Tag: Older adults

How a software engineer goes after scammers
AARP reports on how one unassuming older computer software engineer set about to go after the scammers who prey on older adults. He broke into the scammers’ computer systems to stop them from attacking people’s computers in order to get money from them. According to the Federal Trade Commission, in 2020 these impostor scams were the number one consumer fraud.

Older Americans, like all of us, sometimes get scary popups about a security breach on their computers. Sometimes they’re told that their phones and iPads are also compromised. Every time, they are asked to pay for a fix. Too often, older adults are easy prey and hand over their savings to scammers to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

The software engineer, “Jim,” fabricated an alias and called a phone number a scammer left on his voicemail. The person on the other end of the call asked for access to Jim’s computer to “fix” the alleged computer problem, but the scammer really wanted to steal money from Jim. Jim was prepared; he had set up a “virtual computer” in his computer that protected his computer from being hacked. Jim recorded the conversation and decided to spend his time reaching out to scammers like the first one he spoke to, recording those conversations and exposing the scams on YouTube.

Then, Jim had the good luck to get inside a scammer’s computer. I won’t explain how. Suffice it to say that the scammer believed he was taking control of Jim’s computer. In the process, the scammer opened up his own computer, and Jim was able to seize control of the scammer’s computer. Jim could see all the scammer’s files and software. From there on in, every time a scammer reached out to Jim, Jim knew how to trick the scammer into giving Jim control of the scammer’s computer.

Jim could literally see how scammers were reaching out to loads of older people in the US and the UK and getting them to pay to fix a nonexistent computer problem or something else. Jim exposed these scams on YouTube. He was able to stop them for a limited period by using software that sent junk calls to their phones, jamming them.

But, to eliminate the scammers, Jim persuaded the BBC to do a show using his videos. He also sent the videos to police in India, where there is at least one big scammer center. And, a big scammer boiler room was shut down.

Then, Jim partnered with AARP to reach the older people who tend to be the targets of these scams. Jim had a large audience for his videos, but they were mostly younger people, tech people, law enforcement people. Together with an AARP reporter, they were able to call older people as they were being scammed and tell them not to send the money being asked of them.

As helpful as Jim has been to breaking up some scammers’ enterprises and keeping older adults from wiring money needlessly, the scams continue. Don’t believe anyone who says he or she can help fix your computer. Don’t wire money to strangers. To protect yourself, read these tips.

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April 27, 2021
Get older, cope better
Benedict Carey reports some good news for older adults in the New York Times. Our emotional well-being improves as we grow older. And, the novel coronavirus pandemic confirms this scientific finding.

The data show that people who are 50 and older fare better than younger people on a range of emotions. Older people are more positive, regardless of wealth or education. What’s the reason?

Some might think that older people experience less stress than younger people because they have learned to accept life and all its quirks. Others might think that older people have figured out a way to dodge the negative stuff, at least mentally. Scientists tested the emotions of 1,000 adults in the context of the novel coronavirus.

Here’s what they found. The threats of getting COVID-19 and dying from COVID-19 were far greater for older adults than for younger adults. But, older adults and younger adults reported the same stress levels in response to COVID-19. Older people, in fact, reported less distress than younger people.

To be sure, people over 50 tend to have different daily routines than people under 50. They tend to have older children who are better able to fend for themselves. Older people also generally have more resources, making it easier for them to get help and to cope with COVID-19 and other stressors. In addition, older people are generally not as focused on self-improvement as younger people, spending their days doing things they enjoy rather than on taking risks or being challenged.

In short, older people face fewer disruptions in the face of a pandemic than younger people. One result appears to be that older people experience less stress.

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March 16, 2021

Coronavirus: Why isn’t every older adult vaccinated?

Eighty percent of people in the US who have died of COVID-19 have been over 65, so the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) rightly prioritized vaccinations for people over 65. In turn, states have done a pretty good job of ensuring that older adults living in long-term care facilities are vaccinated. But, many older adults living in the community are still waiting to get vaccinated; why isn’t every older adult vaccinated?

It is unconscionable that in 2021 the US has such a weak public health infrastructure that it has not yet vaccinated millions of older adults. And, our fragmented private health insurance system has been of little if any help. lnstead, in many parts of the country, states have left it to charities and other organizations to ensure people are vaccinated.

Without assistance, older adults will not be vaccinated. A lot of older adults are not able to schedule a vaccine appointment on their own; they might not even know that vaccines are available for them. Many older adults do not have computers. Others have no ability to travel to get the vaccine.

