State Unit on Aging
"To Promote the Dignity, Independence, & Freedom of Choice for Older Nebraskans"Elder Rights
Advance Directives Age Discrimination Consumer Protection Elder AccessLine Legal Assistance Mediation Long Term Care Ombudsman Medicare/Medicaid Fraud & Waste
(Nebraska SMP)Advance Directives in Nebraska
An Advance directive is a statement or instruction a person makes about his or her wishes concerning health care. The advance directive whould be in writing and made while the person is still capable of knowing what his or her wishes are. There are two basic types of advance directives.Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. A durable power of attorney for health care, also known as a health care power of attorney, allows one person ("the principal") to appoint another person ("agent") to make certain health care decisions for the principal if the principal becomes incapacitated.
Surrogate Decision Making in Nebraska
This booklet provides information on advance directives, powers of attorney, and other ways of allowing someone to make decisions on behalf of another person.Living Wills. A living will is a declaration made by a person while still capable regarding the person's wishes concerning health care. It is made before the person becomes incapcitated and is generally effective only if the person is unable to express his or her wishes at the time a health care decision has to be made.
For more information on advance directives contact your attorney, the legal service provider at your local Area Agency on Aging or the State Unit on Aging. The actual forms needed for advance directives are available on this Website. Please select one of the following to view the forms.Age Discrimination
Discrimination in employment based on age is prohibited in Nebraska. In general, covered entities include most private and non-profit employers with 25 or more employees, state, and local government subdivisions of any size, employment agencies, and labor organizations.
Unlawful employment practices generally include discrimination in the area of hiring and promotion (e.g., classification, recruitment, selection); compensation (pay and benefits); discipline (including termination); and other terms, conditions and privileges of employment (e.g., training and development, relationships and associations, freedom from workplace harassment).
The Age Discrimination Act also contains provisions barring retaliation. Anyone who has opposed any practice made unlawful by the statutes or who has participated in any manner in any proceeding to enforce the statutes is protected. For more information, contact the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commisssion at 800-642-6112 or visit the Website www.neoc.ne.gov.Consumer Protection
The Consumer Protection Division of the Nebraska Attorney General's Office protects consumers from fraud and deceptive trade practices, as well as ensures fair competition between businesses. The division enforces several laws that protect consumers from false, misleading, and undesirable sales practices. A mediation service is available to consumers to help them resolve complaints against businesses. It also provides consumers with the information and education they need to make important decisions.
For more information, log onto www.ago.state.ne.us, and for information from the National Fraud Information Center, log onto www.fraud.org.Elder AccessLine
The Elder AccessLine serves people over 60 throughout the State of Nebraska. Topics include but are not limited to homestead exemtion, spousal impoverishment rules under Medicaid, Medicare, consumer and debt collection practices, divorce, and grandparent rights.
People can call the Elder AccessLine for free legal advice, resources, and brief services. The attorney will be available by phone to talk with callers, and can provide some sinple legal documents such as Powers of Attorney, simple wills, and Advanced Directives. For more informaiton log onto www.nebls.com/ElderAccessLine.htmLegal Assistance
Legal assistance is a service provided through Nebraska's eight Area Agencies on Aging. It is authorized by the federal Older Americans Act and helps older Nebraskans increase their financial and legal security. Common areas of assistance include wills, landlord-tenant problems, consumer protection issues, health care powers of attorney, durable powers of attorney, and other substitute decision-making forms. Each person's situation is unique and important to these providers.
For more information, contact your local Area Agency on Aging or the State Unit on Aging.Mediation
From time to time, almost everbody has a dispute with a neighbor, or a business, or some other person or organization. Many people do not like the idea of going to court to resolve disputes and are not aware that there are other ways to resolve disputes. One method that is available to all Nebraskans is medation. Mediation is a process in which trained professional mediators assist people in conflict to communicate and make voluntary, informed choices in an effort to find a mutually acceptable resolution to their dispute. Mediation does not attempt to force a solution, but instead assists the parties in the dispute to work out solutions themselves. Mediators strive to be impartial, neutral and unbiased, and do not attempt to steer the solution to one side or the other.
Nebraska has a number of Mediation centers available to the public. For more information, log onto www.nemediation.org/.Nebraska Long Term Care Ombudsman Program
Long Term Care Ombudsman staff and volunteers act as resident advocates, seeking to resolve complaints and concerns from and on behalf of residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. For more information on the Long Term Care Ombudsman Program and the services they provide, select the link below.
Nebraska Long Term Care Ombudsman ProgramNebraska SMP (Medicare/Medicaid Fraud & Waste)
The Nebraska SMP is composed of professional staff and volunteers. The goal of the Nebraska SMP is to help individuals to identify, report and prevent possible Medicare and Medicaid fraud, error and waste, through education and advocacy. For more information on the Nebraska SMP, visit www.dhhs.ne.gov/smp/.
For more information, contact:
Department of Health & Human Services
State Unit on Aging
P. O. Box 95026
Lincoln NE 68509-5044Phone: (402) 471-4623,
1-800-942-7830 (Nebraska only)
Fax: (402) 471-4619
E-mail: Janice PricePhysical Address
Nebraska State Office Building
5th Floor
301 Centennial Mall South
Lincoln NE 68508
