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Doctor’s Senior Exercise & Health NewsletterAugust 1, 2001
Issue Vol. 1 No. 1
In This News Letter Introduction*** The Doctor’s Senior Exercise & Health Newsletter is written bi-weekly, solely for information to help seniors, baby boomers and anyone else who may have an interest in staying healthy, living a vigorous, active lifestyle and combating the aging process. The newsletter also includes know-how in the form of useful tips and links to more extensive material on the Internet. It is not meant to prescribe treatments for any particular condition except as something that the individual may wish to discuss with their healthcare professional. Web site: http://www.doctorsexercise.com How to subscribe: Click Newsletter on the left menu at website for more info and to subscribe or browse directly to: http://pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/doctorsexercisenewsletter E-Mail address: newsletter@doctorsexercise.com The Doctor’s Senior Exercise Newsletter strives to give you the best available news that we hope will help you in your efforts to maintain a vigorous, pain-free and happy lifestyle. However, you should always seek advice from your healthcare professional before trying any new treatments that you may feel can help you. Discussing your intentions with your doctor is always the proper procedure. Recent News And Commentary*** More and more these days, there is a topic in the news that can affect anyone of us. That is the subject of “Identity Theft”. Anyone that is subjected to this form of harassment will start living in a world that is crumbling around them. When you start getting statements of gigantic balances from your credit card company, you know the trouble has begun. Your statements from your bank will show withdrawals that you did not make. New accounts may be opened, and new credit cards applied for. Several years ago I received a statement from my cellular Phone Company showing calls made to Texas and Canada for over $400.00. I did not make any of these calls and my phone number was changed immediately, and was given a pin number that I had to use with every call I made. It took over six months before it was resolved. Another incident occurred several weeks ago when I received a phone call. The man asked for me by name. He then said, “That he was calling from a government agency and there was a problem”. He also said, “That he needed to verify my social security number”(RIGHT!). I asked for his name and he identified himself as “John Dennison”. I asked what the problem was and he said “ Banks had given out social security numbers to third parties for promotional purposes and this was causing serious problems”. He also said “His agency was checking on these disclosures”. I then asked for his agency’s name and phone number. His response was, “He was not permitted to give that out”. SURPRISE, SURPRISE! I was expecting that, but I thought I would play along to see how far this would go. I insisted on having his agency’s’ name and phone number. He insisted that he could not divulge that information. I kept insisting that I needed to know the name of his agency and the telephone number. He kept insisting that he was not permitted to divulge this information. I told him I was not permitted to divulge the information he requested without that information. Finally I got tired of this charade and hung up. This only illustrates the lengths these scam artists will go to get this information that is so vital in our lives. It also illustrates how we have to be on guard constantly. If you have any inkling that any of your personal identification has been stolen, report the incident to each of the following credit agencies. Ask them to place a fraud alert on your account. Equifax 800-525-6285 Experian 800-397-3742 Trans Union 800-680-7289 To obtain a copy of your credit report, call these companies at: Equifax 800-685-1111 Experian 800-397-3742 Trans Union 800-916-8800 When you receive these reports, check to see if any fraudulent, unauthorized activity has been taking place. Check to see if there were any unauthorized accounts opened or charges that you did not make. You then need to contact your Social Security Administration’s Fraud Hotline at: 800-269-0271. Report that there has been an unauthorized use of your personal identification number. Your next step would be to contact your State Department of Motor vehicles. Ask them to check if there had been an unauthorized license number issued in your name. If it had, notify them that you are a victim of identity theft. You should also file a report with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) by contacting their Theft Hotline by telephone: 1-877-IDTHEFT; TDD: 202-326-2502. To reach them by mail: Identify Theft Clearinghouse Federal Trade Commission 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20580-0001. They can also be reached online at: www.consumer.gov/idtheft. While on line ask them for a free copy of “ID Theft: When Bad Things Happen to Your Good Name”. This is a comprehensive guide to help you guard against, and recover from, identity theft. Healthfully yours*** Most of us take vitamins because we know that vitamin supplementation can be a very important factor in maintaining good health. However, what we are unaware of is that all vitamins are not created equal. A research firm called Consumer Labs recently conducted independent tests to determine if the contents placed on many vitamin supplements actually contained what the labels promised. The Consumer Labs performed tests on 27 different companies and found that nine companies did not meet the requirements as stated on the labels. To learn more about these tests you can check out Consumer Labs at: www.consumerlabs.com. However, some reports are available to paid subscribers only. The charge for a yearly subscription is $11.95. If not a subscriber, a report is $3.95. Around The Internet*** Social Security has supplied the senior with tools so that they can keep track of the benefits that are due them. The Social Security Administration provided the following sites: Screening tool you can use to see if you currently are eligible for Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, or Medicare benefits. Three benefits planners to help people estimate future Social Security retirement benefits, including a quick calculator, a more detailed online calculator and an elaborate computer program that can be downloaded. http://www.ssa.gov/applytoretire Online application for retirement benefits. Users must be at least 61 years and 9 months old, reside in the U.S. or one of its territories, have a working printer connected to their computer, and agree to receive benefits by direct deposit. http://www.ssa.gov/medicarecard Application for replacement Medicare cards. http://s00dace.ssa.gov/pro/fol-homehtml (00 are zeros) Locator tool that uses your Zip Code to find a nearby Social Security office. THE DOCTOR’S SENIOR EXERCISE NEWSLETTER encourages subscribers to contribute to this newsletter. It is published for you, so please feel free to contribute. Anything that will be of interest to seniors, and enhance their lives will be considered. Please keep articles short at 500 to 750 words. You will be given credit for it with your name. Just tell us how you wish to sign it. Doc Cane Copyright, Disclaimer, and Trademark Information Copyrightã 1997-2001 Emanuel M. Cane. All rights reserved. Except stated below, this material or parts thereof may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed by any means whatsoever without explicit, written permission from the author. You may circulate copies of the Doctor’s Senior Exercise & Health Newsletter by Manually forwarding it, providing you forward the issue in it’s entirety, no fee is involved, and you may forward no more than three issues to any one individual. You may not attach advertising or otherwise modify the text of the newsletter. |
