By Cheryl M. Keyser
An “early alert” from the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services indicates “more than one quarter of serious cases of nursing home abuse are not reported to law enforcement, despite state and federal law requiring it.”
Between Jan. 1, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2016, the inspector general found 134 cases of nursing home residents who are receiving Medicare whose injuries may have been caused by abuse or neglect. Furthermore, these cases weren’t reported to authorities.
A letter from various aging organizations was sent to the head of Medicare noted the agency’s procedures “are not adequate to ensure incidents of potential abuse or neglect are identified and reported.”
Penalties for such cases were instituted as long ago as March 2011. However, Medicare has responded that it is not going to take action until the HHS inspector general has issued a final report, which will further delay action for those who are the most vulnerable.
Information: http://www.theconsumervoice.org.
Dementia’s broad impact
The scourge of dementia is not confined to the most elderly. There are cases of early onset of the disease, and there is another form that in many ways resembles Alzheimer’s but affects people as young as 45 — and a patient’s decline can last anywhere from two years to two decades.
Frontotemporal degeneration (or frontotemporal dementia), more commonly known as Pick’s disease, is estimated to affect 50,000 to 60,000 Americans. It is recognized as the most common dementia to occur in younger populations, affecting individuals about 13 years before the most common age of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
To raise awareness of this illness, the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration took out a full-page notice in The New York Times with the headline: “Think it’s Alzheimer’s? Think again.”
As with Alzheimer’s, there is no prevention, treatment or cure. The AFTD cautions an accurate diagnosis is important as medications used for other illnesses may be harmful.
Information: www.theaftd.org.
Before investing
The North American Securities Administrators Association has set up a special website, Serve Our Seniors, to aid older adults in cases of investor abuse. This was established after it was noted that “at least a third of its members’ enforcement actions” involved those of advanced age, causing “the loss of millions of dollars each year.”
It works “aggressively” to develop “innovative regulatory solutions for older investors,” including enforcement and investor education, ranging from how to protect a nest egg to a checklist for investigating investments before writing a check.
This initiative comes on the heels of an earlier program set up by NASAA, the Senior Investor Resource Center.
The aim of both of these groups is to protect older adults from financial exploitation, “an ever-growing problem due to the amount of wealth seniors have accumulated throughout their careers and the steadily rising number of retirees.”
Information: http://serveourseniors.org.
Insecure retirement
The U.S. retirement system has undergone major changes from the days when many workers were provided with retirement plans by their employers. Nowadays, employees usually must handle their own financial planning.
The General Accountability Office has issued a brief report on how the retirement system has changed and offers a major recommendation. It notes that most contemporary employees are responsible for their own financial future, increasing the risks to ndividuals who may not understand all the ramifications of such responsibility — and whose contributions are usually not sufficient to cover their later years.
Even Social Security, once sacrosanct, is facing challenges. As the GAO said, “Absent fiscal policy changes, the federal government is on an unsustainable path, largely due to spending increases driven by the growing gap between federal revenues and health care programs, demographic changes, and net interest on the public debt.”
Adding to the woe is the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, an insuror for many corporate retirement plans, which “is at risk due to substantial liabilities.”
The GAO is calling for an independent commission made up of government agencies, employers, the financial services industry, unions, individual advocates and others, to study of the nation’s retirement system and develop recommendations for dealing with the coming changes.
Information: www.gao.gov.
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