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Show Older people spend more for care Health fraud hurting aging Americans Do you want to invest in a growth industry? Try health fraud especially in the aging Americans' market. The graying of America is likely to lead to the greening of health fraud profits. It already has. The reasons are fairly simple to understand, according to David Turner, Salt Lake County Aging communicate with the elderly as effectively as the fraudulent health promoters. For instance: Sit and communicate at eye level rather than towering above someone. Ask open-ended questions that allow the person to say how they feel rather than just trying to get a yes or no. Avoid medical and nutritional jargon. Allow the people to tell their life story if they want to. Turner's points are well taken. Health fraud doesn't appear in a vacuum. It most often appears when there is an unfilled need. In some cases this may be the agonizing reality that there is no cure. In many other cases, it is simply because those in the reputable health professions profes-sions aren't effective communicators. surance they may already have. Turner says in many cases the elderly have conditions such as arthritis ar-thritis or Alzheimer's disease that have no cureanother target area for health fraud promoters. Because the symptoms of arthritis and Alzheimer's wax and wane on their n own, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of treatments. People in this age range are especially espe-cially susceptible because they are taught not to question authority, he says. They take doctor's orders without ever a thought of asking a second opinion. The doctors tells them "Don't worry about an irregular ir-regular heart beat, let me do the worrying," and they are afraid to question this. Of course, trusting doctors can help prevent health fraud, but it also means these same people' can be taken advantage of by people posing pos-ing as authority figures, Turner cautions. cau-tions. He suggests that those in reputable health professions learn to ' mr " i I Consumer Information by Dennis Hinkamp Services. This segment of the population (55 and older) is responsible respon-sible for half the dollars spent on health care. They take 25 percent of the prescription medications. They spend 15 percent of their income on health care in addition to the in- |