Reform, Oct. 26-29, Arlington, VA.

Plaintiffs Craft Settlement Proposal in Home & Community Based Waiver Suit Alison Hirschel, MPLP
Plaintiffs are currently preparing a settlement proposal that will address the state's responsibility to prevent the unnecessary institutionalization of people who need long term care and enable some current nursing home residents to return to the community.

Medicare Delays Lock-In Provision for Medicare+Choice Enrollment
Alison Hirschel, MPLP
Effective immediately and until 2005, Medicare beneficiaries can enroll and disenroll from a Medicare + Choice plan at any time.

New Study Seeks Information on Burgeoning Assisted Living Industry
Alison Hirschel, MPLP
Residents of unlicensed "Assisted Living" facilities do not receive the oversight and additional protections afforded to residents of licensed homes. A recent Michigan State University study finds that the lack of any centralized information about these facilities makes it difficult for consumers to find and compare appropriate placements.

Michigan DCH Limits Medicaid Fair Hearing Rights
Mark Cody, MI Protection & Advocacy Service
In a recent decision, Director James K. Haveman Jr. determined that "alternative services" are not State Plan Services and thus are not subject to the Medicaid fair hearing process. Consumers can no longer can use the fair hearing process to challenge denials, terminations, reductions, or suspension of alternative services.

Lawsuit Challenging Medicaid Prescription Drug Formulary Awaiting Oral Argument in the Court of Appeals Alison Hirschel, MPLP
State lawsuit challenges the state's decision to expand prior authorization requirements for prescription drugs in all state-funded programs; plaintiffs have also filed suit against the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in federal court in Washington, D.C.

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F A M I L Y   L A W

Statute Reflects Major Change in Passport Issuance Process for Children
Lynelle Morgan, MPLP
To lessen the possibility that a passport might be obtained to further an international child abduction, the State Department will generally require any person applying for a passport on behalf of a child under 14 to demonstrate that both parents consent to the issuance of a passport, or that the applying parent has sole authority to obtain one.

Grandparenting Time? Effect of DeRose Still Debated Lynelle Morgan, MPLP
An analysis of the precedential value of DeRose, its prospective application, and whether the decision should have retroactive effect.

Joint Legal Custody & Relocation Issues Lynelle Morgan, MPLP
Michigan law imposes a number of restrictions on the ability of parents to move the residence of a child. In domestic violence cases, such restrictions can be a judicial sanction of a batterer's desire to monitor and control the movement of his or her victim.

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This quarter's Low Income Housing Law Website is... www.nlihc.org, the National Low Income Housing Coalition's site. This site is a great source of information about low income affordable housing issues, particularly federal legislative and administrative developments (check out the weekly "Memo to Members"). The site also includes useful data like the annual Out of Reach report, which contains income and rental housing cost figures for every county in the country.

Housing Day at the Roadshow
The housing day of this year’s MPLP Roadshow training at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing is scheduled for Thursday, September 26. It’s not too late to submit suggestions for topics to be covered that day. Please send any suggestions to Jim Schaafsma at jschaafs@umich.edu

Report Concludes that HOPE VI Has Many Problems Jim Schaafsma, MPLP
New report by the National Housing Law Project and others suggests that HOPE VI redevelopments reduce the supply of public housing for the lowest income families, the income group most affected by a more general loss of housing opportunities.

Recent HUD Notices: HHS regulation informs HUD Final Rule about what TANF benefits qualify as income; HUD indefinitely extends notice prohibiting discrimination against voucher holders by LIHTC and HOME owners

State of the Nation’s Housing for Low Income Households Is Not Good
Elizabeth Rios, MPLP Intern
New report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard describes the fraying safety net, unmet housing needs, and the vulnerability of elderly and low-income homeowners to predatory lending practices.

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P U B L I C   B E N E F I T S

· Claimants age 55 or older
· IQ of 60 to 70
· Claimants with a terminal illness
· Primary impairment is cancer

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T E C H N O L O G Y

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