Elder Law Prof Blog

FTC Report to Congressional Committees On Protecting Older Adults 2020-2021

Friday I wrote a post on the FTC resources on COVID Scams, and now I wanted to be sure you saw their recent report to Congress, Protecting
Older Consumers 2020–2021. Here is an excerpt from the introduction:

This past year, the global pandemic has hit the health and finances of older communities particularly hard. As can be seen from numerous FTC cases, older adults continue to be targeted by a wide range of scams and the unfair and deceptive marketing of products and services. This past year, the FTC’s law enforcement efforts included a focus on schemes capitalizing on the fears and economic uncertainty associated with the pandemic to deceptively peddle products related to the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. In addition to its law enforcement efforts, the FTC has redoubled its efforts to reach communities of older adults throughout the country with its varied outreach campaigns. The FTC also has conducted research regarding fraud reports filed by consumers nationwide, which reveals patterns and trends related to fraud impacting older adults. These analyses help inform the agency’s efforts to respond to the needs of older consumers.

This is the 4th year that the FTC has done this report; the Elder Abuse Prevention & Prosecution Act of 2017 added the reporting requirement. This year's report lists and discusses 15 actions that the FTC determined had a significant effect on older consumers and a summary of enforcement actions.  The report includes consumer outreach efforts as well as the strategies that the FTC is using to shield older consumers from these scams. Appendix A is a chart of the various cases from the year, a quick scan of which will give you a good idea of the types of scams being perpetrated against older consumers.

 

More Resources on COVID Scams

Following up on my October 5 post on the APS TARC brief on COVID scams, the FTC is offering consumer info on avoiding COVID Scams.   The post offers extensive resources designed to provide accurate information to consumers on a variety of topics, including avoiding various scams, vaccinations, treatment claims,  privacy/online security, up to date info on scams, government resources, and more. I thought the section on avoiding scams to be helpful:

AVOID CORONAVIRUS SCAMS

• COVID-19 vaccines are free. If anyone charges you for help signing up or the shot itself, it’s a scam.

• You can’t buy the COVID-19 vaccine anywhere. It’s only available at federal- and state-approved locations.

• Always talk with your doctor or healthcare professional before you try any product claiming to treat, prevent, or cure COVID-19.

• Don’t post your vaccination card to your social media account. Someone could use the information for identity theft.

• Right now, there are no official plans to create a national vaccine verification app or certificate or passport.

• If someone asks you for personal information or money to get a national vaccine certificate or passport, that’s a scam.

• Contact your state government(link is external) about its vaccine verification plans and requirements.

• Check with airlines, cruise lines, and event venues about their vaccine verification or negative testing requirements.

• When you’re looking for pandemic-related help, start with sites like coronavirus.gov and usa.gov/coronavirus.

New Brief on COVID Scams

The Adult Protective Services Technical Assistance Resource Center (APS-TARC) released a new brief, COVID-19 Fraud and Scams: What APS Needs to Know. Noting the pandemic causes greater use of technology, increased isolation and changes to personal circumstances, the Brief discusses several COVID-related scams. These include healthcare scams, government impersonator scams, money transfer scams, charity scams, mortgage relief scams, helper scams, and scams around vaccinations, treatments for COVID, and tech. The Brief offers suggestions for prevention, agencies to contact for help,  and dealing with misinformation. 

Breakthrough in Alzheimer's Research?

My dear friend and colleague, Professor Feeley, sent me a link to this recent article, Likely cause of Alzheimer’s identified in new study.

Here's a brief bit of info about the study

[S]cientists in Australia have recently discovered an additional factor that may be responsible for the development of this neurodegenerative condition.

Lead study author Dr. John Mamo, Ph.D. — distinguished professor and director of the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute at Curtin University in Perth, Australia — explained to Medical News Today the conclusion from the new research...

“This study,” he added, “shows that exaggerated abundance in blood of potentially toxic fat-protein complexes can damage microscopic brain blood vessels called capillaries and, thereafter, leak into the brain, causing inflammation and brain cell death.”

The findings were published here. This is the abstract from the article

Several lines of study suggest that peripheral metabolism of amyloid beta (Aß) is associated with risk for Alzheimer disease (AD). In blood, greater than 90% of Aß is complexed as an apolipoprotein, raising the possibility of a lipoprotein-mediated axis for AD risk. In this study, we report that genetic modification of C57BL/6J mice engineered to synthesise human Aß only in liver (hepatocyte-specific human amyloid (HSHA) strain) has marked neurodegeneration concomitant with capillary dysfunction, parenchymal extravasation of lipoprotein-Aß, and neurovascular inflammation. Moreover, the HSHA mice showed impaired performance in the passive avoidance test, suggesting impairment in hippocampal-dependent learning. Transmission electron microscopy shows marked neurovascular disruption in HSHA mice. This study provides causal evidence of a lipoprotein-Aß /capillary axis for onset and progression of a neurodegenerative process.

COVID 19 Impact on Older Adults

A couple of weeks ago, the Commonwealth Fund released a report,  The Impact of COVID-19 on Older Adults: Findings from the 2021 International Health Policy Survey of Older Adults. Here are the survey highlights:

• Compared to their counterparts in the other survey countries, older adults in the U.S. have suffered the most economically from the COVID-19 pandemic, with more losing a job or using up all or most of their savings.

• Latino/Hispanic and Black older adults in the U.S. have been far more likely than white older adults to experience significant negative economic consequences.

• COVID vaccination rates for older adults were highest in countries where vaccines were most widely available when the survey was fielded. In the United Kingdom, nearly all older adults (97%) had already been vaccinated. The U.S. had the largest percentage of older adults who were not planning to get vaccinated.

The conclusion includes several steps for going forward "to reduce this burden on older Americans and to ensure that their health care needs are met":

Reducing care barriers... affordable access to care is increasingly a priority for policymakers and care delivery systems. Timely access to primary care is particularly important for older adults with multiple chronic conditions, because effective treatment requires coordination and follow-up plans....

Role of telemedicine...  countries clearly have an opportunity to improve care delivery to older adults through the expansion of virtual care services for those unable or resistant to receiving care in a clinician’s office....

Expanding vaccination ...  "[f]or older adults who said they were not planning to get vaccinated, limited trust in government to ensure vaccine safety and concerns with side effects were the most cited reasons. To increase uptake in this population, messaging campaigns should address their apprehension by engaging a wide range of voices, from clinicians and scientists to community members and local, state, and federal government agencies, to get the word out....

The full report is available here and the charts, here.