The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Blogging Boomer Carnival #261: Read about veterans, weight loss, hepatitis C testing, investments, part-time work, and food storage

By Rita R. Robison

This week’s Blogging Boomer Carnival is hosted by Vaboomer.com.

Take a look at the weekly roundup of boomer articles on a variety of topics including remembering veterans, losing weight, testing for hepatitis C, investing, working part time, and solving food storage problems.

Baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are America’s largest age group so far, and a fascinating group they are.

Boomers are leading corporations, serving as governmental officials, heading up non-profits, worrying about retirement, and experiencing layoffs at a higher rate than younger workers. They’re also reinventing themselves in trying economic times, with some looking for their dream jobs to keep them happy in retirement.

At each stage in their lives, boomers have changed things. They’re continuing to make America different as they begin entering into their retirement years.

In addition to The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, members of the Blogging Boomer Carnival are: The Accidental Locavore, The Midlife Crisis Queen, Sightings at 60, Arabian Tales and Other Amazing Adventures, So Baby Boomer, Vaboomer, Empty House Full Mind, and Witty Woman Writing.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Watch out for Memorial Day schemes that target members of the military and their families and supporters

Memorial Day is a time to honor those who serve and remember those who have died in war. But, it’s also become a time for scammers to target those who are serving or have served their nation, especially elderly veterans.

The Better Business Bureau is urging consumers and donors to be on the lookout for deals that seem too good to be true and for disreputable charities.

“Military personnel are targeted for a few reasons: they get a steady paycheck, they tend to be young, they move around a lot, if they’re deployed they may not be watching their finances/personal info closely, everything in the military revolves around their social security number, so it’s easy for them to have their identity stolen,” Coleen Smith, executive director of the BBB Education Foundation, said in a statement.

To avoid problems, visit www.give.org to verify a charity before donating and be on the lookout for these common scams:

Scams that target military personnel:

• Fraudulent investors try to convince veterans to transfer their assets into an irrevocable trust.
• Callers pose as the Veterans Administration and request military personnel to update credit card, bank, or other financial records with the VA.
• Scammers pose as government contractors recruiting veterans and ask for a copy of the job applicants’ passport.
• Companies specifically target military for services they could get for free or less expensively elsewhere.
• Ads offer “instant approval” military loans – “no credit check,” “all ranks approved” – that can have high interest rates and hidden fees.
• Ads offer military discounts and incentives online on housing and then cheat service personnel out of their security deposit.

Scams that target military supporters

• Scammers try to sell services such as security systems to spouses of deployed military personnel by saying the service member ordered it to protect his or her family.
• People sell stolen vehicles at a low price and claim to be soldiers who need to sell quickly because they’ve been deployed.
• Individuals pose on online dating services as a lonely service member in a remote part of Iraq or Afghanistan, and ask for money to be wired to a third party for some emergency.

The BBB advises service members, veterans, and all consumers never to give personal identification information – Social Security, bank account, military identification, or credit card numbers – to anyone who contacts you by phone or e-mail, and to be wary of any solicitations that involve purchasing something or transferring money.

Consumers can check out businesses and charities at www.bbb.org.

For more information, visit www.bbb.org/us/military-line.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Most states don’t protect patients from substandard physicians, citizens’ group study shows

Most states, including one of the largest – Florida – aren’t living up to their obligations to protect consumers from doctors who are practicing substandard medicine, in part because of budget cuts, according to Public Citizen’s annual ranking of state medical boards.

This information is important to baby boomer consumers because older adults receive a large porportion of medical care in America.

“Action must be taken, legislatively and through public pressure on medical boards themselves, to increase the amount of discipline, and thus, the amount of patient protection,” Sidney Wolfe, M.D., director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, said in a statement. “Ensuring that medical boards are adequately funded is an important prerequisite to achieving this, especially because doctors’ licensing fees, intended to fund medical board functions, are sometimes taken to fund other state functions, which has recently occurred in California.”

South Carolina was the worst state when it came to disciplining doctors, and, along with Minnesota and Wisconsin, has consistently been among the bottom 10 states for each of the past nine Public Citizen rankings.

