Shannon Macleod, Esq. is dedicated and committed to providing effective and professional service to her clients. Her expertise in the area of Medicaid issues will provide a guiding hand through a traumatic and difficult time in your family's lives. Choosing to have her on your side throughout the Medicaid process will prove to be the right choice at a time when you need to make decisions that will provide peace of mind to you and your family.
Shannon received her Bachelors of Science in Psychology from Fordham University in 1997. Straight from Fordham University, Shannon began working in the accounting department of an Extended Care Facility. She was promoted within her five-year tenure at the extended care facility from Accounting Clerk to Accounts Receivable Manager/Medicaid Coordinator. Her duties at the facility included supervising all patient accounts, performing financial interviews for in-house patients and potential admissions, preparing Medicaid applications, and recording and tracking daily census records.
In 1999, Shannon entered the evening program at St. John's University's School of Law. She also took a position as a paralegal in 2000 with a Long Island law firm representing over 150 nursing homes within New York State. As a paralegal, and then in 2004 as an attorney, Shannon concentrated her practice on health care collection and reimbursement recovery issues. For eight years, Shannon counseled and represented the firm's nursing home clients on all aspects relating to Medicaid reimbursement.
In 2008, while remaining of counsel to one of the largest law firms on Long Island, Shannon Macleod began her own practice. She has combined her vast knowledge of the Medicaid system and her experience with the nursing home industry to provide her clients with individualized legal and professional representation.
Shannon is a member of the Elder Law sections of both the New York State and Suffolk County Bar Associations.
At the present time, the average monthly cost of a nursing home is $10,555 on Long Island and $9,636 in New York City. Medicare will only cover up to approximately 3 months of nursing home care. Medigap policies will cover co-insurance charges only when medicare has covered. Where does this leave your loved one if he has no long term care insurance?
Medicaid is a program for New York residents who cannot afford to pay for the high cost of medical care. The Medicaid program, however, has income and resource limits as conditions of eligibility. Furthermore, an application for nursing home care will require a 36 month* history on all bank and security accounts since any transfers made during this period will affect eligibility.
To determine whether you or your loved one meets the requirements of the Medicaid program, or how you or your loved one may meet the requirements in the very near future, it is wise to seek the advice of an elder care lawyer with a Medicaid background.
*Effective February of 2009, the 36 month history requirement will being increasing by one month with each passing month until 60 months are required on all accounts by February of 2011.
Asset Protection for Medicaid purposes is the practice of protecting your assets by transferring them to another person or to a trust in line with the Medicaid regulations and still qualify for Medicaid benefits. Certain transfers of assets may be considered "compensated" or "uncompensated", "permissible" or "impermissible" and "exempt" or "non-exempt" for Medicaid purposes.
It is advisable to work with a lawyer experienced in the Medicaid area who can assist you in rearranging your assets to make you eligible for Medicaid as soon as possible.
You and your loved one are approached by a hospital social worker with the information that everyone always dreaded. Your loved one needs continuing in-patient care in a nursing home. Or, maybe after you and your family have gone to great lengths to avoid having to place your loved one in a facility, placement becomes inevitable. What do you do next? Where do you even start?
The decisions that your loved and your family will immediately encounter are going to be traumatic and difficult for everyone involved. This is not easy; however, the decisions made will sit better with everyone involved if the proper steps are taken to make the transition to a nursing home as comfortable as possible. My suggestions are as follows:
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We deal with many different elder law issues including: