Saving and Spending
Your guide to health, taxes, car buying, loan rates, banking, college aid, travel and more
Why popular laser eye surgery to correct your vision is becoming more affordable
IF YOU’RE ONE OF the millions of Americans on the fence about having laser eye surgery to improve your vision, chances are two things are holding you back. One is the uneasy thought of someone applying an ultraviolet laser to your eyeball. The other is the thousands of dollars you’ll spend to have this done. While the first may play a larger role (and we have tips for approaching the surgery), we’ll focus on the latter. After all, this is MONEY. And we have some good news: The cost is becoming easier to handle as prices fall and employee-benefits programs finally start discounting this increasingly popular surgery.
The method of choice. While there are several kinds of laser eye surgery, the most popular by far is LASIK, or laser-in-situ keratomileusis, which is used to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. Nearly 95% of the approximately 750,000 people expected to undergo the surgery this year will have this procedure. According to Al Kildani, an analyst who tracks eye-care companies for Pacific Growth Equities in San Francisco, the recent price for LASIK ranged from $999 to $2,750 per eye, averaging $2,176. Kildani adds that because of increased competition, prices are widely expected to fall.
The benefits picture. Until recently, only a few small eye-care benefits providers helped with the cost of surgery. As of Jan. 1, two of the nation’s largest managed-care vision benefits firms, Sacramento-based Vision Service Plan (VSP) and Cleveland-based Cole Managed Vision, began to offer laser eye surgery discounts to their combined 79 million members (including dependents), at no additional cost to the employers or workers. Analysts expect more eye-care benefits companies to offer similar plans.
Does the cost of laser eye surgery qualify as a deductible medical expense? Probably.
With VSP’s Laser VisionCare plan, you’ll pay no more than $1,800 for the LASIK procedure as long as you use a VSP- approved surgeon. VSP has partnered with TLC Laser Eye Centers, the largest network of laser eye surgeons in the U.S., and with more than 150 other smaller centers to offer members a 25% discount. (In addition, VSP is marketing a plan that calls on employers to help pay for the surgery, which could appeal to firms that already pay for hundreds of dollars worth of glasses or contacts annually)
Cole has formed an exclusive alliance with LCA-Vision centers, the nation’s third largest laser vision network, to offer members a 15% discount on LASIK. Larry Rapp, LCA’s chief financial officer, says that more than half of LCA’s 19 centers offer a LasikPlus plan that costs $2,995 for both eyes. A 15% discount would bring the price down to $2,446, or $1,273 per eye.
Blurry tax rules. Even at this lower cost, laser eye surgery still entails a hefty out-of-pocket expense. Is it tax deductible as a medical expense? Probably. While the Internal Revenue Service hasn’t issued a regulation on the matter, the agency did okay a deduction for similar surgery in a 1996 private-letter ruling. The IRS defines deductible medical expenses as those that “alleviate or prevent a physical or mental defect or illness.” Mark Luscombe, the principal federal tax analyst for tax law publisher CCH, believes that laser surgery meets that definition. In fact, Todd Ransom, a spokesman for H&R Block, the country’s largest tax preparer, says his company advises clients that laser eye surgery is deductible.
However, in order to deduct it, your unreimbursed medical expenses for the year must exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. So you may want to put off surgery until a year when you are incurring other big medical expenses.
Looking beyond price. No matter the price, experts caution that finding an experienced, reputable surgeon should be your first priority. A small percentage of patients report problems, including over- or undercorrection. Irving Arons, a Peabody, Mass. consultant on ophthalmic technology, points out that with an experienced surgeon, the complication rate is less than 2%. So ask for an outcome analysis report, which details how many procedures the surgeon has done (500 is a good minimum) and how many patients have had complications.
While price alone is no measure of skill, Arons notes that rock-bottom prices are often an indicator of less experience. “I wouldn’t recommend somebody go to a deep discounter to get work on your eyes,” he adds. “You’ve only got two of ’em.” —ROB TURNER
Car Buying
Early model-year deals are plentiful
The winter months tend to be a slow time for car sales—making February a great time to negotiate a bargain. This season, buyers have even more going for them: manufacturers’ rebates and financing deals that are unusually generous for this time of year. At the beginning of December, rebates averaged $1,250 per vehicle vs. $925 a year earlier, according to CNW Marketing/Research.
And it’s not just out-of-fashion sedans but also sport utilities and other popular vehicles that are coming with sizable rebates and attractive low-rate loans. For three models with especially good incentives, see the table below.
Americans bought a record 17 million cars, trucks and vans in 1999, so why the largesse? Manufacturers want to build momentum for 2000, says CNW analyst Art Spinella. “They hope the rebates will get people into showrooms to look in February so that they might really buy something in March when the spring selling season starts.” Furthermore, General Motors, which is spending the most on incentives, is trying to prop up its declining share of the U.S. market.
