The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

New rule that allows nursing homes to force residents into arbitration puts seniors at risk

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule Wednesday stating that it will no longer prohibit nursing homes from forcing a resident into arbitration if they have a dispute with the nursing home. As a result, nursing homes can enforce agreements in which residents sign away their right to access the court system if they’re injured or harmed.

“This shameful move by the Trump administration puts the interests of nursing home corporations before residents – the people who need our protection the most,” said Remington A. Gregg, counsel for civil justice and consumer rights for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division

Nursing home residents are among our most vulnerable citizens, Gregg said, adding forcing them into secret arbitration process will allow systemic problems in nursing homes to go unaddressed and remain hidden.

Let’s celebrate our democracy on July Fourth

Happy Fourth of July.

It’s a good day to celebrate our democracy and remember that it needs to be cherished and protected.

In America, we’re free to take part in government and make our voices heard, or not. We can write letters, join organizations that lobby, and protest, or not. We also can run for office, or not. We can vote, or not.

Although it often seems like things have changed in Washington, D.C., recently for the worse, we the people are the government. It’s ours. Rather than railing against it, as the right-wing media advocates, citizens need to participate and help to make government as strong and productive as possible.

Decide today on what action you can take to help make our democracy work well for everyone.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Baby boomers start the summer with thoughts of politics, health, and stuff

It’s summer at last with spring rains lessening and warm days turning into hot days in many parts of the country. Politics are heating up, too, with the debates for 20 Democratic presidential candidates drawing substantial interest.

For Tom Sightings from Sightings Over Sixty, the heat has finally come in full force – in both the weather and in politics. Dial in to “Summer Heat” to find out how he's slowed down and started doing summer activities for little or no money, including watching a couple of debatable programs on television.

It was difficult for Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting to avoid the hype for the great event of the past week – the two-night Democratic debate extravaganza. Baer settled onto her couch with comfort food – ice cream – and spent four hours of her precious time watching politicians talk…and talk…and talk. She commented on the spectacle in this week’s post “Democrats Debate, Discuss, and Dream.”

Other boomers are writing about health.

For Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com the topic is emotional eating. Emotional eating is one of the main causes of weight gain in women over 50. Olkowski is trying out a weight loss program that’s an app on your smartphone. It holds you accountable to yourself and gives you support and education on how to deal with psychological issues that are packing on the pounds. 

On my blog, I wrote about a request by consumer and health groups to put a warning statement on alcoholic beverages labels to increase consumer awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer. Half of Americans aren’t aware of this link.

Then, there’s the topic of what to do with all your stuff. Organizing spaces is a topic covered by two other boomer blogger.

What happens to our stuff when we don't have children to leave it to? And what happens to our nostalgia? Those are questions Carol Cassara of Heart•Mind•Soul asks in her post about stuff and nostalgia.

Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin wants to know if you have a soul loving space.  A place that nourishes you, calms you, and helps to soothe your soul? A space in which you feel creative? Or, a space in which you feel connected with your family? For details, see the article “How to Create a Soul Soothing Space.”

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #603. Be sure to take a look at these great boomer articles. And, leave a message to join in the conversations.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Personal Finance Writer

New York Times editorial rips Trump administration for failing to protect borrowers

With the Trump administration proposing to reduce federal oversight of mortgage lending, perhaps the most obvious lesson from the 2008 financial crisis, the need for stricter supervision of mortgage lending, has been lost, the New York Times editorial board said in an editorial Thursday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created in 2010 to protect borrowers, and it increased the reports mortgage lenders are required to file each year. The new information makes it easier to identify predatory lending and discrimination.

The Trump administration is proposing to increase the number of small lenders exempt from the requirements and has announced it won’t penalize lenders who don’t comply with the requirements this year, the first year the new reporting requirements went into effect.

How government regulations help consumers

Conservatives rail against government regulations, and the Trump administration is doing its best every day to cut government regulations that corporations hate.