For the most part, the US put the burden on individuals, including frail and vulnerable older adults, to make their own vaccine appointments. Why is the US so backwards? Why don’t we have mobile vaccine clinics? Why aren’t hospitals calling the oldest and most medically compromised members of their communities and scheduling appointments for them? Israel and other developed countries actively reach out to residents and schedule appointments for them.

The amount of time all of us are wasting trying to schedule a vaccine appointment could be put to far better use. And, the amount of effort it takes is keeping people from getting vaccine appointments. As a general rule, vaccine sites are not vaccinating people who have not scheduled an appointment.

Consequently, people living alone who are least able to fend for themselves are also the least likely to have gotten vaccinated. It’s the healthier older adults who have been vaccinated. In order to enhance your chances of booking a vaccine appointment, you need to be aware of the multiple web sites that offer information on vaccine availability.

The Biden administration is now partnering with health insurers to ensure older adults are all vaccinated. The priority is reaching underserved communities. Time will tell how well that will work.

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Who’s protecting older adults from financial exploitation

Every state has an agency that provides protective services to adults. These adult protective services agencies collect and report data on abuses, including financial exploitation. But, the GAO reports that the data collection and reporting is not what it needs to be to understand the scope of the problem nationally and help older adults, their families and society at large.

As you might imagine, older adults can be easy targets for financial exploitation by family, friends and unknown predators. There are so many types of scams. And, older adults might lose the mental acuity needed to manage their money without being scammed. Their judgment might be impaired because of dementia. But, with a good understanding of the biggest issues, interventions can be developed to help them.

Right now, state reporting of data to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is voluntary. According to the GAO, 11 states and territories out of 56 do not report any financial exploitation data at all. Fewer than half of all states, 24, provide HHS with detailed financial exploitation case data. And, only 27 provide detailed HHS with case data on the the type of perpetrator.

Without this data, the federal government does not have the needed information to devise strategies to minimize financial exploitation and develop interventions to improve the lives of abused and neglected older adults.

To be sure, states cannot collect complete information on financial exploitation of older adults. Many instances are not reported. Often older adult victims do not want to implicate family members. But, to the extent states have this data it is generally not easily shareable with the federal government and it should be.

Because complete and accurate national financial exploitation data is not available, we do not know the extent to which property and funds of older adults are illegally or wrongfully used. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, banks reported actual losses and attempts at elder financial exploitation totaling $1.7 billion in 2017. As high as that might seem, it appears it could be closer to $50 billion if complete data were collected everywhere in the country.

Recent studies in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, however, suggest the cost is likely to be more than $1 billion in each state. The GAO recommends that HHS do more to ensure states report the information they collet. States tend not to submit data on the cost of financial exploitation of older adults to HHS because they do not feel the need to do so.

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Coronavirus: Many older adults are exercising more

Gretchen Reynolds reports for The New York Times on a new study showing that most adults are exercising less during the coronavirus pandemic. But, interestingly, many older adults are exercising more. What’s actually happening?

There’s no question that most of us are leading very different lives during this pandemic. Overall, we are moving less. Working from home has become more of the norm, along with less travel and less running around.

The pandemic has also altered the way we exercise–when, where and how. Thanks to our smartphones, researchers can study some of our exercise patterns, including our steps. Not surprisingly, we took fewer steps, on average 27 percent fewer, in the first month of lockdowns. People who had exercised a lot were some of the people who reduced their exercise regime a lot.

To understand how people’s exercise regimes changed, researchers studied the routines of nearly 5,400 people. They all had downloaded an exercise app on their phones that tracked their movements: walking, running and cycling. And, they ranged in age from young to old.

During the summer, after the first couple of months of lockdown, people began to exercise more. Most interestingly, people 65 and older got back to or exceeded their prior exercise levels.

It’s not clear why exercise levels returned to where they had been or increased for older adults. But, some think that unlike working adults with kids around more and in need of more attention, older adults had more free time. Older adults also might have chosen to exercise more, in an effort to better protect themselves against the novel coronavirus.

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Clinical trials need to include more older adults

Older adults have historically been excluded from clinical trials that test new drug treatments, even though older adults are most likely to need these treatments. Pratibha Gopalakrishna reports for StatNews that the problem continues. Even most reported Phase 3 COVID-19 clinical trials do not include older adults.

Treatments should be developed with the needs of older Americans in mind, both in a pandemic and more broadly. Older adults have higher disease rates than younger people. The disproportionate number of deaths of older adults during this pandemic illustrates just how hard hit older adults can be from a transmissible disease.

