Protecting Elder Rights
Are you looking for information or assistance to help you address legal and financial issues or help to protect your rights or the rights of someone you know who is aged 60 plus? If so, AoA can refer you to information and assistance available on the topics of:
- Legal help
- Financial security of women in retirement
- Pension counseling and information
- Long-term care facilities and Ombudsmen
- Elder abuse
- Medicare, Medicaid and other consumer fraud
Protecting Elder Rights
Assistant Secretary for Aging Josefina Carbonell has made it one of her top five priorities to ensure the rights of older people and prevent their abuse, neglect and exploitation. The U.S. Administration on Aging supports the following elder rights programs:
The Older Americans Act (OAA) is one of the top funding sources for low-income senior legal services. There are approximately 1,000 OAA legal services providers nationwide, which provide over one million hours of legal assistance per year. The Eldercare Locator can provide information about legal assistance programs in your area. It can also be reached at 1-800-677-1116.
AoA-funded national legal resource centers have developed informational materials on a range of elder law topics, including consumer protection, public benefits, resident’s rights, guardianship, and health and financial advance planning.
ABA Commission on Law and Aging
National Consumer Law Center
The Center for Social Gerontology
AARP Foundation’s National Training Project
National Senior Citizens Law Center
A number of states also offer a senior legal help-line. For a complete list, please visit: here
More information on statewide senior legal help-lines can be found at www.legalhotlines.org.
- Financial security of women in retirement
The Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) is dedicated to improving the long-term financial security of all women through education and advocacy. Access the website at www.wiser.heinz.org for additional information, including a new publication on financial planning for caregivers.
- Pension counseling and information
The National Pension Assistance Resource Center—administered by the Pension Rights Center in Washington D.C.--is currently developing a nationwide dataset of pension assistance resources and models for a national, toll-free call center offering a single point of entry to pension assistance. For help with pensions in your area, go to: http://www.pensionrights.org/pages/help.html. Phone: 202-296-3776
- Long-term care facilities and Ombudsmen
State and local ombudsmen are an excellent resource for information on long-term care facilities and assistance in helping residents and their loved ones resolve concerns involving care and residents’ rights. Click here to locate an ombudsman nearest you on the website of the National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center: http://www.ltcombudsman.org/static_pages/ombudsmen.cfm. The Center’s phone number is 202-332-2275.
The AoA-funded National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) disseminates information on elder abuse, and it provides technical assistance and training to states and to community-based organizations. NCEA produces a monthly newsletter, and it administers an elder abuse listserv for professionals working in the field. You can reach NCEA at 202-898-2586 or ncea@nasua.org.
- Medicare, Medicaid and other consumer fraud
Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) Projects work with seniors to prevent, identify and report Medicare and Medicaid fraud, error and abuse. The National Consumer Protection Technical Resource Center provides information and assistance to SMPs, and information on Medicare, Medicaid (and other consumer fraud issues). See the Center website
www.smpresource.org for more information on this program and to locate the SMP project in your state.
Dept. of Health & Human Services