Connecticut has been in the bottom 10 for each of the past six rankings. For the fourth time in a row, Florida is among the 10 states with the lowest rates of serious disciplinary actions even though it’s beginning to improve.

Other large states, such as Texas, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, have been in the bottom half of state rankings for all nine rankings and California has been in the bottom half for the past six rankings.

 “One likely reason for some medical boards’ declining rate of discipline is tighter state budgets,” Wolfe said. “The ability of certain states to rapidly increase or decrease their rankings, even when calculated based on three-year averages, can only be due to changes in practices and staffing at the board level. The prevalence of physicians eligible for discipline cannot possibly change so rapidly.”

Public Citizen’s analysis of medical board data from all states and the District of Columbia found that the rate at which doctors are disciplined by state medical boards has declined significantly over the past seven years, and some of the worst states have been consistently poor performers.

Nationally, in 2011, state medical boards took 3.06 serious actions per 1,000 physicians – up slightly, 3 percent, from last year but still down 18 percent from the peak rate of discipline in 2004 of 3.72 per 1,000 physicians.

The worst state is South Carolina with Washington, D.C. next. Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Nevada, New Jersey, and Florida make up the rest of the ten worst boards.

Wyoming was the best state when it came to disciplining doctors, taking 6.79 serious actions per 1,000 physicians, a rate five times higher than South Carolina. Three states – Alaska, Ohio, and Oklahoma – have been in the top 10 for all nine rankings.

Only one of the nation’s 15 most populous states, Ohio, is represented among those 10 states with the highest disciplinary rates. The best states when it comes to doctor discipline, in order, are Wyoming, Louisiana, Ohio, Delaware, New Mexico, Nebraska, Alaska, Oklahoma, Washington, and West Virginia.

The annual rankings are based on data from the Federation of State Medical Boards, specifically on the number of serious disciplinary actions taken against doctors in 2009-2011.

Boards are likely to do a better job disciplining physicians, according to Public Citizen, if the boards:

• Receive adequate funding – all money from license fees going to fund board activities instead of going into the state treasury for general purposes.
• Have adequate staffing.
• Engage in proactive investigations, rather than only reacting to complaints.
• Use all available/reliable data from other sources such as Medicare and Medicaid sanctions, hospital sanctions, and malpractice payouts.
• Have excellent leadership.
• Have independence from state medical societies.
• Are independent from other parts of the state government.
• Use a reasonable legal framework for disciplining doctors, the “preponderance of the evidence” rather than “beyond reasonable doubt” or “clear and convincing evidence” as the legal standard for discipline.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

FTC charges company put more than $70 billion in bogus phone charges on consumers’ bills

By Rita R. Robison

The Federal Trade Commission is charging that the nation's largest third-party billing company placed more than $70 million in bogus "cramming" charges on consumers' phone bills in violation of a previous court order. The FTC is asking a federal court to make the company pay more than $52.6 million, the total amount that the company billed consumers and failed to refund.

The FTC alleges that Billing Services Group placed charges on nearly 1.2 million telephone lines on behalf of a serial phone crammer. The charges were supposedly for "enhanced services," such as voicemail and streaming video, which consumers never authorized or knew about.

"BSG made it possible for con artists to steal people's hard-earned money by placing charges on phone bills for services they never ordered or used," David Vladeck, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "Under previous federal court orders, BSG cannot profit from the fraud of others and then deny responsibility for the harm they made possible."

Billing aggregators act as intermediaries between third-party vendors and the local phone companies by contracting to have the local telephone companies collect charges for the vendors' services from consumers. "Cramming" is the placement of unauthorized charges on phone bills.

In a contempt motion, the FTC said BSG failed to investigate either the highly deceptive marketing for the services or whether consumers used them. BSG kept billing for these services despite many complaints from consumers and after major telephone companies refused to do so, the FTC's motion said.

The FTC alleges that by putting the bogus charges on consumers' phone bills, BSG violated the terms of a 1999 settlement with the agency, which prohibits unauthorized billing, misrepresentations to consumers, and billing for vendors who fail to clearly disclose the terms of their services.