However, government regulations help consumers. A report by the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards lists 10 worker, health, safety, and transportation standards that could help consumers this summer.

“Summer is supposed to be when we take time off from work to spend with family and friends, enjoy picnics, barbeques and cookouts, lay out by the pool, head to the beach, take road trips across the country or fly to far-flung places,” the report says. “But what happens if you’ve been deprived of the wages needed to take time off or travel, if road trips, flights and tour boats are potentially dangerous, if it’s way too hot to work or play outside, and there’s a good chance the food and water may be hazardous to your health? Suddenly, summertime looks less like a dreamy vacation and more like a scorching hot nightmare.”

The regulations discussed in the report are:

Jury awards couple $2 billion in lawsuit against Roundup

For the third time in less than a year, a California jury issued a verdict against Bayer-Monsanto, finding that the company’s Roundup weedkiller caused cancer in a California couple and awarding them $2.055 billion in damages.

The jury in Alameda County Superior Court found on Monday that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, was the cause of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in both Alva and Alberta Pilliod of Livermore, who have used the herbicide since the 1970s.

It’s the third trial since August 2018 in which a jury found that glyphosate caused cancer. More than 13,000 similar lawsuits have been filed against the company.

CFPB to become a financial literacy program under Trump rather than an enforcement agency

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should focus on financial literacy – empowering consumers to help themselves by choosing the best products and services to meet their needs, said the new director of the CFPB.

The government can’t be everywhere, said Kathy Kraninger, in a talk she gave Wednesday prior to a panel discussion sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

Kraninger said the CFPB would also use other tools available to the it – regulations, supervision, and enforcement. However, under her predecessor, Mick Mulvaney, the acting director appointed to head the CFPB by President Trump, enforcement action by the agency dropped dramatically.

How is Trump’s tax act affecting you?

On Saturday afternoon, I mailed in my income taxes for 2018. Instead of getting a refund of around $1,000 like I do most years, my refund was $170.

The TurboTax representative I spoke to said deductions that were helpful to me in the past, such as for my small business and charitable donations, have been eliminated.

So while Trump’s tax revisions are helping the rich, they have no benefit for me. That huge corporations pay little or nothing in income taxes and I’m paying more is discouraging. I don’t mind paying my fair share of taxes. I support good schools, roads, and bridges. But Trump’s tax law is making the rich even richer.

Fewer children’s products recalled in 2018, study shows

The number of children’s products and the total number of those products recalled in 2018 by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission declined more than in any year in the last decade, according to a report by Kids In Danger, a children’s safety advocacy organization.

The report reviews 2018 recall data from the commission, which show a reduction of activity at the agency. Fifty-two children’s products were recalled in 2018, down 44 percent from the 93 recalls in 2017.

“It is tricky to say whether low recall numbers are a good thing – pointing to safer products – or a sign of lax enforcement, leaving dangerous products on store shelves and in our homes,” said Nancy Cowles, executive Director of Kids In Danger. “Indicators this year, such as less effective actions in lieu of recalls and fewer findings of design defects in the recalls that were announced, make us worry it is the latter.”

The report, “A KID Report: 2018 Children’s Product Recalls,” shows:

Under Trump, enforcement of consumer financial laws drops sharply, especially in areas with the highest complaints

The number of publicly announced enforcement actions under the Trump administration at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is dropping sharply, according to a report by the Consumer Federation of America.

“Law enforcement activity at the CFPB has dropped precipitously under the Trump Administration’s leadership,” said Christopher Peterson, director of financial services for the federation and author of the report.

The bureau is charged with enforcing federal consumer financial law and bringing legal action against companies that violate that law. The bureau also has the authority to seek restitution for consumers and levy fines when it finds violations. The report finds that activity in both of these areas is on the decline – overall enforcement activity is down by 80 percent from the bureau’s peak in enforcement actions in 2015 and average relief to victims is down by 96 percent per case.