Listen up: Four ways to insure your hearing
December 2nd, 2011
Melody Warnick Think a lifetime of loud noises won’t take a toll on your hearing? Well, listen up. According to a November 2011 study by Johns Hopkins researchers, one of every five Americans age 12 and up suffers from hearing loss in at least one ear. That’s 48 million of us, much more than previous estimates — and the numbers are expected to rise. What makes this finding more troubling is that few Americans are insured for treatment of hearing loss. While most health insurers cover an audiogram, the basic test for hearing, hearing aids — which can correct or at least improve hearing impairment in 95 percent of cases — usually end up being an out-of-pocket expense. “Nine times out of 10, a hearing aid is not going to be covered by your health insurance,” says Kathleen Kuntz, director of business development for ESCO, which provides property insurance for hearing aids.
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| Most health insurance plans do not covering hearing aids. |
That might not be so daunting if hearing aids weren’t so pricey. An entry-level hearing aid usually costs about $ 1,000; high-end, high-tech models run around $ 3,000. And that’s just for one ear. Seventy percent of people with hearing aids wear them in both ears. “After age 65, your hearing aid will be one of the top five cash purchases you make,” Kuntz says. Hearing aids aren’t the only uncovered expense. Paul Farrell, associate director of audiology professional practices at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, says a comprehensive hearing care plan should include rehabilitation services, but such hearing therapy isn’t covered by Medicare or private insurance. That doesn’t mean you need to resign yourself to a lifetime of shouting, “Can you repeat that?” Follow these four steps to get the coverage you need. 1. Investigate your current coverage. While hearing care isn’t often a standard part of private health insurance, 15 states have mandated that private health insurance policies cover hearing aids for children. Another three states — Arkansas, New Hampshire and Rhode Island — have required coverage for both children and adults. With all of these plans, you can select your own hearing aid; your insurer will cover a minimum benefit, and you cover the remainder of the cost out of pocket. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association provides a state-by-state overview on its website. 2. Consider supplemental insurance. Like dental and vision care, hearing care is sometimes available at an additional cost. Preferred provider networks that cover hearing services and hearing aids — such as HearPO, HearUSA, American Hearing Aid Associates and Epic Hearing Healthcare — are available for employers that want to supplement their health care benefits, Farrell says. You often can buy an individual policy that offers $ 500 to $ 1,000 in coverage for hearing aids. 3. Get a discount. Through a national network of audiologists, programs like HearPO offer discounts on what insurance doesn’t cover, “so it’s kind of like going to the grocery store and using a coupon on top of a lower price,” says Amber Lund, director of HearPO. 4. Insure your hearing aid. Most hearing aids come with limited warranties, but after the first year, you’ll have to replace a lost or damaged one yourself. Property insurance to cover your hearing aid for loss and accidental damage can range from $ 100 to $ 200 a year from a company like ESCO, but it can keep you from being forced to make a costly purchase unexpectedly. Perhaps the best way to ensure your ears work well is to pay attention to your own hearing health right now. Here’s how: 1. Get your hearing checked. A basic diagnostic test often is covered by your regular health insurance, so ask your general practitioner to test your hearing when you have a checkup. Or you can take the Better Hearing Institute’s online hearing test. It’s not a substitute for proper medical care, but it may give you the impetus you need to see a doctor for further testing. 2. Lower the volume. It takes 85 decibels for eight hours to inflict lasting damage; that’s equivalent to the sound of city traffic from inside your car. An iPod turned to the loudest setting blasts 105 decibels, a power saw 110 decibels and a rock concert 115. “Any loud noise can break those inner-ear hair cells off,” Lund says. “Once they break off, they’re dead and they don’t come back.” Protect your hearing with special earplugs or earmuffs when you’re doing a high-decibel activity, and keep the sound turned low when you can. 3. Get treated ASAP. George Christ, a senior account executive at hearing insurance company Amplifon, says most Americans struggle with the effects of hearing loss for seven years before finally getting treated. But hearing loss can make some activities dangerous — when you can’t hear emergency sirens or car horns, for instance. Plus, early treatment may slow the deterioration of your hearing. 4. Give your hearing aids a chance. Your brain learns to compensate for the sounds it’s not hearing, often soft, high or sibilant (hissing) sounds (like the letter S). Once you’re fitted with a hearing aid, your brain might not know what to do with those sounds right away. “People will say that their hearing aid doesn’t work for the first month or two, but … your brain has to reformat those nerves to hear those sounds again in a different way,” Lund says.
Kathryn Hawkins
Proponents of legalizing marijuana have long argued that criminalization of the drug causes more problems than it solves. For instance, taxpayers spend between $ 7.5 billion and $ 10 billion a year on arresting and prosecuting Americans for marijuana-related crimes. Supporters of legalized marijuana maintain that this money would be better spent cracking down on violent criminals.
Now, pro-legalization backers have yet another point in their favor: According to a new study from the University of Colorado-Denver, the 16 states that have legalized medical marijuana have seen an average 9 percent drop in traffic deaths since their medical marijuana laws took effect. The study analyzed data from 1990 through 2009.