The contempt action is the FTC's fourth action on extensive cramming by BSG entities. In addition to the 1999 order, the FTC obtained two other cramming orders against BSG companies: Nationwide Connections Inc., which addressed $34.5 million in charges for collect calls that never occurred, and Enhanced Services Billing Inc., which addressed crammed charges for enhanced services.

From 2006 through 2010, BSG illegally billed consumers for nine crammed "enhanced services," including three voicemail services, one streaming video service, two identity theft protection services, two directory assistance services, and one job skills training service, according to the FTC's motion.

The FTC's contempt motion said that BSG billed tens of thousands of consumers for voicemail boxes each month from July 2009 through March 2010, but consumers used only 209 mailboxes during that time. The motion also stated that BSG billed more than 250,000 consumers for a streaming video service, but only 23 total movies were streamed, some of them by the crammers' employees.

Despite overwhelming evidence of cramming, BSG billed consumers more than $30 million for the voicemail services and more than $12 million for the video service, according to the FTC.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Better Business Bureau: Check out firms before you buy your Mother’s Day gifts from them

Flowers, candy, gift baskets, jewelry, and spa treatments may be at the top of the Mother’s Day shopping list, but consumers need to be careful.

“Mother’s Day shoppers should be thinking about ‘when’ and ‘where’ to buy, especially with online orders and last-minute purchases,” Robert W.G. Andrew, CEO of Better Business Bureau serving Alaska, Oregon, and Western Washington, said in a statement. “Whether it is days or months in advance – or even after the holiday – BBB can help buyers screen sellers.”

The BBB has had the following inquiries in the last 36 months:

• 6,609 on “Florists – Retail”
• 5,362 on “Candy & Confectionery – Retail”
• 7,785 on “Gift Baskets & Parcels”
• 71,335 on “Jewelers – Retail”
• 9,537 on “Day Spas”

Smart start: Search retailers, shops, and other services on bbb.org.

Online orders: Review guarantees, shipping policies, delivery dates, and charges on “rushed” orders. Provide contact information so companies can confirm shipping status.

Store shopping: Inspect products thoroughly and keep track of all purchase paperwork – including gift receipts.

Payment protections: Collect customer service information, save receipts, and pay by credit card when possible.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Million of Facebook users risk sharing updates beyond their ‘friends’ because they don’t use privacy controls

Nearly 13 million U.S. Facebook users don’t use or aren’t aware of the site’s privacy controls, potentially exposing personal information widely beyond their network of Face book “friends,” according to Consumer Reports.

Its report on Facebook and privacy also shows that more than 4.8 million people have posted about where they planned to go on a certain day, a potential tip-off to burglars, while 4.7 million have “liked” a Facebook page about health conditions or treatments, details that insurers might use against them.

Facebook is the largest social network with more than 900 million users worldwide and 150 million users in the United States.

Facebook makes it easy for people to keep up with friends, family, and colleagues, discover great content, and connect to causes. To deliver this service, Facebook and other social networks collect enormous amounts of often highly sensitive information and distribute it widely and quickly.

This data collection has risks. About seven million households using Facebook said they had trouble last year, ranging from someone using their log-in without permission to being harassed or threatened – up 30 percent from the previous year, according to the Consumer Reports Annual State of the Net survey.

Unless an individual chooses his or her privacy settings carefully, a friend who runs an app could grant it access to the person’s information without his or her knowledge, including information that was set to “friends” only view. Only 37 percent of users say they’ve used the site’s privacy tools to customize how much information apps are allowed to see, according to the Consumer Reports survey.

What does Facebook know? Americans feed all kinds of personal details into Facebook’s vast database by posting status updates on their “wall,” updating their profile, “liking a page,” or using other Face book features. The numbers below show how many people engaged in each activity during the past 12 months, based on projections from the Consumer Reports State of the Net survey:

• 39.3 million identified a family member in a profile.
• 20.4 million included their birth date and year in their profile.
• 7.7 million “liked” a Face book page pertaining to a religious affiliation.
• 4.6 million discussed their love life on their wall.
• 2.6 million discussed their recreational use of alcohol on their wall.
• 2.3 million “liked” a page regarding sexual orientation.

