(News Conference) Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee, Author of S. 751, the "Seniors Safety Act of 1999"

June 21, 1999

I would like to thank Reeve, Jay and Veda for joining us today. By adding their own unique perspectives, each of them can help shine a light on these threats to seniors that we are here today to discuss.

Reeve has spoken eloquently about the distressing ordeal that her family faced when they realized that their trusted caregivers were taking advantage of her mother.

Jay Ashman is the head of the Consumer Protection Division in the Vermont Attorney General's office. It is important for all Vermonters to be aware of Jay's office if they suspect they are being defrauded or that someone they know is being defrauded. He can tell us how his office can help protect all of our citizens from being a target of fraud.

Also joining us is Veda Lyon, who works for the Vermont Department of Aging and Disability. Part of Veda's responsibility is to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect of individuals of individuals over the age of 60.

We all deserve to age with dignity and free of the threat of abuse or fraud. No one can guarantee that this will happen, but the legislation I am here to talk about today can be a powerful new tool to help crack down on those who prey upon older Americans.

We are all targets of people who commit fraud. We all need to be on our guard. But it is an ugly fact that criminal activity against seniors, inflicting physical and economic harm, is a significant and persistent problem. For instance, while violent victimization rates for other segments on society continue to fall, those same rates for seniors are no lower than there were in 1993.

Seniors are a particularly attractive target for a host of scammers and schemers. For example, telemarketing fraud disproportionately hurts Americans over the age of 50. This group accounts for more than a third of the estimated $40 billion lost to telemarketing fraud each year.

Fraud and abuse in the health care sector continues, too, despite some success in recent years. A 1998 report by the National Institute of Justice estimates that health care costs due to fraud and abuse may exceed $100 billion. This report says that many health care fraud schemes "deliberately target vulnerable populations, such as the elderly or Alzheimer's patients, who are less willing or able to complain or alert law enforcement."

To address these problems and others, I have introduced the "Seniors Safety Act," legislation that aims to crack down on crimes that seniors are most vulnerable to. My bill will help combat health care fraud and abuse, protect nursing home residents, prevent telemarketing fraud, safeguard pensions and increase penalties for crimes against seniors.

We must strengthen the hand of law enforcement to combat those predators who plunder the savings that older Americans have worked their lifetimes to earn. Seniors, not telemarketing scammers or pension robbers, deserve to reap the rewards of a lifetime of work.

Seniors are the most rapidly growing segment of our society. As we all grow old, we begin to depend more on others -- whether it is the ability to shop for groceries or getting to doctors appointments. As Vermonters, we know that the isolation that can come with aging can be particularly acute. That isolation can only be magnified by criminals who target the elderly because they believe seniors are less likely to resist or report crimes to the authorities.

The "Senior Safety Act" is part of our responsibility to care for all of those in our society. These are problems that have persisted too long. No one effort will solve this problem, but when we can take a meaningful step like this bill, we owe it to our parents or grandparents to do that.

President Clinton has also spoken eloquently about the need for tough legislation like this to address these persistent problems. Now Congress needs to act.

It is never easy to talk about such sensitive and private matters, but we must, or else the problem will remain a silent scourge on our families. Thank you.