“We went into our research expecting the opposite effect,” says study co-author Daniel Rees, a professor of economics at the University of Colorado-Denver. “We thought medical marijuana legalization would increase traffic fatalities. We were stunned by the results.”
When it comes to traffic safety, can marijuana really save lives?
Is marijuana an alcohol substitute?
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| Is this a sign of the times? A new study ties legalization of medical marijuana to a decrease in fatal car crashes in 16 states. One possible reason: Motorists who are high tend to drive slowly. |
It’s long been known that alcohol is a primary contributor to deadly car crashes. According to estimates from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers with a blood-alcohol level above 0.15 percent are 385 times as likely to be involved in a fatal crash as sober drivers are. In every state, the legal limit for driving while intoxicated is 0.08 percent.
The University of Colorado-Denver study found that the increase in legal use of medical marijuana often leads to a reduction in alcohol consumption. The study cites data from the Beer Institute, an industry trade group, indicating that beer purchases go down by an average of 5 percent after medical marijuana laws are passed. In these states, the researchers theorize, some people are smoking marijuana rather than downing booze.
A 2009 study from the University of California, Berkeley, backs up that finding. Four of every 10 patients at the university’s medical marijuana dispensary said they used marijuana to curb alcohol cravings.
Are high drivers better than drunken drivers?
The differences between drivers under the influence of alcohol and those who’ve smoked weed are stark, says Mason Tvert, executive director of the marijuana legalization advocacy group SAFER (Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation).
“People who abuse alcohol take more risks, drive faster and are less likely to recognize that they’re impaired,” Tvert says. “They feel like Superman when they’re drunk.”
By contrast, motorists who’ve puffed pot “drive slower, are less likely to take risks, and are more likely to recognize when they’re impaired and decide not to drive,” he says.
Studies support Tvert’s view: A clinical trial conducted in Israel compared the simulated driving skills of people who’d consumed alcohol and those who’d smoked marijuana. The researchers found that alcohol caused these people to speed up their driving, while smoking marijuana prompted the drivers to slow down. An analysis by the U.S. Department of Transportation found marijuana rarely is the only drug found in the bodies of drivers who’ve died in car crashes.
Is driving under the influence of marijuana safe?
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) advocates against impaired driving of any form, and that includes smoking marijuana and getting behind the wheel. Emily Tompkins, MADD’s executive director for Colorado, says the group is keeping tabs on marijuana legalization and how it affects traffic safety.
MADD isn’t interested in determining how much marijuana someone can consume to remain within a legal limit, but Tompkins urges people who smoke marijuana (medical or otherwise) to be aware of when their driving is impaired. Tompkins claims marijuana-impaired drivers often show their medical marijuana cards to police officers who pull them over, as though the card legally entitles them to drive under the influence of drugs — which it does not.
The U.S. Department of Transportation found that although the harm of marijuana for drivers is minimal compared with that of alcohol and other drugs, it may be dangerous in certain situations, such as when quick thinking is required or when a driver has combined marijuana with alcohol or other drugs.
No one is advocating that driving while stoned is better than being alcohol- or drug-free, but experts agree that marijuana use while driving presents far less danger than many other drugs as well as alcohol.
Meanwhile, more Americans appear to be embracing marijuana. A Gallup poll released in October 2011 found that a record-high 50 percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana. In 2009, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed 16.7 million Americans age 12 and older had smoked pot at least once in the month before being surveyed.
Could widespread legalization boost road safety?
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| Dan Rees, an economics professor at the University of Colorado-Denver, says he was “stunned” by the findings of the medical marijuana study. |
While the University of Colorado-Denver study presents striking evidence of marijuana’s effect on road safety, the research was limited to motorists who have access to medical marijuana. In some states, that’s a relatively significant portion of the population. In Montana, 3 percent of the state’s population has access to medical marijuana; in Colorado, it’s 2.5 percent. Actual percentages for marijuana use may be considerably higher than that, however.
“Under medical marijuana laws, caregivers and patients can grow marijuana, and there’s very little policing of this,” Rees says.
Rees believes that authorized marijuana users often sell or give pot to others for recreational use. He says many of those recreational users probably are young adults — a group who’s responsible for a disproportionately high number of alcohol-related car crashes. Marijuana advocacy group NORML says pot is the third most popular recreational “drug” in the United States, behind alcohol and tobacco.
Rees teamed up with D. Mark Anderson, assistant professor of economics at Montana State University, on the marijuana study.
For now, medical marijuana is legal in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia. In those places, doctors prescribe marijuana to ease pain and suffering for patients with conditions like cancer.
Federal law prohibits the growth and sale of marijuana for any purpose. Opponents of legalizing the drug maintain that marijuana is a “gateway” to harder drugs like cocaine and heroin, and argue that the dangers posed by stoned drivers would rise.
While widespread legalization of marijuana isn’t likely in the near future, such a move might have a dramatic effect on road safety if drivers — particularly young adults — flock to marijuana instead of alcohol to get buzzed.
“When you see fewer traffic accidents in every state that legalizes medical marijuana, that’s strong proof,” Rees says.
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