Book Review: Medicaid Planning: From A to Z

K. Gabriel Heiser, J.D. Medicaid Planning: From A to Z. Phylius Press.  Antioch, Tenn. 2013.  524 pages. $149 (introductory sale price).

Retired elder law attorney Gabriel Heiser has published a professional edition of his consumer guide How to Protect Your Family's Assets From Devastating Nursing Home Costs: Medicaid Secrets.

Originally prepared as part of a 17-hour professional CLE course, Medicaid Planning: From A to Z appears aimed at attorneys or financial planners seeking a basic grounding in Medicaid planning strategies, as well as students (the book is being used in college-level elder law courses).  However, practicing elder law attorneys will also find the soft-cover manual useful as a time-saving reference, especially considering its more than 500 footnotes. And even the most seasoned practitioner may benefit from sections like the one on veterans’ pension planning techniques, which includes a discussion of incorporating veterans’ benefit assistance into a practice. 

Heiser, who recently retired from 25 years of practice as an elder law attorney in Massachusetts, is a remarkably clear writer – a quality that college students and professionals alike will appreciate.  In lucid prose, he makes understandable the intricacies of federal Medicaid law, which a frustrated judge once characterized as “an impenetrable thicket.”  Among other topics, the manual covers Medicaid’s medical, income and asset qualification rules; the uses of trusts; planning ideas for the home; post-DRA half-a-loaf strategies like gift and return gift and annuity; converting IRAs to an annuity; and the taxation of trusts, estates and gifts.  The 2013 edition also includes a 40-page section exploring Medicaid planning and attorney professional ethics, with case studies and ethics resources.

The appendix features a life expectancy table; a state-by-state listing of resource, shelter and utility allowances; sample legal forms, including Durable Power of Attorney, Will with Elective Share Trust, Promissory Note, Ladybird Deed, and Deed of Small Percentage Interest; a helpful list of “State Law Issues to Resolve”; a “Checklist of Medicaid Planning Options”; and foundational federal statutes and regulations.

For more details about Medicaid Planning: From A to Z and to order, click here.