Surely you've heard of celebrities insuring their most precious assets for incredible amounts. Some do it for publicity, while others truly do need the protection. Whatever the case, these 12 celebrity insurance policies are simply amazing.
- Mariah Carey's billion dollar legs: When Mariah Carey won the Legs of a Goddess Award, she insured her gams for a billion dollars. Carey is not alone; she's joined by Mary Hart, Tina Turner, and Jamie Lee Curtis, who each have policies on their legs as well.
- Merv Hughes' mustache: Merv Hughes is one of the most recognized cricket players in the world, thanks to his $370,000 mustache and playing ability.
- Dolly Parton's breasts: Dolly Parton insured her two national treasures for $300,000 each.
- David Lee Roth's Sperm: David Lee Roth was not concerned with his sperm failing, but rather that it would do too good of a job. His insurance policy protected him from groupie paternity suits.
- Bette Davis' waistline: Weight gain was such a concern for Bette Davis that she shopped around for insurance quotes and took out a $28,000 policy in case she lost her waistline.
- Gene Simmons' tongue: Gene Simmons' tongue is a trademark of both the man and Kiss, so naturally, he had it insured when he had it extended surgically.
- David Beckham's legs and feet: Soccer star David Beckham insured his legs and feet for $70 million.
- Ben Turpin's eyes: Back in the 1920s, silent movie star Ben Turpin was the first in the celebrity insurance trend with a policy on his crossed eyes.
- Marilyn Monroe's drugs: At least three movie studios protected themselves against losses in case of Monroe's drug usage. This set a precedent that allowed studios in the future to protect themselves from the Robert Downey Jr.s and Lindsey Lohans of Hollywood.
- Tom Jones' chest hair: Tom Jones took out a $7 million policy in case of a freak accident that might cause him to lose his chest hair.
- America Ferrera's teeth: Ugly Betty's beautiful smile is insured for $10 million, thanks to advertiser Aquafresh White Trays.
- Bruce Springsteen's voice: All-American singer Bruce Springsteen has a voice valued somewhere in the range of $6 million.
What's the first thing you do when you start feel a cold or illness coming on? If you're like many Americans, you probably don't pick up the phone and make a doctor's appointment. Instead, you're probably more likely to go online and Google your symptoms. But no matter how much you rely on the Internet for school or work, you shouldn't trust the Internet quite as much when it comes to your health. Why? Keep reading for the risks and benefits of using the web, according to doctors.
The Bad
- It's hard to separate fact from fiction: You probably know by now that you have to double check your sources when researching something on the web. There is a lot of valid, authoritative information out there, but there are also a lot of rumors, sensationalized stories, and even fraudulent websites written by inexperienced individuals. If you find something that catches your eye, you'll need to verify it with your doctor or at least a trusted source, like a newspaper or public health site.
- Patients often misinterpret the advice they find online: Another tricky part about trusting health information found on the web is that you're the one interpreting the information and not relying on your doctor to guide you through all the details. While the information about a medical study, new drug or symptoms may be accurate, the way you interpret the information and relate it to yourself might be off base due to your lack of technical education and experience.
- The Internet can't replace clinical judgment or experience: Although the Internet can be a great place to find information, it can't replace your doctor's practiced clinical judgment or experience in dealing with certain problems and your own medical history.
- Patients may jump to scary conclusions unnecessarily: Health care reporter and patient advocate Trisha Torrey writes on her About.com page that individuals Googling their symptoms "may scare themselves with the information they find" online, often unnecessarily. Lots of drugs have unwanted side effects, for example, but your doctor can help you determine the real risks — something the Internet won't do.
- Patient research skills aren't as accurate as doctors': No matter how great you are at looking up old friends or finding rare items on eBay, your ability to dig up very specific, accurate information about health care is probably not nearly as good as your doctor's. Just because the right information is somewhere out there, doesn't mean you'll be able to find it, so it's best to trust your doctor to deliver the information to you.
- It's a nightmare for hypochondriacs: Some doctors and medical professionals feel that the Internet is one big enabler for hypochondriacs, and can turn normally reasonable, healthy people into paranoid self-medicators for no reason. You can spend endless hours online searching your symptoms, misinterpreting the severity of your condition, or even imagining that your headache is actually a brain tumor. Sometimes too much information is damaging.
- Symptoms can mean many different things: Sites like WebMD have invented great interactive tools for checking your symptoms, but again, it's easy to misread the signs. Back pain, a stuffy nose, sore throat and nausea are signs of all types of illnesses and conditions, at varying levels of severity. There's a reason doctors go to medical school: that's where they learn to make the right conclusions about your symptoms.
- Online information may be out of date: Be honest: how many times do you read a blog post or even news article and look at the date? "Breaking" news stories that you read online may actually be from three or four years ago, and a lot changes in the science and medical fields in just a few years or even months. Always make sure you're checking the most current information available to the public.
- Social networking with doctors can lead to unethical relationships: Besides all of the challenges of weeding out bad information on the web, there is also the issue of medical ethics. Doctors and nurses are on social networks too, but that doesn't mean they want to be friends with you on Facebook, swapping personal photos and messages. Serious ethical questions may be raised if you engage in a relationship online with your doctor, so don't even try it.
- Fraudulent doctors are online, too: Social sites and Q&A forums can be a helpful starting off point for researching a health question, but be careful who you trust. Anyone can create a username and pretend to be a doctor, nurse or expert in the field, but you have no way of knowing if you're getting accurate advice or not.
The Good
- Even doctors use Google: Despite all the risks about patients Googling their symptoms, doctors want you to know that they sometimes turn to the search engine themselves. A 2006 report published on the British Medical Journal website found that doctors were able to use Google to diagnose diseases. As we said before, there is a lot of helpful information on the web, but you just need to know exactly where to find it and how to interpret it.
- The Internet provides a good foundation for health care education: Going to the doctor can be a terrifying experience if you have no basis of understanding anything that your doctor is telling you and have no health care education. But if you were able to conduct a little preliminary research on your own from quality sources, you will be better able to hold a conversation with your doctor about your family's health.
- Official support groups can be helpful: Along with Twitter and Facebook, several niche online networking have popped up for those suffering from terminal diseases or illnesses that greatly impact daily life. Sites like Young Survival Coalition and Diabetic Connect offer support 24/7 when doctor's offices are closed.
- Sites like .gov or .org are best: Just because there is a lot of junk online doesn't mean there isn't a wealth of valuable information out there, too. Doctors recommend looking for .org or .gov sites when researching health information, as these are usually the most authoritative.
- You can look up medication ingredients: Another benefit that the Internet has given patients is the ability to look up drug information and ingredients in medication. If you want to know exactly what you're putting in your body or get help picking out over-the-counter medications, use a website like the FDA Drugs page.
- Internet research is a good starting point: Although checking symptoms online isn't a fool proof way for diagnosing yourself or your family, it can be a good starting point, especially if you are looking up mild symptoms. Since you have such little time face to face with your doctor during an appointment, doing some online research first and then taking your notes with you to the office can be a big help.
- You can keep up with health news and studies: If you want to keep up with the most current health news and medical studies, subscribe to a news feed, follow a Twitter feed, or just check back with a respected website periodically. Google News Alerts is also a helpful tool for finding quality news and data.
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