Aging Issues

The idea of living out your life enjoying the “Golden Years” while fishing, golfing, traveling, etc., has faded from possibility in most baby boomers' minds. Instead, we wonder about how we can pay for health insurance, if our retirement money last until we die, how long will we have to work, if social security will be around to help with income, if we will be a burden to our children, if Medicare will still be in existence, if we will need to move out of our homes and into assisted living arrangements, etc., etc., and even more etc.

People are now living longer through the development of new medications and medical procedures forcing us to face issues that many of our parents and grandparents did not have to face. We are now up against different environmental factors that were previously not a concern, i.e., global warming. Health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression, dementia, and nutrition are now more under control than ever before; allowing elders to focus on other issues that are more out of their control. Issues, like financial abuse, have now become more prevalent as we age. With an estimated 5 million elder financial abuse cases each year, and with only 1 in 25 actually being reported, it is no wonder that financial abuse is a major concern in their lives.

Living through decades of change, struggling to get through life’s hardships, and needing to face our own mortality has often forced elders to be skeptical about life. In reality, today’s elders, just as in the past, want life to be positive, people to be trustworthy, and everything to “work out.” Yet, with the many “other” non-health related issues mentioned above, older folks have become susceptible to the various opportunities that scammers come up with that sound good and thus feed into the somewhat “Pollyannaish” mentality and can spell financial ruin for far too many elders.

As we age, we often seem to forget to be on our guard for the scam artist who can so readily come up with a new version of a well-used scam. The “it’s-to-good-to-be-true” scenario seems to hold course more often than not, and even when told to have the “buyer beware” attitude, these slick scammers very often find their prey willing and ready to give up all they worked so hard to obtain to someone they not only don’t know, but also who present no hard evidence of the quality of their company or their products/services.

Fraud and identity theft (I’ve lived through identity theft three times – no fun ride there) are here to stay and as such, we must protect ourselves from this form of abuse.

Below, courtesy of www.elderresponseteam.com are a few contacts to know if you feel you or an elder close to you thinks you/they may have been a victim of identity theft or financial abuse:

• Contact all creditors and let them know of the situation.
• Contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-IDTHEFT.
• Call the three credit bureaus (fraud division).
  • Equifax, 1-800-525-6285.
  • Experian, 1-888-397-3742.
  • TransUnion, 1-800-680-7289.
• Alert all your banks.
• Contact your local police.
• Contact your attorney.

As always, being proactive is the best way to safeguard against financial abuse, and any other issues that may be lurking in the darkness to run havoc with one’s life.

Lori Holmgren RN, MSN

Source: Jeffrey Johnson, Founder of Visiting Angels