| – | + | Enlarge Text |
The Elder Justice Act
In March, 2010, the Elder Justice Act was passed as part of the Affordable Care Act, the Health Care Reform legislation. This legislation was enacted to coordinate the efforts of preventing elder abuse, neglect and exploitation on a national level. Over $750,000,000 was authorized to create several programs, agencies and registries, all designed to provide services and information to prevent and detect elder abuse.
The Components of the Elder Justice Act
The legislation is aimed to better fund Adult Protective Services on a local level, require increased reporting of nursing home abuse, and support and train investigators, police, and prosecutors to deal with elder abuse and neglect. Specific actions created within this much-needed legislation include:
- Establishing a National Advisory Board on elder abuse, neglect and exploitation to submit a report within 18 months. The board will create a short- and long-term plan for the developing field of elder justice;
- Authorizing $67.5 million in grants to improve long-term care staffing through training and recruitment;
- Addressing the disparity in state laws and practices that leads to differences in prevention, protection, social services, and law enforcement in dealing with elder abuse;
- Improving the quality of information and research related to elder abuse by developing research standards for studies;
- Studying how states investigate complaints of nursing facilities which receive federal funding;
- Publishing a list of criminal acts by a nursing facility or its employees on a web site while creating a national program of criminal background checks for people in the field; and
- Creating Elder Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation Forensic Centers to develop expertise and standards for investigating elder abuse claims.
Elder Abuse is a prevalent problem in the United States, the majority of which is inflicted by the children of the abused, according to University Department of Rural Health, Tasmania.
The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that between 500,000 and 5 million senior citizens in our country are abused, neglected or exploited, with many of these crimes going unreported. We applaud the passage of this long overdue legislation.
* You may be able to get extra help to pay for your prescription drug premiums and costs. To see if you qualify for getting extra help, call:
1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). TTY/TDD users should call 1-877-486-2048, 24 hours a day/7 days a week;
The Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. TTY/TDD users should call, 1-800-325-0778; or Your State Medicaid Office
Medicare Advantage Fits Your Needs
Dental or vision options can be added to your
coverage.
More on Medicare
What Medicare options are best fit for you?
Request a quote and learn more.
Medicare Providers
The companies we've profiled have a strong reputation for providing quality, affordable Medicare plans.