Family Size | Gross Yearly Income | Gross Monthly Income |
1 | $11,490 | $958 |
2 | $15,510 | $1,293 |
3 | $19,530 | $1,628 |
4 | $23,550 | $1,963 |
5 | $27,570 | $2,298 |
6 | $31,590 | $2,633 |
7 | $35,610 | $2,968 |
8 | $39,630 | $3,303 |
add'l | +$4,020 | +$335 |
“As I approach 50 years of public service in West Virginia, I’ve decided that 2014 will be the right moment for me to find new ways to fight for the causes I believe in and to spend more time with my incredible family,” Rockefeller said the morning of January 11, 2013. He announced that he will not run for Senate at the end of his current term.
Rockefeller, born in 1937, has been elected to 6 terms in the senate, and served alongside Senator Robert Byrd for over 25 years. Before that he served as governor of West Virginia for two terms, was a member of the House of Delegates, and West Virginia Secretary of State. He is the great-grandson of John D. Rockefeller, oil tycoon, industrialist, and patriarch of a mostly Republican dynasty. Senator Rockefeller has remained a Democrat throughout his long career as elected official.
In the Senate Rockefeller has served on several committees including Commerce, Veterans Affairs, Taxation, and the powerful Finance committee.
Rockefeller will be remembered as a champion for healthcare for the needy, and has been a strong supporter of the fight against Alzheimer's disease. He founded the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute in 1999 to help advance medical and scientific understanding of Alzheimer's and other diseases of the brain. It is the world's only non-profit institute dedicated exclusively to the study of both human memory and diseases of memory.
Several West Virginia consumers, especially those who north of the Buckhannon area, have received phone calls over the past few days from scam artists attempting to obtain bank account information. The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division urges people to use caution when dealing with inbound telephone calls and not to share banking or credit card information with unknown callers. This latest scam begins with the caller telling the consumer that all Medicare beneficiaries are going to need new Medicare cards. To receive the new cards, beneficiaries need to share banking or credit card information to be able to process the fee for the card or the shipping/handling. Consumers are warned not to share any information with these callers – this is a scam. People who receive these calls are urged to hang up, but if they have caller ID, please report the telephone number the call came from along with the time and date of the call to the Attorney General’s Office at 800-368-8808 or to the West Virginia Senior Medicare Patrol (1-800-799-4638).
Julie Shelton, Director, Medicaid Program Operations
The West Virginia Dept of Transportation launched a new information system to enable travelers on WV roads to get real-time traffic and road conditions information. There are several ways to access the WV511 system, including phone, computer, mobile app, and twitter feeds.
By dialing 511 from any landline or mobile phone, callers will receive traffic information, road conditions and weather forecasts in addition to transfers to the Department of Tourism and neighboring states' 511 systems. West Virginia 511 also is updated with public safety alerts, including AMBER and Silver alerts.
The WV511.org website provides an interactive map with the locations of traffic incidents, roadway construction, and weather advisories. The map also allows users to view traffic cameras from around the state in addition to showing the location of electronic roadway signs and their current messages.
The free WV 511 Drive Safe mobile app offers drivers audible, hands-free traffic alerts. The app is available for iPhone and Android devices and uses the phone's speaker and GPS location to provide audible travel advisories in the driver's vicinity.
For traffic updates via Twitter, WVDOT encourages travelers to follow WV 511 Twitter feeds for statewide, regional and roadway specific traffic updates:
One year ago the state Bureau for Medical Services announced that enrollment in the West Virginia Aged and Disabled Waiver Program was frozen. Since then applications have still been taken, but those found medically eligible were put on a waitlist called Managed Enrollment.
Today the Governor announced that 120 people on that list may now become enrolled and receive services.
