Does cold water plunging live up to the hype?

Plus: Navigating Medicare enrollment scams and misinformation

View this email online October 15, 2023 by Andrea Muraskin This week: It’s the start of Medicare enrollment season, and that means seniors are getting flooded with ads for new plans and options. We've got advice for navigating the chaos and avoiding the BS. Plus: A promising app helps expectant parents of color choose respectful and attentive providers and reduce racial bias around pregnancy and birth. And: We look at how well the polar plunging trend stands up to science.  Regulators say they’ve cracked down on scammy Medicare ads. Have they done enough? Leslie Walker/Tradeoffs I love a deal. If you’re like me, there's something self-satisfying about finding a product of equal or better quality for a lower price. Research shows that shopping around for a Medicare plan can often save money, even for people who like their existing plan. But a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that only about one third of people on Medicare compare plans during the open enrollment period, which begins each year on October 15. Why don't the other two thirds weigh their options? It could be because the sheer number of choices is overwhelming. In addition to the traditional Medicare coverage offered by the federal government, the average person can now choose from more than 60 other products, including Medicare plans run by private insurers (known as Medicare Advantage) and separate prescription drug coverage. Another reason for hesitancy is that seniors are inundated with advertising about Medicare options this time of year. And as Leslie Walker and Dan Gorenstein of Tradeoffs report, much of that marketing is deceptive, and some is downright fraudulent. For example, half of respondents in a Commonwealth Fund survey reported they'd received information about a specific health plan from the government – but the government does no such outreach. Lower-income seniors were most heavily targeted. The Biden administration finalized new rules to rein in deceptive Medicare marketing tactics this year. But critics say more should be done to connect seniors to counselors who can offer unbiased help – as opposed to brokers looking to earn a commission.  Learn more and find trustworthy resources to help choose a plan – including an online comparison tool and a federally run helpline.  Plus: How Medicare Advantage plans dodged auditors and overcharged taxpayers by millions Newsletter continues after sponsor message 'Irth' hospital review app aims to take the bias out of giving birth Tom Mason/The Big Idea: Birth Without Bias Adanna Atwell-Diallo says she thought she was going to lose her pregnancy. When the expectant mother showed up at an emergency room bleeding heavily, she says she waited for hours. Eventually, Atwell-Diallo says in the recent documentary film The Big Idea: Birth Without Bias, she started yelling “Can somebody help me? I’m losing my baby!” She watched the triage nurse turn to another staff member and ask, “Can someone call security?”  Atwell-Diallo used a mobile app called Irth to share her story with other expectant mothers, and to seek out better care for herself based on others' experiences. Launched in 2021, Irth is designed to help parents of color make informed decisions when it comes to choosing a doctor or a hospital in which to give birth. It gathers reviews from expectant parents of color, who might find it hard to find information online about how well hospitals treat patients from their communities.  Maternal mortality rates for Black women are more than twice what white and Hispanic mothers experience, and women of color are also more likely to experience negative health outcomes related to labor and delivery, compared to white moms.  Kimberly Seals Allers, an author and journalist who has written books on pregnancy and breastfeeding, developed Irth (as she says, “Birth, but we dropped the B for bias”) after hearing stories of poor treatment at hospitals from women of color around the United States. Seals Allers, who is Black, also experienced mistreatment at the birth of her own child. That came as a shock, she says, because she chose a hospital based on many positive online reviews.  Unlike traditional health care review sites, Irth asks users to include information like race, ethnicity and income level. “Time after time we're learning how race, ethnicity, often class, insurance type, maybe language proficiency is impacting the quality of care that people are receiving,” says Seals Allers. I spoke with Kimberly Seals Allers about what the Irth team has learned so far, and her aspirations for the future. Learn more.  Plus: Maternal deaths in the U.S. are staggeringly common. Personal nurses could help Support Independent Journalism. Because we are in your backyard, your donation funds stories with a real sense of on-the-ground, local expertise. That's possible thanks to our robust network of stations embedded in communities nationwide. Back the NPR Network to stand with trustworthy journalism that keeps you and millions informed. Your donation makes a real difference in what's possible next.    Please join us with a donation today. Donate Now Ready to cold plunge? We dive into the science to see if it's worth it Mike Kane for NPR If you’ve ever felt anxious or depressed, jumping into chilly water doesn’t sound, on its surface, like a great idea. A sudden immersion in cold water makes your heart rate jump and causes your stress hormones to spike. And yet many enthusiasts talk about cold plunging as a sort of balm for the mind and mood.  "Any anxiety, anything I'm struggling with, it's gone and when I come out of the water — I've left it in the water," plunger Audrey Nassal told NPR’s Will Stone on a recent Sunday morning in Seattle. In Puget Sound, water temperatures hover between the mid-40 to mid-50s. Proponents of the practice claim it comes with many other benefits too, including controlling inflammation, lowering blood sugar, and boosting immunity. So what evidence might science provide about positive effects of cold water exposure? The data so far has been thin, as Stone reports, though there are some promising findings. In one larger controlled study out of the Netherlands, participants topped off a hot shower with either a 30-, 60-, or 90-second cold shower. Those who took a routine cold rinse had a 29% reduction in sickness absences from work. A pilot study of about 50 people in England found the majority experienced improvements in symptoms of anxiety and depression after eight sessions bobbing in the water off the coast. While there are certain conditions, like cardiovascular disease, that could make the practice risky for some, the researchers NPR spoke with generally encourage the curious to give plunging a try. And they offered a few tips to help stay safe and have fun. Jump in. Have you tried cold water plunging or swimming? We’d love to know how it made you feel, and if you’ve noticed any lasting health benefits. Write to us about your experience at shots@npr.org, and your comments might make it into a future newsletter. Please include your name and where you’re writing from. 🌊 Plus: A tradition of plunging in an icy river persists in Ukraine, despite the war   Before you go: fotografixx/Getty Images Vaccine hesitancy affects dog-owners, too, with many questioning the rabies shot One sister survived cancer. Five years later, the other is still processing it California becomes the first state to ban 4 food additives linked to disease Life Kit: How to talk to children about the violence in Israel and Gaza We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism on Shots. All our best, Andrea Muraskin and your NPR Health editors Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WUFT 89.1 (edit station). What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: shots@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! 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