• Blog Post

    FTC ALERT: NURSING HOMES CANNOT CLAIM RESIDENTS’ STIMULUS PAYMENTS

    The Federal Trade Commission issued a warning that nursing homes in several states are trying to require their Medicaid residents to sign over their stimulus checks.  However, according to the CARES Act, these payments are tax credits, and tax credits do not count as “resources” for the purposes of federal benefits programs like Medicaid. Individuals who reside in long term care facilities typically manage their own money or appoint another person to handle their financial affairs.  The stimulus funds are to be handled as any other resident benefits.  Since stimulus payments do not count as income, they do not affect Medicaid eligibility or qualify as a Medicaid resource. The FTC…

  • Blog Post

    5 Things You Need to Know About the Equifax Breach and What to Do About It

    (1) What Happened   Equifax discovered a breach of personal and financial information on July 29, 2017. They hired security company Mandiant on August 2. The public wasn’t notified until September 9 when Equifax claims it finally understood the scope of the breach. Around 143 million Americans and in some cases, UK and Canadian residents, were affected. The private data that was exposed is crucial to people’s financial identities. Social security numbers, birth dates, and addresses were stolen, leaving those Americans vulnerable to identity theft. In some instances, driver’s license numbers were also stolen. And finally, the credit card numbers of approximately 209,000 people were a part of the breach.…