As of November 13 there were 1,713 people on the managed enrollment list who are medically eligible for services and waiting. The 120 slots will be filled by those individuals who have been on that list the longest, according to Penney Hall, Program Manager for the Aged and Disabled Medicaid Waiver program. "Those individuals will be notified by mail that there is a slot opened and they will need to choose their service model. If they choose Traditional Model they will also have to choose their case management and homemaker agencies."
| Part A | ||
| Hospital Deductible | $1184 | |
| Hospital Copay | days 61-90 | $296/day |
| days 90+ | $592/day | |
| Skilled Nursing Facility Copay | days 21-100 | $148 |
| Part B | ||
| Premium for individual by income | <$85k | $101.90 |
| $85k to $107k | $146.90 | |
| $107k to $160k | $209.80 | |
| $160k to $214k | $272.70 | |
| >$214k | $335.70 |
Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) is holding an open teleconference on Tuesday, November 27, at 2:30 p.m. EST to discuss his bill, The LGBT Elder Americans Act of 2012. The LGBT Elder Americans Act of 2012 “proposes several amendments to the Older Americans act (OAA), the country’s largest vehicle for funding and delivering services to older people. The OAA is currently up for reauthorization and includes no mention of LGBT older adults. Participants in the call will learn more about the bill, and its potential impact on aging providers and LGBT older adults.”
The presentation, followed by a Q&A session, will feature:
Phone number: (805) 399-1200, participant access code: 917325. No RSVP is required.
For a summary and full text of the bill and an overview of the legislative status of this bill check out www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s3575
The RESNA Catalyst Project (www.resnaprojects.org) provides technical assistance to Statewide Assistive Technology Programs, Alternative Financing and Access to Telework Programs, and Protection and Advocacy for Assistive Technology programs. RESNA is the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, a professional organization dedicated to promoting the health and well-being of people with disabilities through increasing access to technology solutions.
In 2011, the RESNA Catalyst Project began a new initiative focusing on the use of Assistive Technology (AT) for employment and business solutions. This initiative includes the development of an AT for Employer/Business Web Portal (http://atconnects.com/employers) designed to provide AT exclusive resources for businesses, employers, and those who work with employers to get people with disability employed.
Specifically, the AT for Employer/Business Web Portal features information on AT solutions in the workplace, finding help to access AT through the AT Act Entities, a consultant data base directory of RESNA Professionals and the services and expertise each offers to employers, publications on AT and Employment, various resources for employers to explore, and the partners who have worked with the RESNA Catalyst Project to create the Portal including the United States Business Leadership Network, Job Accommodation Network, the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation, Southeast TACE, and the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration.
The online location of the Portal is housed on the National Public Internet Site for AT (AT Connects), operated by the University of New Hampshire's Institute on Disability’s (http://atconnects.com/). For more information about the AT for Employer Web Portal, please contact the RESNA Catalyst Project staff, or visit www.resnaprojects.org to learn more about AT Act programs and the RESNA Catalyst Project.
Over 350,000 customers lost power as a result of Monday's superstorm. Over 3 feet of snow fell in parts of the highlands bringing down trees and powerlines and trees on powerlines.
West Virginia counties covered by Mon Power (a subsidiary of First Energy Corporation) are listed on the following website including number of customers with outages, number of customers restored, and expected schedule of restoration for communities within each county: www.firstenergycorp.com/content/customer/outages_help/Sandy/WVOutagesCity.html and here are estimated restoration dates. You can also get updates by following MonPower's twitter @MonPOwerWV
Counties covered by Appalachian Power are listed on the following website including when restoration is expected to be complete www.huntingtonnews.net/48365. You can get updates by following Appalachian Energy's twitter @appalchianpowe (not a typo, there's no "r" at the end)
From the Office of the WV Secretary of State:
On the November 2012 General Election Ballot, voters will see the following proposed amendment to the West Virginia Constitution. Ratification of the amendment requires a majority vote. If this amendment is ratified by the voters, the language below will be removed completely from the West Virginia Constitution, and nothing will be added in its place.
WV Code §3-11-4
Language to be Removed from the West Virginia Constitution
A person who has been elected or who has served as a sheriff during all or any part of two consecutive terms shall be ineligible for the office of sheriff during any part of the term immediately following the second of the two consecutive terms. The person holding the office of sheriff when this section is ratified shall not be prevented from holding the office of sheriff during the term immediately following the term he is then serving.
West Virginia State Election Commission Information
The West Virginia State Election Commission has provided the following non-partisan information about the proposed amendment:
Voting “For the Amendment” means you are in favor of removing the two term limit on county sheriffs.
Voting “Against the Amendment” means you are in favor of keeping the two term limit on county sheriffs.
The Exact Wording of the Amendment on the Ballot
No. 1
Repeal The Two Consecutive Term Limitation for Sheriffs Amendment
To repeal section three, article IX of the State Constitution which provides that a person who has been elected or who has served as a sheriff during all or any part of two consecutive terms shall be ineligible for the office of sheriff during any part of the term immediately following the second of the two consecutive terms, and that the person holding the office of sheriff when this section is ratified shall not be prevented from holding the office of sheriff during the term immediately following the term he is serving.
[ ] For the Amendment
[ ] Against the Amendment
Beginning with benefits in January 2013 Social Security benefit checks will go up 1.7%. The annual Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is based on the Consumer Price Index from the 3rd quarter. Neither Congress nor the President decides how much or whether Social Security benefits increase to keep pace with inflation.
The maximum earnings that are subject to Social Security tax will also increase in 2013 from $110,100 to $113,700. That means that Social Security tax is withheld for every dollar earned by a worker during the year until the worker reaches $113,700. All earnings above that have no Social Security taxes imposed on them.
The retirement earnings test exemption amount will also increase in 2013. The earnings limit for workers who are younger than "full" retirement age (age 66 for people born in 1943 through 1954) will be $15,120. Social Security deducts $1 from benefits for each $2 earned over $15,120. The earnings limit for people turning 66 in 2013 will be $40,080. Social Security deducts $1 from benefits for each $3 earned over $40,080 until the month the worker turns age 66. There is no limit on earnings for workers who are "full" retirement age or older for the entire year.
Medicare will likely increase the Part B premium for 2013, as well. That has not yet been determined. If it does, some Social Security beneficiaries who pay Medicare Part B premiums may actually not see any increase in their monthly benefits take-home amount, since the increase in Part B premium might offset the COLA increase.
A toll-free legal aid line is taking calls from survivors of this summer's derecho in designated West Virginia counties. These counties are Barbour, Boone, Braxton, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Fayette, Gilmer, Grant, Greenbrier, Hardy, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Kanawha, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, Marshall, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Monroe, Nicholas, Pendleton, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Preston, Putnam, Raleigh, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Summers, Tucker, Tyler, Upshur, Wayne, Webster, Wetzel, Wirt, Wood and Wyoming. Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments. The service, which allows callers to request the assistance of a lawyer, is a partnership between the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division (www.abanet.org/disaster), a partnership of national legal services support entities (www.disasterlegalaid.org), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (www.fema.gov).
Survivors facing legal issues may call 877-331-4259 24 hours a day to the message line to request assistance. Phone lines are staffed during the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and callers may leave a message after those times. Callers should identify that they are seeking FEMA legal assistance, and should identify what county they are located in. Survivors who qualify for assistance will be matched with West Virginia lawyers who have volunteered to provide free legal help.
The types of legal assistance available include:
State Police issued a Silver Alert for a missing elderly man from Monongalia County. Police received a call a little after 3:00 Tuesday afternoon, that Laurence Howard Nichol went missing from his daughter's Turtle Creek home in Morgantown. More than 100 people, including search crews, volunteers, and police were out searching for the man.
Nichol is seventy-nine years old, weighs 145 pounds, and has blue eyes. He also has gray hair, and was last seen wearing a red jacket, light colored pants, and brown shoes. Nichol suffers from Alzheimer's and walks with a limp.
Police say he should have contact information in his pocket. LT. Roger Gidley of the Mon County Sheriff's Department said, "We have three or four canines that are coming out, that specialize in tracking. We're in the process now of getting a helicopter here with the thermal imager, so we can look for any heat source out in the woods."
If you've seen Nichol, please call the West Virginia State Police at 304-624-7573. You can also call the Monongalia County Sheriff's Department at 304-291-7260.
If you purchased a device with an LCD screen (a TV, computer monitor, laptop computer) between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2006, you might be entitled to some refund from a settlement.
McGraw and several state attorneys general settled price-fixing lawsuits against ten LCD panel manufacturers, including Hitachi, LG Display, Samsung Electronics Co., and Sharp Corporation, for fixing the prices of LCD panels. As part of those settlements, the companies paid more than $1 billion in civil penalties and restitution to purchasers. West Virginians have until December 6, 2012 to file claims for the LCD screens they purchased between 1999 and 2006. Claims can be filed at www.LCDclass.com through an online claim form. Consumers can also request a claim form be mailed to them by calling 1-855-225-1886 or 1-800-368-8808.
In order to be eligible, consumers (1) need to have resided in West Virginia when they purchased the LCD product; (2) made their purchases in West Virginia between 1999 and 2006; and (3) made their purchases for personal use rather than for resale.
Purchases may have been made from a retailer, like Best Buy or Wal-Mart, or from a computer manufacturer, such as Dell or Gateway. Consumers will not be asked to submit their records or other paperwork in making their claims, but should hold on to those in case they are asked to provide them in the future.
McGraw said his office, along with seven other state attorneys general and the federal government, had been investigating the industry for several years. He said the investigation uncovered evidence of a high-level conspiracy involving secret meetings in which the companies’ executives agreed to raise prices for their LCD screens. The settlements were joined by the states of Arkansas, California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New York and Wisconsin, along with a national class action.
Average basic premiums for Medicare prescription drug plans are projected to remain constant in 2013, Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius announced today. The average 2013 monthly premium for basic prescription drug coverage is expected to be $30. Average premiums for 2012 were projected to be $30 and ultimately averaged $29.67. At the same time, since the law was enacted, seniors and people with disabilities have saved $3.9 billion on prescription drugs as the Affordable Care Act began closing the “donut hole” coverage gap.
“Premiums are holding steady and, thanks to the health care law, millions of people with Medicare are saving an average of over $600 each year on their prescription drugs,” said Secretary Sebelius.
Today’s projection for the average premium for 2013 is based on bids submitted by drug and health plans for basic coverage during the 2013 benefit year, and calculated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary.
The upcoming annual enrollment period -- which begins Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7, 2012 – allows people with Medicare, their families and their caregivers to choose their plans for next year by comparing their current coverage and quality ratings to other plan offerings. New benefit choices are effective Jan. 1, 2013.
As a result of the Affordable Care Act, coverage for both brand name and generic drugs in the coverage gap will continue to increase over time until 2020, when the donut hole will be fully closed. This year, people with Medicare received a 50 percent discount on covered brand name drugs and 14 percent coverage of generic drugs in the donut hole. In 2013, Medicare Part D’s coverage of brand name drugs will begin to increase, meaning that people with Medicare will receive a total of 52.5 percent off the cost of brand name drugs (a 50 percent discount and an additional 2.5 percent in coverage) and coverage for 21 percent of the cost of generic drugs in the donut hole.
For more information on how the Affordable Care Act closes the Medicare drug benefit donut hole, please visit: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/features/65-older/drug-discounts/index.html
Also the regional low-income premium subsidy amounts have been released for 2013. The low-income subsity (LIS) premium subsidy amount for WV is $36.57. This means beneficiaries who are eligible for LIS/Medicaid would need to enroll into a BASIC plan with a premium below this amount in order to not pay a premium (depending on their LIS level). There is a $2 de minimis, meaning that a prescription drug plan or Medicare Advantage plan with Prescription Drug Coverage may volunteer to waive the portion of the monthly adjusted basic beneficiary premium amount above the LIS benchmark for a subsidy eligible individual. Last year (for 2012), all plans agreed to do this. So technically, basic plan premiums in WV can be up to $38.57 as long as the plan agrees.
Today the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) issued its ruling that the part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Healthcare Reform and Obamacare) that requires individuals to purchase health insurance does not violate the US Constitution. Chief Justice Roberts issued the majority opinion in the 5-4 decision (Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan joined Roberts in the majority, Kennedy, Scalia, Alito, and Thomas voted no).
Chief Justice Roberts actually rejected the Commerce Clause argument made by the government to support the mandate, explaining that the ACA creates commerce rather than merely regulating it, and that is not a valid exercise of federal power. The opinion relies instead on interpreting the mandate as creating a tax on citizens via the penalty for those who do not purchase health insurance, and the federal government's power to tax is well settled.
Also at issue in the case was the constitutionality of requiring the states to expand their Medicaid programs by broadening their eligibility criteria and therefore requiring more matching funding. Though the majority found that Congress did act within its constitutional power in the ACA provisions by offering states additional federal funds to expand Medicaid, but found that it would not be constitutional to cut off all federal Medicaid funding to states who refuse the expansion. Rather, those states must have the option of continuing to receive federal Medicaid funds if they keep their current Medicaid plans in place.