When older adults are not included in a clinical trial, it is much harder to know whether a drug will work for them, how safe the drug is, what the side effects might be, or how high a dosage they need. They might react very differently to a drug than a younger person.

In January 2019, the National Institutes of Health released the Inclusion Across the Lifespan Policy. It requires that researchers include older people as well as younger people in their trials, if they are using NIH funding, unless there is a scientific or ethical reason not to. But, at least with cardiovascular trials that have taken place since this new policy, one in three trials still had age limits.

In addition, some cardiovascular trials studied used exclusion criteria that were not age-specific. But, these criteria excluded people with pre-existing conditions, which includes most older adults. And, most studies were not looking to see whether a treatment benefited older adults.

Perhaps, over time, the new NIH policy will bear fruit and do more to ensure new treatments are tested with older adults in mind. But, some experts say that a lot of the research is done on participants who are much younger on average than the age of people with serious diseases.

Of course, in some cases, it may be perfectly appropriate to exclude older people from a trial because of risks of drug interactions, as well as compliance concerns, or inability to consent to the study. On top of these challenges to including older adults in clinical trials, there are challenges with identifying and recruiting older adult participants, along with transportation challenges.

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Coronavirus: It will be challenging for many older adults to vote

It seems inconceivable in the year 2020 that everyone in this country eligible to vote should not be able to do so easily. With technology as sophisticated as it is, voting should be a simple protected click of a button. Instead, barriers to voting for large portions of the population remain huge; Kaiser Health News reports that many older adults living in nursing and other living facilities may not be able to vote this November.

The novel coronavirus is keeping family members from visiting with their loved ones in nursing homes and other group home settings. That will make it harder for older adults to vote. Family members are often responsible for helping their older loved ones complete voting ballots. Moreover, COVID-19 will also keep group homes from establishing on-site voting precincts.

In some group homes, volunteers are assisting residents with voting by mail. But, this is not standard. And, it is generally not required. So, it seems more than likely that a smaller portion of older adults will vote in the upcoming election.

States can step in to require facilities to help older residents with voting. California’s Department of Public Health is telling facilities housing older adults that they must help their residents with voting. But, a lot of these facilities are short-staffed. And, even when there are staff, the staff might worry about being seen as influencing residents’ votes. Moreover, some states only permit bipartisan assistance teams to help people to vote.

Typically, more than 70 percent of older adults vote, as compared with less than half of young people between 18 and 29 years. old. Usually, there also are lots of voluntary organizations that assist older people with voting. In addition, candidates typically campaign at nursing homes and assisted living facilities. But, not during this pandemic.

In the past, congregate living facilities would either have voting booths on site or bus their members to a voting site. This time round, older adults might need to request an absentee ballot in order to vote.

If you or someone you love is not getting needed assistance to vote, contact the state’s long-term care ombudsman. Every state has one. The ombudsman provides free help and can work with the state’s Department of Public Health to see what help is available.

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Coronavirus: Older workers might be forced to retire early

Older adults working in jobs that put them in close contact with others might be forced to retire early as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Mark Miller reports for The New York Times on the pressures older workers are feeling and the financial risks they face if they retire early. Luckily, they have Social Security, but Congress needs to increase benefits to ensure the economic well-being of retirees.

Some jobs put older workers in situations where the risks to their health from COVID-19 are high. And, there is no way for them to protect themselves. Experts say that working conditions will affect whether older adults continue working or retire early.

But, workers who retire early are likely to receive lower Social Security benefits. They will not pay in as long as they otherwise would or realize benefits from higher earnings, both of which increase the likelihood of higher benefits. They also might have to take Social Security early, which will mean they only get 75 percent of their full annual benefit.

Of course, if you work longer, you also might be able to save more money. And, you might be able to take advantage of health insurance that your employer helps pay for. Notwithstanding, there has been a huge spike in early retirement. And, that will probably worsen a retirement crisis.

Many older workers are giving up significant income by retiring early. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, older workers earned on average $49,100 in 2018. Yet, they could be putting themselves at grave risk of getting COVID-19 if they return to work. They are in a no-win situation.

The good news for some older workers is that they have been able to work remotely. According to the Center for Retirement Research, nearly half of them–47 percent–worked in jobs that could be done from home.

Still, the novel coronavirus pandemic is likely to impoverish many 50 to 60 year olds today, once they retire. Researchers at the New School find that 54 percent of these workers will be impoverished in retirement, up from 28 percent, unless Congress acts to expand Social Security.

