Senior Citizens Handbook
Laws and Programs Affecting Senior Citizens In MissouriSixteenth Edition
Table of Contents
Introduction
Financial Assistance
Health Care Housing Consumer Information
Personal Planning/Protection
Reference and Referral Information
Acknowledgements for the Sixteenth EditionThis is “Sweet 16,” or, in this context, the Sweet 16th. Great collaboration leads to great results. We have been so fortunate in the team we have assembled. Lawyers and non-lawyers alike, have made the Senior Citizen’s Handbook a great product for a great number of people.
We have been extraordinarily fortunate in that our coach for the past few years has ignored the big bucks offers, and stayed with us. Her x’s and o’s on offense are legendary and her defensive schemes are a marvel. Unlike the general editor, she’s a great people person. People like her. They really like her. (The general editor is a so-so people person – not great, not bad, but no Kathy Tahan). So, again, we tip our baseball cap (overlapping sports seasons leads to mixed metaphors) to Kathy, our clean up hitter, our goalie, our quarterback.
Thank you, Tina Schmidt of LSEM, for the strong organizational contribution, bringing the various sections together and formatting as well as gathering together all this free-floating information into usable form and previously alluded to format.
THE MISSOURI BAR and the MISSOURI BAR FOUNDATION have become integral to the success of this project, providing publication, distribution, and support on many levels. Dan Lehmen has been so valuable and so hands-on. Keith Birkes has been supportive and so helpful. By naming two, I have little doubt that I have omitted others. We know the book goes through a number of hands and we are grateful to ALL OF YOU.
We continue with our now established tradition of tying particular authors to particular chapters. Our deepest appreciation to those of you who year in and year out recognize the value of the publication and take the time to respond to our entreaties to UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. While we endeavor to miss no one, it may happen on occasion. LET STAN KNOW. My sincere apology in the event of an oversight. As always, all of the fine and helpful information contained herein is attributable to the contributors. Any mistakes of information or errors of any other type, are attributable to the general editor.
Stan Platke
General Editor
Preface
This edition of Laws and Programs Affecting Senior Citizens in Missouri is the sixteenth. The First Edition was prepared by staff personnel for the Legal Aid Society of the City and County of St. Louis (LAS), presently Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Inc. (LSEM), with the assistance of members of the Committee on Aging of the Young Lawyers Section of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. Seed funding for the project was provided through a grant from the Mid-East Area Agency on Aging. That Grant, along with additional money contributed by the Young Lawyers Section of Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, made the First Edition possible.
The originator of the concept for the book, as well as general project supervisor and original researcher, was Barbara J. Gilchrist, J.D., Ph.D., then a VISTA attorney in the Elderly Unit of LAS and a member of the Committee on Aging of the Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section, subsequently a staff attorney with LSEM, and presently a Professor of Law at St. Louis University Law School. Most chapters in this book were topics in a lecture series presented for the elderly in the St. Louis area by Ms. Gilchrist under the sponsorship of the Mid-East Area Agency on Aging. Dan K. Joyce, who was then a law student at the St. Louis University School of Law, completed the adaptation of the original lecture material, performed additional writing, research, and editing, as well as organized and supervised production.
Special thanks for that initial concept go to many people for their helpful contributions to the book. Their suggestions were incorporated into the final product. Thanks to: David Lander, then the Executive Director, Legal Aid Society; Doreen Dodson, then the supervising attorney of The Elderly Law Unit, LAS, and member of the Committee on Aging of the Young Lawyers Section of the Bar; Kathy O’Blennis, then a staff attorney, LAS, and member of the Committee on Aging; Artie Wolf and Mamie Rogers, then Human Services students at Washington University; Mary Lynn Cook of the community relations staff at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and all the staff members of the Mid-East Area Agency on Aging who assisted on the project.
The Missouri Bar Foundation, the Missouri State Office of Aging and the nine regional Missouri Area Agencies on Aging provided additional funding for the Second Edition. The Missouri Office of Aging and the nine regional Missouri Area Agencies on Aging provided funding and coordination for the Third Edition. Funding and coordination for the Third Edition was provided by the Missouri Office of Aging, E.C. Walker, Director, through the Older Americans Advocacy Assistance Program, Gerald J. Cohen, legal services developer. The fourth revised and expanded edition also received funding by the Missouri Division of Aging, through the Older Americans Advocacy Assistance Program, as did the Fifth Edition, Jenny B. Neidens, legal services developer. Initial funding for the Sixth Edition was provided by the St. Louis Area Agency on Aging. The Missouri Bar Young Lawyers Council, the Missouri Lawyer Trust Account Foundation, and the Missouri Bar Foundation provided substantial funding. The Missouri Bar Foundation, the Missouri Lawyer Trust Account Foundation and the Missouri Bar Young Lawyers Section Council provided funding for the Seventh Edition. Funding for the Eighth Edition was provided by the Missouri Bar Young Lawyers Section Council, the Missouri Lawyer Trust Account Foundation, and the Missouri Bar Foundation. Funding for the Ninth Edition was provided by the Missouri Bar Young Lawyers Section Council, the Missouri Bar Foundation, the Anheuser-Busch Foundation, and the Mid-East Area Agency on Aging. Major funding for the Tenth Edition was provided by the Missouri Bar Foundation. Funding was also provided by the Missouri Young Lawyers Council, Inc. and the Missouri Lawyer Trust Account Foundation. From the 11th edition forward, the major funding for the Senior Citizens Handbook has been the Missouri Bar Foundation. We are truly appreciative and grateful. We would further like to acknowledge and thank The Missouri Bar for printing this publication and for the extraordinary efforts toward distribution. The strong commitment of The Missouri Bar to this project has been instrumental in its success.
Along the way, many individuals have contributed to various editions of this handbook. The list is lengthy, but important to include because cooperative effort has always been and continues to be the keystone to the continued success of this work. Those individuals include Dorothy O’Driscoll, Ann B. Lever, Kevin Crinn, Susan Alverson, Jay Whaley, Richard Chase, Kayla Vaughan, Nina Balsam, Michael Ferry, Gayle Williams, Judy Freiberg, Jo Ann Greenberg, Merton C. Bernstien, Michael M. Greenfield, Carol Indelicato, Kathleen Murray, Mary E. Wyrick, Betty Springfield, Fran Grecco, Marsha Griffin, Sara Henryson, Thomas Borek, Dennis Capriglione, John Essner, Ted Tahan, Pauline Davis, Catherine Nelson, Virginia Neel, Dianne Taylor, Melton Lewis, Kathy Tahan, Kerry Kaufmann, Richard Wise, Pam Coffin, Jacob Gobel, Phillip Senturia, Joel Ferber, and Karen Warren. To all these individuals and to those who escaped notice and attention, thank you one and all.
Stan Platke
General Editor