Miscellaneous

Caregiving & Long-Term Services and Supports

1. Support on Additional Caregiving Bills:  I’ve let our national office know you’d like them to connect with to your legislative staff in D.C. to discuss the three additional caregiving bills we reviewed last week: the Credit for Caring, Connecting Caregivers to Medicare, and Lowering Costs for Caregivers Acts (please see attached for virtual copies of the one-pagers on each).
2. Caregiver Caucus:  Congresswoman Cammack expressed an interest in joining a Caregiving Caucus if one existed and I am happy to share that there is a bicameral, bipartisan Assisting Caregivers Today (ACT) Caucus. I’ve attached the information regarding this caucus and who to contact for additional information to this email.
3. Stats and Research on Family Caregivers: I’m providing a couple of links and resources to this email, but please feel free to check out our Family Caregiving Resource Center at AARP.org/Caregiving for more information geared specifically to family caregivers. I will follow up with you if I am able to find any other research on point regarding the health outcomes of those in the care of a family member.

• AARP Survey on Aging in Place – Demonstrates that at least 77% of older adults want to remain in, and receive care in, their homes as opposed to living in a nursing home type setting.
• AARP Research Insights on Caregiving – 65% of voters worry they won’t be able to live independently, 62% worry about becoming a burden on family, and 61% fear they will need to live in a nursing home with poor conditions at some point (a couple of insights from this link). See also U.S. Voters’ Views on Support for Family Caregiving (cited in previously link).
• Paying Family Caregivers to Provide Care – Costs of care are kept lower (average monthly cost $1,774 for self-directed care vs. $6,175 for semi-private nursing home room). This is a paper about self-directed care – a model in which family caregivers can be paid to provide care. If you’d like to learn more about self-directed care, you may be interested in the National Inventory of Self-Directed Long-Term Services and Supports Programs.
• 2021 Caregiving Out-of-Pocket Costs Study
• Caregiving in the US (2020) – A national survey of family caregivers, which contains a lot of useful data.
• Valuing the Invaluable 2023 Update: Strengthening Supports for Family Caregivers – Provides national and state data on the value of unpaid labor provided by family caregivers.

4. Caregiver Resources: Check out our Family Caregiving Resource Center at AARP.org/Caregiving for online tips, articles, tools, and more (scroll through for a multitude of resources on many different topics affecting caregivers).

• AARP’s Toll-Free Family Caregiver Resource Line – 1-877-333-5885 (M-F, 8 AM- 8 PM); For Spanish speakers: 1-888-971-2013.
• Florida’s Elder Helpline – 1-800-963-5337 (call to determine eligibility for caregiver assistance, benefits, and services)
• Community Resource Finder – National tool offered by AARP and the Alzheimer's Association.
• Caregiving Tips, Hacks, and Time Savers

5. Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS):

• LTSS 2023 State Scorecard Report – Provides scoring/ranking on long-term care and supports.
• Florida Performance on 2023 LTSS Scorecard – Florida ranked as worst in the nation (50^th) in providing support for family caregivers. Florida ranked in 44^th place for affordability and access, 36^th place for choice of setting and provider, and 34^th  place for safety and quality of care.

 

 

Fraud & Artificial Intelligence

National Fraud Resources:

AARP Fraud Watch Network (AARP.org/FraudWatchNetwork) – Central hub for all AARP fraud resources, trends, publications, etc.

Fraud Watch Helpline (AARP.org/FraudHelpline) – 1-877-908-3360 (M-F, 8 AM- 8 PM); Free resource available to public to provide guidance and support on scams from trained fraud specialists.

Support for Victims of Fraud (AARP.org/FraudSupport) – Free, facilitated support group sessions for victims of fraud and their family members.

AARP Veterans Fraud Center (AARP.org/VetsFraudCenter) – Online education and resource center for protecting veterans, servicemembers, and their families from fraud.

Scam-Tracking Map (AARP.org/ScamMap) – For reporting and viewing recent reports of fraud in your area.

Watchdog Alerts (AARP.org/WatchdogAlerts) – Optional sign-up to receive free biweekly information via email and text about latest scams.

AARP Study of Adult Consumers re: America’s Fraud Crisis

 

Florida Fraud Resources:

AARP Florida Fraud Resource Center (AARP.org/FLFraud) – One-stop shop for where to report, guidance on specific scams, and resources Floridians need to know on fraud.

Florida Attorney General’s Office Scams at a Glance – Resources on specific types of scams. (Check out the Solar Panel Scam pamphlet.)

Florida Attorney General’s Consumer Alerts – Regular alerts from the FL A.G. re: trending scams, consumer complaints, and deceptive business practices for Floridians.

 

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) & Tech-Related Content:

The Possibilities and Perils of A.I. – AARP’s Personal Technology Resource Center page on A.I. (covers trends, stories, and the pro’s and con’s of A.I.).

Overview of A.I. Use in Scams – Provides several trends in A.I.-facilitated scams, as well as tips on how to avoid A.I. scams.

Quiz: Can You Tell What’s Real vs. A.I.? – Fun virtual quiz to start the conversation on how convincing A.I. can be.

Cryptocurrency Scams – Discussion of crypto investment fraud, which is on the rise in FL and nationally.

How to Tell if an Online Image is Fake – One method for combatting disinformation fueled by A.I. (for example, Social Security Fourth Stimulus Check Misinformation).

 

Resources to Assist Aging Parents

Lastly, in response to the Congresswoman’s story about helping her mother with navigating health benefits, I wanted to share a few potential resources and tools that may be helpful to adult children interested in learning more about topics like Medicare and Medicaid. We may have additional resources to share, but these are a few items that stood out during a quick search.

AARP’s Medicare Resource Center – This is a publicly available resource center with information on Medicare, which contains helpful guidance on topics like knowing the difference between Medicare and Medicaid.

AARP’s Veterans, Active Duty, and Military Families Resource Center – This resource is tailored to veterans and servicemember families and provides a lot of great information for veterans and family caregivers, including guidance on How to Navigate VA Health Care Benefits and AARP’s Veterans Health Benefits Navigator.

Senior Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIP) – This is another great tool for adult children and family caregivers in navigating Medicare, as well as assistance with connecting to state and local SHIP resources.