Page 18 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, December 6, 2019 Obituaries Gertrude “Gert” M. (Reardon) Ferrara Vicki (DeMarco) McNeil P eabody, formerly of Lynnfield and Saugus - Mrs. O O f Saugus, formerly of Orient Heights - Mrs. Gertrude “Gert” M. (Reardon) Ferrara, age 82, died at Life Care Center of The North Shore in Lynn on Sunday, November 24th. She was the loving wife of William Ferrara with whom she shared 51 years of marriage. Born in Boston and raised in Orient Heights, Mrs. Ferrara was the daughter of the late Peter and Frances (Picco) Reardon. Gert’s many hobbies included reading, doing “search a word”, going to concerts and the theater. She was a lover of animals and enjoyed walking the dog. In addition to her husband, Gert is survived by her daughter Sharon Ferrara as well as many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her six siblings, Anna Sarno, Rita Hurley, Thomas Reardon, Catherine Riggs, Peter Reardon, and Joseph Reardon. f Lake Worth, FL and Alton Bay, NH formerly of Saugus, age 70, November 23. Loving wife of Thomas McNeil. Beloved mother of Tricia Ciocco of Saugus, Vicki Galluzzo and her husband John of NJ, Kerri McNeil of Saugus. Cherished grandmother of Thomas and his wife Kelly, Anthony and his wife Jaki, and Madison. Dear sister to Denise Mackos and her husband Tony of Townsend. Donations in her memory may be made to Dana Farber Cancer Institute at www.dana-farber.org/gift. Dorothy I. (Snow) Stinson Lorraine A. (Muise) Amirault O f Saugus, formerly of Wakefield, age 91, November 27. She was the wife of the late Raymond E. Amirault. And the loving mother of Gail Ernst & her husband Ralph of Raymond, NH, John Amirault & his wife Pauline of Harwich, Jane Holt & her husband OBITUARIES | SEE PAGE 19 SOUNDS | from page 17 Residents may call Lorna Cerbone at the Solid Waste and Recycling Department at 781231-4036 with questions or for more information. Compost/Recycling DropOff Site closing soon The Town of Saugus Compost/Recycling Drop-Off Site will close for the winter season on Saturday, December 14, at 2 p.m. The site will be open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 14, 2019, prior to closing. The site will reopen from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the third Saturday of the month in January, February and March, weather permitting. Please contact Solid Waste/ Recycling Coordinator Lorna Cerbone at 781-231-4036 with any questions. Let’s hear it! Got an idea, passing thought or gripe you would like to share with The Saugus Advocate? I’m always interested in your feedback. It’s been more than three and a half years since I began work at The Saugus Advocate. I’m always interested in hearing readers’ suggestions for possible stories or good candidates for “The Advocate Asks” interview of the week. Feel free to email me at mvoge@comcast.net. Do you have some interesting views on an issue that you want to express to the community? Submit your idea. If I like it, we can meet for a 15to 20-minute interview at a local coffee shop. And I’ll buy the coffee. Dorothy I. (Snow) Stinson, age 94, died on Tuesday, November 26 at the Brooksby Village Memory Care Center in Peabody. She was the wife of the late Frederick W. Stinson, Jr. Born and raised in Saugus, Mrs. Stinson was the daughter of the late Erza and Hazel (Downie) Snow. Dorothy was a graduate of Saugus High School and the Lynn Hospital school of Nursing, later becoming head nurse at Lynn Hospital. She worked at Polio hospitals in both New York and Indiana and kept her nursing license up to date. She also was active in crafting. Dorothy had been a Lynnfield resident for 43 years before moving to Peabody. Mrs. Stinson is survived by her son Brian Stinson and his wife Melanie of N. Andover; two grandchildren, Samantha and Colten; one brother, Harold Snow of Fremont, NH. She was predeceased by her siblings, Waldo Snow, Ruth Snow, Gail Cole and Jean Welch. Preserving Your Rights With Filing Of Appeal W hen filing for a MassHealth application for either long-term nursing home benefits or for community MassHealth benefits, more often than not, a denial letter will follow after the first Request for Information is sent out to the applicant’s representative. It is important to file for an appeal with the Board of Hearings within the time period allowed by law. When you file a MassHealth application, benefits can be paid retroactively as far as the first day of the third month “prior” to the date of submission of the application. It is important to have MassHealth held by the original application date and the original date that benefits are requested, as the applicant may have no more funds available with which to pay the nursing home or for caregiving expenses while at home. If an applicant receives a denial letter due to missing information and subsequently submits the missing information within the 30-day time period allowed, MassHealth treats that as if there was a new application thereby creating a new application date. This has the effect of delaying the start date of MassHealth benefits by pushing the start date out further than what the applicant was initially asking for. As an example, assume that an application was submitted on December 1, 2019 asking for an effective date of benefits of September 1, 2019. Medicare may have stopped paying benefits for someone in rehab, for example, as the care being provided to the individual was no longer considered rehabilitative, but rather custodial in nature only. Further assume that a Denial notice is received on February 1, 2020 as a result of missing information. If the applicant submits the information on February 25, 2020 without filing for an appeal, a new application is deemed to exist and MassHealth will only pay retroactive benefits back to November 1, 2019. There would be two months of care that the family would have to private pay for. Also, the treatment of previously-paid medical expenses can be affected by the timing of the MassHealth application. Medical expenses that are less than 90 days in the past are allowed as part of the spenddown process whenever they are paid, but if those expenses precede the MassHealth application by more than 90 days, then a different rule may apply. Filing for an appeal preserves the original application date. Of course, the appeal has to be successful. An appeal can always be withdrawn by calling the Board of Appeals if the application is subsequently approved prior to the hearing date. The key is to not miss the appeal deadline. The Board of Hearings won’t give the applicant any slack. However, good old MassHealth can take as long as it wants to conduct the hearing itself, although federal guidelines dictate that MassHealth make a decision on the appeal within 45 days of the filing of the appeal. I had a case recently where we waited over one year for the hearing date. Fortunately, we were successful on the appeal. The nursing home had to wait over a year to get paid by MassHealth. And that’s just for one resident. That could be a good $100,000 of needed cash flow to support its operations. Joseph D. Cataldo is an estate planning/elder law attorney, Certified Public Accountant, registered investment advisor, AICPA Personal Financial Specialist and holds a masters degree in taxation.
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