Lyndon Thomas Insurance
‘SAY WHAT?!’ Why Hearing Loss Hurts Your Overall Health
Exploring exotic flavors and enjoying memories through scent are just a couple ways our senses allow us to connect with others. But when you struggle with age-related hearing loss, a critical component of how you experience the world can disappear quickly — taking with it your mental well-being. Why is this so? Your Brain Small, challenging activities or “exercises” for your brain can enrich your cognitive well-being as you age. But constantly straining to hear puts the brain into overdrive, and much like overdoing a physical workout, your brain becomes tired very quickly and degenerates. This increases your chance of developing dementia. A 12-year study by Johns Hopkins found that mild hearing loss doubled dementia risk, moderate loss tripled this risk, and those with severe issues faced a risk five times greater than the average person. Your Heart Experts are still determining a direct link between hearing loss and cardiovascular disease, but the research has found a startling correlation. Those with hearing loss are more likely to also have heart conditions. One suggestion is that those with hearing loss also have diminished
blood flow to the ears, which is problematic for the auditory function. Our sense of hearing relies on a strong circulatory system.
Your Mental Health Living in a world you cannot fully understand or hear can exhaust your mental well-being. Those with hearing loss may refrain from common social activities for fear they won’t be able to understand what is happening. Furthermore, they may face exasperated relatives whose patience grows thin after repeating themselves or enduring TV volume above an acceptable level. Due to these situations, those who struggle to hear may experience greater social isolation and diminished feelings of self-worth. Depression is common among those with hearing loss. The best way to prevent these health concerns is to seek professional guidance. Speak with an auditory expert about your hearing concerns and discover solutions that will help you hear better and improve your well-being!
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has resources to help you learn more. Visit CDC.gov to access this information.
BEWARE THE LATE ENROLLMENT PENALTY FOR MEDICARE PART D
Since I’ve got Medicare Part D on my mind this month, let’s discuss the Late Enrollment Penalty (LEP). All of my new-to-Medicare clients are informed of the Part D mandate, but I often meet people who are past their initial enrollment period and are then faced with the unpleasant reality of the Part D LEP. In my opinion, Medicare does not effectively communicate to Medicare beneficiaries the consequences of not enrolling in a Part D plan. Whether you’re recently new to Medicare or you’ve been with the program since it began in 2006, you probably did not encounter warnings about the LEP equivalent to the nastiness of the reality. Your Welcome to Medicare letter likely had words to the effect, “… you may enroll in a Part D Prescription Drug Program.” The Welcome to Medicare letter does not include a warning about the Late Enrollment Penalty. LEP information is available in the “Medicare and You” book and on Medicare.gov, but you need to search for it. My tongue-in-cheek description of Medicare is a “one size fits all blunt force instrument for tens of millions of people” that, on the whole, does a really good job. How does the government get tens of millions of people to do what they are supposed to do? Well, penalize them if they don’t do it. Both Part A and B have late enrollment penalties, so does Part D.
From medicare.gov: Medicare calculates the Part D penalty by multiplying 1% of the “national base beneficiary premium” ($33.37 in 2022) times the number of full, uncovered months one didn’t have Part D or creditable coverage. The monthly premium is rounded to the nearest $0.10 and added to your monthly Part D premium. The national base premium may change each year, so any penalty amount may change as well. And the bad news is that the Late Enrollment Penalty is permanently added to the monthly premium of the Part D plan in which you are currently enrolled. The LEP may be appealed. As with any aspect of your Medicare coverage, if you or other Medicare-aged friends have questions about the Part D program and the LEP, call us. We help you with Medicare.
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