While some privacy or security issues arise from poor choices Facebook users themselves make, other problems can stem from the ways the company collects data, how it manages and packages its privacy controls, and the fact that users’ data can wind up with people or companies with whom they didn’t intend to share.

Some users might be surprised to know that Facebook gets a report every time they visit a site with a “Like” button, regardless of whether or not they click on that button, have a Facebook account, or are even logged in.

Better protections. Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, wants:

• A national privacy law that holds all companies to the same privacy standards and lets consumers tell companies not to track them online.
• Industry and privacy groups to meet to set clear rules for how personal data is collected and used, an Obama administration initiative.
• Consumers to sign a petition urging Facebook to improve privacy controls and address concerns about sharing practices.
• Facebook to fix a security lapse that permits users to set up weak passwords including some six-letter dictionary words and help users avoid inadvertently sharing status updates with the public, either by alerting them more prominently when they are about to do so or by changing the default audience for posts to the user’s preferred audience.

The report can be found in the June 2012 issue of Consumer Reports, available on newsstands on May 8, and online at www.ConsumerReports.org. The issue also features a report on online security and what consumers can do to protect themselves.

My next post will offer information on Consumer Report’s recommendations on “Nine Ways to Stay Protected” when you use Facebook.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Grocery shoppers rate Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, Publix, and Fareway highly, while giving low marks to Wal-Mart, survey shows

Consumer Reports subscribers rated Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, Publix, and Fareway tops among 52 of the nation’s major grocery stores.

While most respondents were quite satisfied with their experiences, the survey also showed even some of the high-rated chains gave many shoppers something to complain about.

One-third of subscribers surveyed said they’d stopped shopping at a nearby grocery store. Forty-three percent changed in search of lower prices; about 25 percent, poor selection, long lines, or lousy food; 17 percent, employee rudeness; 14 percent, crowds.

Of the 24,203 readers interviewed, more than half had at least one complaint about their current store; almost a third cited two or more.

The biggest complaint overall: Not enough open checkouts, cited by 27 percent of shoppers, followed by congested or cluttered aisles and advertised specials that were out of stock. Other complaints included inept bagging, missing prices, and scanner overcharges

Wal-Mart, Pathmark in the Northeast, and Pick ’n Save in Wisconsin had the most complaints with about three-fourths of shoppers having one or more problems.

Consumers who shopped at Wal-Mart were most likely to be upset about the lack of open checkouts, out-of-stock regular items, indifferent employees, spotty pricing, and confusing store layout.

On the other hand, those interviewed said Costco and Trader Joe’s, along with Fareway Stores in the Midwest and Wegmans, offer quality meat and produce, clean stores, and very good or exceptional prices.

All but Costco also earned the highest possible marks for service, defined as employee courtesy and checkout speed. Service is minimal at warehouse clubs such as Costco, and lengthy lines are a trade-off for deals.

For details, see Consumer Reports May issue or visit www.ConsumerReports.org.

Smart shoppers can slash bills by 60 percent

Also in the report, Consumer Reports found you can save hundreds, even thousands of dollars a year by doing homework and adjusting shopping habits.

Consumer Reports’ shopping expert Tod Marks cut his bill by about 60 percent using different shopping strategies.

Getting free shipping is my best consumer experience this week while new rules at health care offices irritate

By Rita R. Robison

I was pleased this week to save money on face and body soap, while a new Federal Trade Commission ruling was upsetting.

My best consumer experience: Saving money on shipping costs

Since I have allergies, I order some of my personal care products from N.E.E.D.S., a New York firm that specializes in items for sensitive consumers.

At last, they’ve begun offering free shipping and coupons.

On my order of a gallon of shampoo and body soap, I got my shipping costs of $11 canceled.

My worst consumer experience: Having to show my ID when I go to a medical appointment

It’s irritating. When you go to the doctor or other health care provider now, you have to show your identification. I went to two offices that I have gone to for 30 years, and I had to show the receptionist my driver’s license.

