Elder Rights

• Recommends that the U. S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and Congress take a series of procedural steps to seek faster and more efficient resolution of veterans’ disability claims. Co-sponsored by the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities.
  Approved as revised February 2003

• Supports federal legislation that acknowledges individuals’ rights to privacy of their health care information and protects the confidentiality of personally identifiable health information from any source including medical record, electronic data, and genetic material. Jointly presented with the Commission on the Legal Problems of the Elderly. Related recommendations sponsored by the Section Approved (2/96) and Withdrawn (8/98).
  Approved as revised February 1999

• Encourages state, local, and territorial bar associations and affiliated young lawyer organizations to establish and implement Senior Outreach Projects that provide free legal services to homebound senior citizens. Presented by the Young Lawyers Division. Cosponsored by the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities.
  Approved as revised February 1999

• Urges repeal of amendment to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 that makes it a crime to counsel or assist an individual for a fee to make lawful transfers for purposes of becoming eligible for Medicaid. Presented by the Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly. Cosponsored by the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, the Senior Lawyers Division, the New York State Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association, the New Jersey State Bar Association, the Monroe County Bar Association, the Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, the Commission on Homelessness and Poverty, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Maryland State Bar Association, the Section of Science and Technology, the Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants, and the North Carolina Bar Association.
  Approved as Amended February 1998

• Supports amendments to the Social Security Act that would (a) allow working widows who delay receipt of benefits under the Act to be granted delayed retirement credits and (b) eliminate the restriction that requires a divorced person age 62 and over to wait two years to receive their Social Security benefits if the former spouse is still working. Presented jointly with the Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division, the Senior Lawyers Division, and the Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly. Cosponsored by the Consortium on Legal Services and the Public. Related recommendation sponsored by the Section Approved (8/93).
  Approved August 1995

• Supports the elimination of the restriction of the Social Security Act that permits widows and widowers to collect disability on deceased spouses’ earnings only within the first seven years after the spouses’ death and the lowering of the age restriction for collection. Jointly presented with Senior Lawyers Division and the Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly. Related recommendation sponsored by the Section Approved (8/95).
  Approved August 1993

• Supports enactment of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) to eliminate mandatory retirement age for non-federal workers above the age of 70. Sponsored by the Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly, cosponsored by the Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities.
  Approved August 1986

For more information, please visit the Elder Rights Committee Homepage.