What does this decision mean for WV seniors?
None of your Medicare benefits are taken away by the ACA or by this SCOTUS decision, including the right to choose your own doctor, hospital, and other medical providers. The ACA actually increases some benefits under Medicare including eliminating cost-sharing for preventive services and eventually eliminating the "donut hole" of coverage under Medicare Part D (the point of spending in the year when people with high drug costs would no longer have any prescription drug coverage at all until they reached a level of need considered "catastrophic").
The ACA creates several quality initiatives that remain in place after the decision. They include new reporting requirements for providers, linking payments between hospitals and other providers to increase more effective transitional care, a standardized complaint form for nursing home residents and creation of new complaint procedures, criminal background checks for nursing home staff and new reporting requirements regarding nursing home staffing, and care coordination programs to reduce preventable hospitalizations.
The ACA includes new initiatives aimed at improving the long-term fiscal health of Medicare, including adjustments to the federal government's Medicare Advantage plan payments and creating the Independent Medicare Advisory Board to study and make recommendations for long-term savings.
The Money Follows the Person demonstration programs designed to encourage states to transition Medicaid nursing home residents back out to the community, of which West Virginia currently has one, are extended through 2016 under the ACA.
There are several initiatives designed to expand and improve the geriatric care workforce under the ACA, including money to Geriatric Education Centers, of which we have one in West Virginia, to training, curriculum development, and best practices among various professionals in geriatrics.
Transgender people may benefit from the ACA's elimination of pre-existing conditions as a barrier to purchasing health insurance. LGBT people should benefit from the new data collection requirements aimed at uncovering LGBT health disparities, the new Patient Bill of Rights, and expanding the National Health Service Corps which among other things provides cultural competence training to healthcare workers in LGBT issues.
The ACA is a large-scale reform that includes many details, so the above is merely a short list of highlights for older West Virginians. To learn more about the ramifications of the ACA decision check out www.scotusblog.com.
6/22/12 3:53 AM
The West Virginia State Police issued a Silver Alert Thursday for a man reported missing in Clay County.
Jerry Holcomb, 62, was last seen Saturday, June 16 near his home in the 100 block of Dunden Road in Clay. He has Alzheimer's Disease according to a news release from the state police.
Police believe Holcomb walked off. They said they don't believe he has left West Virginia, but he does have family in Ohio and Kentucky.
Holcomb is a white man. He's around 5'8" tall, weighs 173 pounds and has green eyes. He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, brown pajama pants and tennis shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to call West Virginia State Police at 304-286-3185.
The Uniform Power of Attorney Act becomes effective in West Virginia today. The Act represents a substantial reform of the law controlling financial powers of attorney in our state. The Act does not make any changes regarding medical powers of attorney, that law is still found at WV Code §16-30-1, et seq.
To give you an idea of the scale of the changes, the new law is 60 pages long, whereas our old Uniform Durable Power of Attorney Act was only about a page long. There is a great deal of explicit detail in this law, lots of presumptions, duties, liabilities, and procedure built in that was absent in the old law.
A few of the highlights include:
Portability: The new law is explicit as to what is required for documents executed in other jurisdictions to be recognized here. And as more states continue to enact some version of the new uniform act (about a quarter of states have enacted it already) it will become more portable to other states, as well.
A statutory form: We now have an optional statutory form, as we do for Medical Power of Attorney. Most attorneys will agree that having a fill-in-the-blank form for financial power of attorney has pros and cons for West Virginia consumers, but the fact that a form now exists will likely create a substantial change in practice.
Third party liability for arbitrary refusal: Banks and other parties who are presented with a properly executed statutory power of attorney will have liability for wrongful refusal. Under our old law they had no such duty to respect powers of attorney, and sometimes would in response proffer their own form power of attorney, creating problems especially for principals who no longer had the capacity to execute new instruments.
Statutory mandatory duties for agents: Under the old law most powers of attorney were explicit only as to the authorities given therein to agents. Duties were rarely specified, and the old statute was mostly silent as to duties of agents, though agents bore general fiduciary duty pursuant to general principles of agency. The new Act explicitly imposes various duties, including the duty to keep records, on all agents.
For some more analysis and details about changes under the new Act please see what we posted about it as it was percolating through the legislative process earlier this year.
