Senior safety.

Citizens ban together to stop fraud against the elderly

When Janie L. Wooden, Ph.D., now 80, went to visit her physician in 1989 because of the common cold, imagine her surprise after receiving her Medicare summary in the mail. It revealed that she was treated for heart problems, respiratory ailments, and a few other illnesses.

"We had not even discussed those problems that he [the doctor] billed Medicare and me for. I feel certain the cost was triple what it would have been if he had just listed the cold," said Wooden. Then, the following year, it happened again. She sprained her ankle. However, her Medicare bill stated that she had a broken foot and the doctor had to set it--charging substantially more.

According to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), in Washington, D.C., Medicare loses $20 billion annually to Medicare fraud. Medicare pays 80% of doctor's bills and senior citizens have to pay 20% out of pocket. To reverse this costly trend against elderly citizens, Wooden volunteers for the AARP Senior Medicare Patrol Project of Washington, D.C. The group of 41 seniors makes presentations to eight to 10 groups each month such as social clubs, housing project councils, senior citizen centers, and church groups to educate them on recognizing and reporting Medicare fraud.

"Seniors are exploited by healthcare providers because they don't know how to read the language in their Medicare statements. We have banned together to help protect them," says Wooden an AARP volunteer of five years. "We meet with the seniors in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and explain their summary statements to them. Sometimes it may be in error, but many times the healthcare provider is practicing Medicare fraud. With Medicare fraud, everyone pays--certainly the recipient."

AARP says that aside from Medicare fraud, older Americans are also prime targets for telemarketing scams--tactics that cost consumers an astounding $20 billion dollars a year. Older Americans are easy prey because they tend to be more trusting and view the telemarketer as a friend. Seniors are also hit hard by home improvement scams that provide them with shoddy repairs and deceptive pricing according to AARP.

"We work with the District of Columbia City Council on all of these issues of consumer protection including fraudulent and predatory mortgage lending and pre-need funeral and burial contracts," says Claryce H. Nelson, 71, state coordinator for consumer issues for AARP in Washington, D.C., and one of the eight members of the state legislative committee.

While the Medicare Senior Patrol meets and works directly with the senior citizens in the D.C. area, the state legislative committee works to ensure that issues of concern to these seniors are passed. Currently, it is focusing on regulating the pre-need funeral and burial contracts--a $25 billion dollar business--since seniors want to pay for their funeral arrangements in advance. "We are concerned about whether companies will be around or have gone out of business when the senior passes," says Nelson.

Predatory lending is the other area of concern for seniors. These deceptive discriminatory mortgage practices consist of issues such as providing loans to consumers they cannot afford, with the expectation that the creditor will eventually foreclose on the home. Credit insurance is also included as part of the financed loan--both these unscrupulous procedures are illegal.

The legislative group is currently working with the D.C. Mortgage and Foreclosure Task Force, spearheaded by the Office of Banking and Financial Institutions, on passing a law to provide protection against predatory mortgage lending in the D.C. area. Last December, the mayor of Washington, D.C., Anthony A. Williams, signed a predatory lending bill that made Washington, D.C., the second jurisdiction in the country--next to North Carolina--to pass predatory lending legislation. This legislation prohibits unfair, deceptive, and discriminatory residential mortgage lending practices.

"Any mortgage loan paperwork is highly technical. Seniors should always check with a knowledgeable person or seek legal help in anything that they do--particularly signing mortgage papers. They run the risk of losing their homes. The majority of this happens in minority neighborhoods," says Nelson.