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There is much concern and sympathy for an elderly Somersworth woman who overpaid thousands of dollars for a hearing aid she purchased with a credit card, but officials are not sure if the problem is widespread.
Senior citizen advocates interviewed Wednesday say they don't know if other elderly people are suffering with high debt from a high-interest credit card they were forced to use to purchase hearing aids Medicare does not cover. Some experts said seniors may be reluctant to report such abuses because they are embarrassed or afraid to lose control of their own finances. Fortunately, Libby's situation was resolved when the collection agency involved agreed Tuesday to close her account and stop requiring monthly payments. The agency, Resurgent Capital Services, LP, in Greenville, S.C., made that decision after they were contacted by Foster's Daily Democrat and were told the newspaper planned to publish a story about Libby's financial dilemma. Tracy Culberson, an assistant attorney general in Concord who oversees the state Department of Justice's Elderly Abuse and Exploitation division, said the state has no way of knowing how many other seniors may be struggling with credit card debt because they needed a hearing aid. He had headed up the division for three years and said Wednesday he has not received any calls or complaints from seniors or their family members concerning predatory credit card lending practices. But Culberson said that does not mean seniors are not being victimized by any number of credit card companies. "They, typically, if they get into trouble, don't reach out for help because they are embarrassed," Culberson said. He said they will not tell their families, either, because they don't want to run the risk of losing control over their personal finances. In Libby's case, she did not tell anyone in her family that she had been paying Sears & Roebuck Co. thousands of dollars in late fees, 25 percent interest and monthly payments after she purchased a Miracle Ear hearing aid 15 years ago that cost a little more than $3,000. It wasn't until earlier this month when she told Steve Little, a hearing aid specialist at Seacoast Hearing Center in Portsmouth, that she finally got some relief. Charles Libby of Berwick, Maine, her son, said his mother was paying Sears and later the collection agency an extra $35 per month in late fees on top of a $60 minimum payment because they refused to change their billing cycle to correspond with when she received her monthly $700 Social Security check. As a result of the late fees and 25 percent interest rate, Little said, Libby may have paid three times as much money for a hearing aid that no longer works. "After 15 years, something seems horribly wrong," Little said Tuesday. "It might be legal and they might be well within their rights to do that, but this is not right." Little said hearing aids are always a big expense for seniors. On average, Little said Seacoast Hearing Center, which has offices in Portsmouth, Somersworth and Dover, sells hearing aids that range from $900 to $2,500 depending on the patient's needs. Culberson said it doesn't seem right for credit card companies to target seniors living on fixed incomes, but if credit card companies are treating seniors the same way they are treating everyone else there is nothing the state can do to help them. He said President Barack Obama's credit card reform bill passed by Congress this year focused a great deal on preventing young, college-age people from incurring too much credit card debt. But he said there was no attention paid to how credit card debt could affect seniors, who are also a vulnerable part of the population. He can understand how seniors who desperately need a hearing aid could accept a credit card as a way to address that need. But some seniors may not have the ability to understand the consequences if they can't make a monthly payment, he said. "A lot of seniors out there as they get older lose the ability to handle their own financial decisions," he said. Rene Philpott, the community relations coordinator of the Homemakers of Strafford County in Rochester, said seniors have few resources to help them acquire hearing aids because they are not covered by Medicare. To her knowledge, the Department of Veterans Affairs will provide veterans with hearing aids if they need them. She could not say Wednesday if the Homemakers have encountered any seniors who have gotten themselves into financial trouble similar to what Libby experienced because of a hearing aid. Jamie Bulen, a spokeswoman with the American Association of Retired Persons New Hampshire office in Manchester, said she did not know of any seniors who are struggling financially because of credit card debt. But like Culberson, she said it is likely some seniors are suffering in silence. Even if they did come forward and seek help, Bulen said she is not sure what, if anything, AARP officials could do for them. According to AARP research, hearing aids represent a serious financial expense for many seniors who experience hearing loss as they get older. About 31.5 million Americans, or one in 10, experience impaired hearing, according to the group. Nearly 10 million of those people are members of the Baby Boom generation and are between 45 to 64 years old. Another 9 million of the 31.5 million people are 65 years of age and older, according to the group. Members of AARP have long advocated that Medicare should cover hearing aids for seniors in need. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration continues to push a $1.6 trillion health care reform bill in Congress that includes $300 billion in cuts from the current Medicare budget. U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, said Libby's story illustrates why health care reform is needed. "Seniors face especially difficult challenges in attaining quality, affordable health care. Stories like Almeda Libby's highlight the need for comprehensive health care reform in this country to reduce costs and increase access to critical medical services and devices," said Shaheen in a prepared statement. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said hearing aids are an issue that Congress should examine as health care reform proceeds. "Some seniors do have coverage for hearing aids if they are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, and many states do provide coverage for hearing aids for low-income seniors through their Medicaid programs," said Collins in a prepared statement. She said there are also several bills currently under consideration in the Senate including one that would provide a tax credit of up to $500 per hearing aid, every five years for all persons purchasing a hearing aid. U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-Rochester, believes the exclusion of hearing aids and other items from Medicare coverage should get a closer look. "Hearing aids, like eyeglasses, were excluded from coverage by Medicare when the program was created. I believe that these exclusions need to be re-examined as part of a comprehensive health care reform package. The situation also illustrates why I cosponsored the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights, which was recently signed into law," she said. (by fosters.com)
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