350,000 Oregonians Could Lose Health Coverage is the title of the article. Take a look here. The proposed line-item reductions can be seen on the Ways and Means Co-Chairs’ 2017-19 Target Reduction Lists. 

In addition to the headline cut of no longer covering ACA expansion populations there are other proposed reductions that would affect seniors and people with disabilities. 

Among other things, proposed cuts to Aging and People with Disabilities would eliminate the live-in program; reduce in-home hours; and eliminate OPI. Intellectual and Developmental Disability services would have narrowed program eligibility and restrict personal support worker overtime. Community Mental health services also takes a big hit.

When serving as the trustee of a special needs trust, it is crucial to be careful when making distributions for the benefit of the trust beneficiary.  This is particularly true if the beneficiary receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI) because any distribution could potentially violate Social Security’s rules regarding unearned income for SSI recipients. If a distribution runs afoul of these rules, the Social Security Administration will treat the distribution as unearned income on behalf of the beneficiary and reduce the beneficiary’s income dollar-for-dollar after the first $20 of the distribution.

The most common example of a distribution that would be deemed unearned income is when a trustee provides a cash reimbursem...

Many attorneys create trusts, and some even create special needs trusts, often using pre-written templates.  So why, you may ask, do you really need an attorney whose practice focuses on special needs planning?

It is important that special needs trusts not be unnecessarily inflexible and generic, which is what can happen with a “one size fits all” trust template. The eligibility rules for Medicaid are different from those for Supplemental Security Income which are different from those for Section 8 housing. While the generic trust may work if properly administered, without proper counsel the trust is likely not to be properly administered. The choice of trustee is at least as important as the wording of the trust. But even in...