Massachusetts offers older adults the best protections against abuse, whereas New Jersey offers the weakest protections from elder abuse among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to a report issued Wednesday. Assisted living factored into the rankings.
To make the determination, personal finance website WalletHub looked at 16 metrics ranging from share of elder abuse, gross neglect and exploitation complaints to presence of financial elder abuse laws. One finding that factored into the rankings: Arizona, Pennsylvania and Texas have among the most frequent assisted living facility inspections, once per year, a frequency five times more frequent than in California, the state with the least frequent, at once every five years, WalletHub said.
The top 10 states for elder abuse protections, according to WalletHub: Massachusetts (No. 1), Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Michigan, Iowa, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and North Carolina (tie), and West Virginia (No. 10).
The bottom 10 states for elder abuse protection, according to the report: Arkansas (No. 42), Arizona, Tennessee, Nebraska, South Dakota, Nevada, Montana, California and South Carolina (50).
WalletHub said that the data used to create the list were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Aging Integrated Database, National Conference of State Legislatures, Administration on Aging of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, California State Association of Public Administrators, Public Guardians & Public Conservators, National Center on Elder Abuse, National Consumer Voice, U.S. Department of Justice, Comparitech, the Elder Law Journal and United Health Foundation.
