Reuters Money
Elder financial abuse reaches “epidemic” proportion
For the past 30 years Jenefer Duane has seen older Americans fall victim to financial scams. But in recent years she has watched the problem get far worse.
“Elder financial abuse has grown to epidemic proportions,” she said.
Actor Mickey Rooney, now in his 90s, elevated the profile of the problem earlier this year when he won a restraining order against his stepchildren. He claimed they used intimidation to get access to his money and later told Congress how that can happen to a vulnerable senior.
Duane, who has led the San Francisco-based Elder Financial Protection Network for more than a decade, said the aging population has made more seniors a target for scam artists and, sadly, members of their own families. “The fact is that they’re living longer and are more dependent on support,” she said.
A study released this week by the MetLife Mature Market Institute found that nearly $3 billion a year is being lost to elder financial abuse. That’s 12 percent higher than in 2008.
Scams and fraud targeting the elderly are increasingly a problem, Duane said. Seniors are often pitched financial products they don’t need including reverse mortgages and annuities. “The prey on isolation and loneliness or diminished capacity,” she said.
Indeed, more than half the cases of elder abuse in the MetLife study involved strangers, the report found. About one-third of the alleged perpetrators were family, friends or neighbors.
Eldercare: How to develop a long-term care plan
Senior citizens get a bad rap for being cheap. But there’s no way to stick to a low budget when it comes to eldercare: It costs $77,745 annually to live privately in a nursing home. That’s a jump of $17,520 per year compared to 2005, according to the Genworth 2011 Cost of Care Survey, which sees prices continuing to rise.
Navigating your way through the individual-care maze and determining how you will pay for eldercare can be daunting. Wendy Boglioli, Olympic gold medalist and long-term care advocate, is on a mission to help aging populations live the life they’ve always envisioned. She spoke to Reuters about fostering a passion for preparation and developing a long-term plan for successful aging.
From Olympic athlete to long-term care expert and Genworth spokesperson — tell me about your journey from the podium to elder advocacy.
My parents were my Olympic coaches until I was 18. My father had became really ill about nine months before I went to the Olympics and when we came back, his health went downhill. I saw what it did financially and physically to my mother and my siblings — I’m one of seven children — to find placement for my dad in a nursing home, to determine costs and to research help for my mom. It was absolutely devastating for our family.
I couldn’t believe how many people were going through the same thing and that’s what lead me on the path to long-term care. I always say my father trained me to the meter of an Olympic gold medal but he failed to plan in the area of needing care for his life and my mother’s. Now, almost 30 years after his death, we recently put my 90-year-old mother in a nursing home. No family is immune to it. This experience has given me the passion to help people.
What are the first steps individuals should take when exploring, and planning, their long-term care needs?
I think, first and foremost, if you’re not healthy than get healthy. It’s a relatively easy fix on the physical side for most Americans.
I run a small private elder care home with only 2 residents. One of my resident paid his long term care insurance for 27 years upward of $33,000.00 and when he came to my facility the company found a tiny error in his insurance and denied him coverage. However, the good news is I charge him 1/3 of what it would cost him to stay in a nursing home and his care is far better. Below is a recent article I wrote:
A Nursing Home Alternative Saves Money and Lives
The best kept secret for long term care is an alternative to a traditional nursing home. This is a home where for a fee that is always much less than a nursing home, seniors live with a loving family. They actually share in the daily activities of living rather than being in a skilled facility waiting to die.
These private care homes are all over the country and are run by individuals that desire to care for the infirmed elderly and make the senior feel like family. Actually these residents become members of the family. Nursing home alternative homes house one to two residents. The end result is one-on-one care that leads to meaningful loving care by the same caregivers, not the constant shift changes and turnover that exist at a nursing institution. The senior’s dietary and special physical needs are met with an excellent quality of care which leads to an excellent quality of life. This nurturing environment creates a mutual respect which empowers the senior as well as the caregiver.
Additionally the caregivers work closely with the resident’s relatives, physicians and healthcare agencies to provide the highest quality of genuine caring while living in a home environment that has been proven by one success story after another for many years.
When an assisted living facility or living at home is no longer an option, a person does not have to go to a nursing home. There is an alternative.
For more information or to find a private care home, please contact the author, Annie Thomassen, 941-966-5489, email: athom914@verizon.net or visit her website: http://www.anursinghomealternative.com
Why your aging parent needs a geriatric care manager
At 95, Paul Greenberg’s mother lived alone and cared independently for herself in the Brighton, Massachusetts, home she shared with her husband who had passed away 20 years ago. But gradually over the next year, her son began to worry. He lived a couple hours away in Essex, Connecticut, and during frequent visits, he started to see signs of trouble. “There were two-week-old newspapers that she wouldn’t throw away,” says Greenberg.
His mother wasn’t ready to move into full-time assisted living but Greenberg knew she needed care and support that he couldn’t provide. On the advice of his cousin, Greenberg hired a geriatric care manager, Joan Harris from Your Elder Experts in suburban Boston.
Harris was exactly what Greenberg needed. “If you’ve never dealt with an elderly person before, you’re not sure what to do,” he says. Harris arranged for Meals-on-Wheels and visiting nurse appointments. Harris got Greenberg’s mom a hearing aide along with a lifeline she could wear in case of an emergency. Harris took her client to doctor’s appointments. She kept in close contact with Greenberg with regular emails and phone calls.
Though aging baby boomers may be a bit young for the services that geriatric care managers provide, there is a growing need for help as seniors increasingly live longer than ever before. Geriatric care managers often bridge the gap between ongoing independent living and more full-time care such as home health aides or assisted living.
But there is premium for this peace of mind. You need to pay for it out of your own pocket. Medicare or Medicaid does not pay for this service, and long-term care coverage can be spotty. Most agencies charge an hourly rate of between $60 to $300 per hour depending on the part of the country. Over the year Harris worked with his mom, Greenberg spent as much as $8,000 but, he says, “it was well worth it.”
Despite the expense, there are many scenarios when a geriatric care manager can be helpful. Their role is essential when “there are a lot of decisions, the person is in the midst of a crisis or at a crossroads such as a hospitalization and it is unclear whether someone can go home,” says Karen Wasserman, director of Your Elder Experts.
There is also a significant emotional piece that takes place during these major life transitions.
If cost is a concern, consider a one hour consultation. Care Managers can quickly get at the most critical issues for you and offer advice. And save you a lot of time and money in the long run.
Obviously you are the “youth” whom doesn’t understand the abuse. Some day you will. As to the generation who is “the most selfish Americans ever”, you apparently are totally out of touch with reality. The greed that has consumed this country where wall street along with the blessings of our federal government has virtually broke this country is where you need to point ur finger. In a country where the economy is driven by companies increased profits annually without regard for the people whom do the work will eventually do us in.
To actually think a individual is actually worth 10′s of millions of dollars in pay and stock option because he/she is a CEO or President is ridiculous. GREED is consuming this country and yes the elderly are being abused. It will be our downfall as a once great country.