On April 16, AARP Vermont Associate State Director of Advocacy Colin Hilliard presented testimony to the Vermont House Ways and Means Committee in support of S.51. This bill would provide individuals who provide uncompensated care a refundable credit against their personal income tax liability valued up to $1,000 if certain income, familial, and time requirements are met.
There's a host of ways our Medicare system, and your account, are being scammed by crooks every day. The video below will open you eyes to how these scams work and how to protect you and your loved ones from being the next victim.
In 2019, Vermonters filed 5,447 scam reports with the Attorney General’s Consumer Assistance Program (CAP). As old scams persisted, new scams emerged. According to the Attorney General’s list of top 10 most commonly reported scams of the year, the Social Security number phishing scam surpassed the IRS scam, knocking it out of the top spot as the most common scam. This phone scam involves calls claiming that your Social Security number has been compromised, suspended, and/or linked to criminal activity. The phony grandchild is also still popular.
AARP Vermont State Director Greg Marchildon released the following statement on Dec. 18 upon the passage of FY 2020 appropriations bills H.R. 1158 and H.R. 1865:
Retail prices for 267 brand-name drugs commonly used by older adults surged by an average of 5.8% in 2018, more than twice the general inflation rate of 2.4%, according to new AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) data released today. The annual average cost of therapy for one brand-name drug ballooned to more than $7,200 in 2018, up from nearly $1,900 in 2006.