Apparently, it’s a new Federal Trade Commission regulation. The reason for the requirement, I was told, is that so someone else doesn’t use your insurance card.

It seems like more Homeland Security nonsense to me. You would think that the doctor’s offices I have been going to for 30 years would know me.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Tips for baby boomers who are traveling again

Baby boomers love to travel. Boomers consumers now account for more than three quarters of the cash spent on leisure travel in the U.S. every year.

I asked Bob Diener, co-founder of Getaroom.com, to answer the following questions about baby boomer travel these days and to offer tips on using travel dollars wisely.

Rita: How can you find a cheap airline ticket?

Bob: It’s very important to pick the right days to fly. Air travel on Saturday, Tuesday, or Wednesday are the best bets to save money because they are much lower demand than other days, especially Friday and Sunday.

Another important tip is to check different airlines for both directions of your flight. There is no law saying you have to book the same airline for both your departing and return flights. By looking at different airlines you greatly expand your options, so you can find a southerly route in the winter and avoid possible weather delays. You can also save money by booking two one-way tickets instead of a typical round trip.

Rita: What can baby boomers do to reduce their travel costs in the United States? Abroad? What are some deals you can get in Europe this spring before the heavy tourist season sets in?

Bob: Baby boomers that want to reduce their costs should always look to book their rooms in far as advance as possible. Many sites such as Getaroom.com offer substantial discounts for vacations booked 21 or more days in advance. Savings can still be had for the spur of the moment trips by looking at flash sales or daily deal type websites that feature discounts that only last for hours or a day.

Las Vegas is very popular for this generation, and some four-star rooms can be booked in Sin City for only $100 a night. Europe trips through the end of May offer some significant discounts compared to deeper summer travel. Paris, London, and Tuscany are attractive boomer destinations that are very cost effective in July and August.

Rita: What are the top five travel destinations for boomers?

Bob: New York City, Las Vegas, Orlando, Miami, and Washington D.C. are all top destinations for baby boomers. Each of these destinations offers upscale accommodations for surprisingly affordable prices.

Rita: Are more boomers traveling now since the Great Recession is easing?

Bob: Baby boomers have seen their retirement and investment accounts growing in the past year, and this has freed up much more money for them to travel. There’s also less pressure on their children as the economy improves, so they’re worrying less and can spend more cash on longer and more expensive trips both domestically and internationally.

Rita: Thank you, Bob, for giving us your insights on baby boomer travel.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Shredding paper was my best consumer experience this week, while dealing with my electrical utility was frustrating

By Rita R. Robison

My paper shredder works now, which makes me happy. However, talking to my electrical utility is less than inspiring.

My best: Getting my paper shredder to work

Years ago, I bought a paper shredder from Office Depot. It’s never worked very well. Twice, I’ve taken it back to the store to see if they could show me how to get it to work. Both times, the sales associates were able to get it to run. The second one showed me a lever that needs to be in a certain position for the shredding to occur.

When I got home, I figured it out and shredded lots of paper. I was extremely happy. I shredded about a third of the recycling bin full of paper I needed to do.

However, I had a problem. When I was shredding receipts, I put too many in. It jammed the shredder.

I left it for a couple of weeks, but finally couldn’t stand the paper shredder on my dining room table or the recycling container in my rec room.

I got out a skinny fork to scrape out the jammed receipts, then a skewer. Finally, I used one of the ends of a large paper clip. It worked.

I finished the bin full of paper and dumped the shredded paper into my recycling barrel.

What a great accomplishment. I’m glad I persisted for years. I paid about $65 for the shredder and didn’t want to spend money another one.

My worst: Having a missing check

When I received the bill from my electrical utility, it said I owed twice the amount of my monthly payment plan. When I called about it, the company said my last check hadn’t been received.

The investor-owner utility’s service has declined since a foreign conglomerate purchased it. So I asked the sales associate whether the company lost my check. She was indignant, saying it wasn’t possible.

Maybe I misplaced the check before I mailed it. Maybe it was lost in the mail. However, it’s possible the utility lost it.

Copyright 2012, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist