Bits of news and pieces of my mind, in case you’re wondering. I’ve seen a couple of stories either on TV or in print in the last 24 hours that have me fairly upset. I’d like to weigh in on the subjects and also would like to hear your opinions. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Caught this on a TV news program last night, something like Dateline, 20/20 or the like. Sorry I can’t tell you which one for sure, as I don’t initiate TV watching. Maybe someone else caught it too and can tell us. The subject was counterfeit prescription medicine. It’s become big business world wide, and according to this report, illicit drug smugglers are getting into the act. And the counterfeits are showing up in our neighborhood pharmacies, everything from Viagra and Cialis to Lipitor and other cholesterol -lowering medications, too good for the local pharmacists to tell the difference. And what a difference! To create these pills cheaply, manufacturers are using ingredients like gypsum (the chief ingredient in drywall), lead-based yellow highway paint and other harmful substances. The result? Not only are sick people not getting the medicine they need to stay alive or stay relatively healthy, but they are actually being poisoned! It was enough to make me very grateful I’m not on prescription medications, and vow to stay healthy enough to stay off them. But what of my mother, my mother-in-law, all my husband’s siblings, my daughter? All of them need various medications to stay healthy or stay alive. And their medicine isn’t guaranteed to be safe! I can’t imagine much that’s more scummy than this. I think the perpetrators ought to be fed a few of their own fake pills. Maybe a little lead poisoning will help them think straight. At least the person that this report ferreted out had the grace to admit the activity was illegal right up front. No one could complain it was a scam, exactly, even if the perps are lower than a snake’s belly. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Spotted in the most recent AARP Bulletin: Not a new scam, but another really scummy one, ‘financial planners’ are inducing unsophisticated investors to put their life savings into viaticals. Viaticals are discounted life insurance policies. The idea is to allow a terminally ill patient to sell his or her life insurance policy to an investor in return for funds for current medical and other needs. The discount ‘guarantees’ a return on investment for the investor. Personally, I find this distasteful, but I can see how someone who needed the money now would be helped by it. Unfortunately, the companies that trade in these investments are rife with fraud. The result is that neither party gets what they need. A desperately ill person loses promised funds, and an unsophisticated investor, who may have been wined and dined at a dinner seminar to lull his suspicions, loses his life savings. Maybe I’m too vindictive, but I’d advocate feeding the perps of this scam a few counterfeit pills, too. Be very, very careful if you are approached with this scheme. I’ve checked it out before, and I can’t find anyone who has anything good to say about it but scammers. To learn more about viaticals, go to http:///sec/gov/investor/seniors.shtml. If you think you may have been scammed already, check it out or make a complaint at http://www.nasaa.org/QuickLinks/ContactYourRegulator.cfm. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ From the same Bulletin comes good advice about your credit score. DO sweat the small stuff. Even if you pay your major bills on time, little things like overdue library books, parking tickets, or late payments to contractors or mechanics can ding your credit. Such things are often sent to collection agencies, which report them to a credit bureau. If you can’t pay all your bills and would like to know how to fix that, please contact me. I can show you the most efficient way to the light at the end of the tunnel. I offer this freely and without obligation. Note: I am not a financial planner, just someone who knows how to get out of debt. I won’t, can’t charge you for consultation, try to refinance your house, take your money to pay your bills for you or anything like that. I may recommend you try credit counseling, but only in the last resort. While we’re on the subject, be cautious about anyone who offers to clean up your credit, especially if what’s making it ‘dirty’ are legitimate reports of late payments or write-offs. No one can remove a legitimate negative report from your credit file. Your best bet is to clean it up yourself, the right way. You’ll save money that way, too. +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Well, that’s enough ranting for one night. I feel much better now! Let me hear your thoughts. Cheri

