US FTC debuts health care booklet and web site for seniors

With all the sources of health information available - many of them on-line - it can be difficult to tell fact from fiction, or useful products and services from those that do not work or are not safe. To help provide reliable sources of health information to seniors and their family members, caregivers, and friends, the US Federal Trade Commission has developed a new booklet and web site. Who Cares: Sources of Information About Health Care Products and Services, on-line at: www.ftc.gov/whocares, urges older consumers to discuss their health-related decisions with doctors and other trusted health care providers. The FTC says it also helps them:

- find links to agencies and organizations that provide reliable information about generic drugs, hormone therapy, caregiving, surgery to improve vision, alternative medicine, hearing aids, Medicare fraud, and medical identity theft;

- learn how to spot misleading and deceptive claims; and