Older workers whose employers will let them work from home or return to work in safe environments or in phases are best off. But, employers have no obligation to do so and might fear liability if their older workers contract COVID-19. Congressional Republicans are on their side. Senate Republicans and their employer allies are working to enact legislation that would protect employers from liability if their employees contract COVID-19.

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Fear of Covid-19 should not keep you from getting needed care

For the last four months, in-person medical appointments have been cancelled or postponed. Older adults have missed routine checkups, preventive screenings. They have delayed elective surgeries and other non-urgent care, as well as some care that is critical they receive. Rachel Nania reports for AARP on how fear of COVID-19 keeps older adults from getting needed care.

Over the last few months, many older adults have not received medical services and treatments that they needed. Depending upon your health status and where you live, it might be time to schedule them.

To be sure, people with compromised health and people who live in areas where novel coronavirus cases are rising might still need to rely on telehealth for their care. This is particularly true if their conditions can be managed remotely.

However, many people have delayed emergency care, and emergency care should not be delayed. Emergency room visits were down 42 percent in the first couple of months of the pandemic. Close to one in three Americans did not get care for fear of COVID-19 infection.

AARP advises that anyone who is having difficulty breathing or experiencing chest or upper abdominal pain should get care right away. So should people who become dizzy or weak or confused. Anyone who takes a bad fall should also get treatment quickly.

In addition, older adults need to make sure they get the vaccines they need, in particular, the flu vaccine, the pneumococcal vaccine and the shingles vaccine. These vaccines are important for lowering people’s risk of needing hospitalization. Often, your local pharmacy or walk-in clinic can provide you with these vaccines.

AARP also says that you should talk to your doctor about getting preventive care services, such as colonoscopies and cervical cancer screenings, and treatment that will improve your quality of life, such as a hip or knee replacement. And, if you have breast or bowel changes or serious exhaustion, call your doctor as soon as possible.

Finally, people with certain chronic conditions should not put off seeing the doctor for too long. People with high blood pressure and people on blood thinners should routinely have their blood drawn to determine their medication levels. People with congestive heart failure and people with chronic kidney disease should see their doctors to protect themselves against developing a more serious condition. Talk to your geriatrician or primary care doctor about scheduling these appointments.

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Coronavirus and Congress: How to help older workers

The novel coronavirus has hit Americans hard. And, it has hit older workers especially hard. Not only are older workers at greater risk of serious harm from COVID-19, they are also at greater risk of losing work and not being able to find new work, writes Paul Brandus in an op-ed for Market Watch. Moreover, work that requires a commute can endanger the health and wellbeing of older workers.

The Labor Department reports that, for people over 55, the unemployment rate has fallen to 11.8 percent in May, down from 13.6 percent in April. Those numbers are actually lower than the unemployment rate for younger Americans.

But, there’s more to the story. Older adults are not likely to find new jobs easily. When they do, they will likely earn less than they had. That’s the way things have gone in the past.

Add to that the fact that older adults might justifiably fear going to work if they were to find a new job. Commuting could increase their risk of getting COVID-19. They are likely to wait until there’s a vaccine or a treatment before commuting.

Unfortunately, working from home is less of an option for older workers. They tend to have jobs that involve commutes. So, when they can’t work from home, workplace safety becomes a critical issue. If it is unsafe to be at work, older workers should stay home.

Older adults need better unemployment benefits at least until we are out of this pandemic. That said, unemployment benefits are always short-term. Those benefits might not last until older workers can take a new job. As a result, many older workers might find themselves falling into poverty.

Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist and director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School in New York, has three solutions for helping older adults:

Social Security benefits should increase right away by an extra $200 in benefits each month. This would bring the average monthly benefit to $1,703. It would help reduce stress levels for older workers.
Congress should enact a universal pension plan for workers. It would supplement Social Security benefits for the nearly half of older Americans who rely exclusively on Social Security for their income in retirement.
Congress should lower the Medicare eligibility age to 50, as some members of Congress have proposed. Older workers who lost their jobs would at least still have health insurance.

In fact, Congress should improve Medicare benefits, fill gaps in coverage and expand it to cover everyone, to best rein in costs and help older adults. That’s what Medicare for All would do. And, Medicare for All reduces overall national health care spending.

We could pay for Ghilarducci’s solutions in a number of ways. One way would be to increase Social Security contributions. People with higher incomes would continue contributing 6.2 percent of their income beyond the $137,700 ceiling. Medicare payroll contributions, which are not capped, also could be raised from 1.45 percent.

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