Dear Cheri, I don't know why it is but everyone time you raise an issue I feel the necessity to join in! I agree totally with your comments about the scamsters and fraudsters out there, but the downright idiots who try to sell me an -e-book on what I have been doing for 50 years (great targeting folks!) Anyway purely for comment purposes and as I do not live in the US, these are reflections only. Here in France the Government is actively persuading us on regular medications to switch to 'generic' drugs as they are far cheaper. What is interesting though is the fact that the generic drugs are produced by a major drug company Mercks. How does this happen? Obviously here is one major drug company that can produce an identical drug (in my case anti-cholesterol) to the other that charges an arm and a leg for it. Now get this for an oddie if you like. IF I bought the top-name drug here in France it would cost some 50 euros a pack of 25 pills. When I was in Hungary - where I did not have medical insurance,I had to buy the selfsame drug across the counter with a prescription for 5 euros for 25 pills. Same product, pack everything. Crazy or what? Fortunately and sorry any anti-French out there, and I know there are many, France ensures that every citizen gets medical cover - no matter what. Poverty does not equate with ill-health here. Those who have jobs pay - those who do not get it free. This must reduce the risk of the fraudsters - mustn't it? Regarding the home insurance scams - there are scum everywhere, but from what I read in these forums, they do seem to proliferate more in the US than elsewhere. Still it is always useful to hear about thse deals. One thing that does seem to work here in Europe is for older people (and I think it kicks in at about 75 years of age) can often sell their home and get the full market value for it to live on -stay in the house until both partners die, and then the purchaser takes possession of the house. This is fully legal, and works for both sides very well. I hear that the first thing older people do when they get the money is to renovate the house! So the purchaser gets an improved house, the benefit of an accruing property value of say over 10 years,whilst the oldies get a better home and money in the bank. Not bad eh? A true win-win situation. Does this exist in the US -or would it be too risky there? The only flaw I ever see is if the purchaser got impatient and applied pressure of some sort to remove the oldies, but that would be illegal - at least here. Norm

Dear Sheri, just a thought - have you noticed how close the words 'scum' and 'scam' are? Seems the only difference is in the 'u' (the 'you'?) - how strange? Cheers, Norm

Hi, Norm As I particularly value opinions that reflect what people are thinking other than here in the US, I'm very happy you feel the need to join in. It has always been a curious thing to me that pharmaceuticals manufactured in the US are more expensive here than they are in Canada. Yet, the numbers of people shopping in Canada or online through Canadian pharmacies attest to the fact that they are. Looks to me like you have the same situation there. It's unfortunate that this has upped the risk significantly, because who knows who might be behind the website? It's mostly our elderly who are turning to this method because of the expense of their medications, and they are the most vulnerable online as most don't have the sophistication to spot the dangers. This situation also has put legitimate Canadian pharmacies in a jam, because the manufacturers are now threatening to withhold supplies if this isn't stopped (it's technically illegal in the States). If that happens, Canadian citizens are denied medication they need. I wish I had some answers. This counterfeiting adds a new and very frightening dimension to what was already a terrible mess. I doubt that government-subsidized health care prevents fraud. The insertion of counterfeit pills into the supply happens through the wholesale suppliers. Someone pays the pharmacies for the drugs, whether it is your government, our Medicaid or Medicare programs, or the consumer. Those who are selling them wholesale to the pharmacies are enriching themselves without regard to the consequences. Just to clarify, the insurance scheme I mentioned is life insurance, not home insurance. The purchasers of viaticals are gambling that the insured will die sooner rather than later, and they will be the beneficiary. Nice, huh? The practice of older people selling their homes to lenders but being able to stay in them is called a reverse mortgage here in the States. It is available to individuals at 62, and to couples when at least one has reached that age. It's a wonderful way of using the equity in the home, often the only asset an older couple have, to live on without having to give up the home. The fees involved are significant, often taking more than an acceptable share of the equity and leaving less than enough to make it worthwhile for the owner. But it has its place, and yes, it's legal here. It's well enough regulated, as is most lending, that there's little danger of a person being forced out of the home early. My mother, at 83, has been worried lately that she will run out of money. That started after she took an online survey that told her she could well live to one hundred and nine. I've advised her to remember that she can fall back on her paid-for home to get her by, should that 'unfortunate' circumstance prevail, lol. As for your next post...yes, I had noticed that. Interesting observation about 'u' and 'you'. Cheri

Hi Cheri, it's just that you always seem to raise interesting subjects! Cheers, Norm