WASHINGTON, DC—AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer Nancy LeaMond released the following statement in response to Senate passage of the bipartisan SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act:

WASHINGTON, DC—Retail prices for many of the most commonly-used brand name drugs by older adults rocketed upward by an average of 8.4 percent in 2017, outstripping the general inflation rate of 2.1 percent. The annual average cost of therapy for just one brand name drug increased to almost $6,800 in 2017.

WASHINGTON, DC—AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy & Engagement Officer Nancy LeaMond released the following statement in response to lobbying efforts by PhRMA to change the Medicare Part D doughnut hole deal

WASHINGTON, DC—Information stolen in computer breaches of well-known companies is flooding into an underground digital market called the Dark Web, where criminals buy and sell Social Security numbers, credit card information and computer passwords to be used for fraud, an investigation in the September issue of AARP Bulletin reveals. Using software originally developed by the U.S. Navy and available for free to anyone who wishes to download it, criminals buy and sell private data with complete anonymity, then use it to commit identity fraud. Approximately 6.6 percent of U.S. adults were victimized last year, the report shows, and allegedly, more than half of Americans’ Social Security numbers are for sale for as low as a few dollars each. The article also details how identity fraud typically occurs, and the many proven, powerful ways consumers can protect themselves.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A majority (70 percent) of elderly dementia patients prescribed dementia drugs are on them long-term despite the lack of evidence that they provide any benefit beyond one year, according to a new report by AARP Public Policy Institute. The study found that some patients took dementia drugs for as long as a decade, costing as much as $20,000 per patient.