You’ll likely have a choice between a rebate and low-rate financing. Figuring out which is better may call for some quick math. Take the Ford Explorer, the best-selling SUV, which comes with a $500 rebate or a 48-month, 4.9% dealer loan. Let’s assume that you negotiate a $27,020 price for an Explorer XLT. If you add the rebate to a 10% down payment and borrow the remainder of the price at an average bank rate of 8.68%, your monthly loan payments would be $602. Opt for Ford’s 4.9%, 48-month loan, and your monthly payment would be $559. To do this comparison for any model, use the payments calculator in the auto-loans section of www.bankrate.com.
Even if some incentives last into the spring, this year’s cold-weather combination of rebates and ready-to-negotiate dealers means the prices may be hotter this winter. —Jerry Edgerton
Taxes
Put your tax prep paperwork in order
While filing your taxes may be at least a month away, this is the moment to make sure you won’t find at the 11th hour that some of your paperwork is missing. So here’s what you should have by now, and where to get what’s missing:
DOCUMENTS
What you should have: By Jan. 31, banks and brokerages must send out your 1099s (for interest, dividends and capital gains), and employers have to mail W-2s. If you paid more than $600 in student-loan interest, you’ll get a 1098-E from your lender. (Depending on your income level, you can deduct up to $1,500 in interest.) Once you get these tax documents, “Don’t just assume they are accurate,” says Joe Ogilvie, tax research specialist at H&R Block. “Banks and employers can and do make mistakes.” Ogilvie points out that employers often withhold too much Social Security and Medicare tax, or FICA. The proper withholding is 7.65% of your salary, up to $72,600. If you spot a mistake on a W-2, have your employer send you a corrected version. Ask your bank or broker to do the same for a 1099. Now is also the time to make sure you have receipts for charitable contributions of $250 or more.
What to do if something is missing:
Contact your employer, bank or broker first. If you don’t have a W-2 by mid-February, call the IRS at 800-829-1040; they’ll get in touch with your employer. As for 1099s, rely on your statements.
FORMS
What you should have: If you did your own taxes last year, you should already have a packet of the forms you used then from the IRS. But the tax man can’t anticipate which forms you may need for the first time. That’s your job. Say, for example, that you funded a nondeductible traditional IRA (not a Roth) in 1999. You’ll need to file Form 8606, which records your after-tax IRA contribution so that you’re not taxed when you withdraw that money in retirement.
If you made a gift of more than $10,000 to anyone other than your spouse, you may need a Form 709. (A gift of $10,000 or less, which is tax-free, doesn’t have to be reported on your return.) You and your spouse can give as much as $20,00.0 every year tax-free to, say, your son, even if only one of you financed the gift. But you must report both spouses’ consent to splitting the gift on a Form 709-A. Otherwise, you’ll owe a gift tax.
Did you pay a household worker more than $1,100 last year? If so, you’ll need a Schedule H to report those earnings and pay FICA taxes on them. Finally, if you made noncash donations to charity totaling more than $500, you must detail those gifts on a Form 8283.
mi Call 800-TAX FORM, and the forms will be mailed to you in two to three weeks. Alternatively, you can download forms and documents from the IRS website, www.irs.gov. —MICHAEL J. POWE
Early Warning
Longer benefits for disabled workers
Thanks to legislation signed into law late last year, the 10 million Americans who receive Social Security benefits for the disabled, both SSDI and SSI, should soon have an easier time returning to work.
Current law discourages SSDI recipients from earning money in two ways: Once you make more than a certain threshold (roughly $700 a month), benefits checks cease, typically in nine months. Plus, Medicare coverage runs out in four years. Starting Oct. 1, SSDI beneficiaries who earn more than that threshold can keep Medicare coverage for 8½ years, at no cost for Part A and at the same premium for Part B. (Social Security payments will still end.) SSI recipients’ Medicaid coverage will also be extended, although rules vary state by state. This longer cushion is important, because the fear of being left without health insurance is a major reason that disability recipients don’t risk getting a job, says Christopher Bowes, executive director of the Center for Disability Advocacy Rights. For more information, check out www.ssa.gov/work.
—JUDY FELDMAN
Education
Keep your child’s college aid on track
Between now and March, parents of many current and future college students will fill out a critical financial aid form: the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is required for any federally backed aid, such as a Stafford Loan and work/study, as well as some private college aid. And many won’t get it right. “One of the biggest problems is that people get intimidated by the form and give up before they even give it a shot,” says John Marcus, a vice president with lender Nellie Mae. Here’s how to avoid four potential FAFSA problems.
Don’t treat deadlines lightly. You must submit your FAFSA to the Department of Education (DOE) in time to meet the college’s deadline. The form is available from the DOE (www.fafsa.ed.gov; 800-433-3243) as well as many financial aid offices and school guidance counselors. Tardiness can be costly, because most schools will consider a late FAFSA only after awarding aid to on-time applicants. By then, the majority of funds may be gone.
Don’t overreport your assets. You have to disclose your income and assets—but you don’t have to include retirement accounts like IRAs and 401(k)s or equity in your primary home.
Include the right people. For divorced parents, figuring out whose financial information to report can be tricky. The short answer: If your child spends most of the year living with you, you need to disclose your own income and assets, but not your ex’s. If you have remarried, you must include your new spouse’s finances.
Ask questions. Aside from counselors and financial aid offices, there are many places to get advice if you find the FAFSA confusing. Start with the free hotlines at Sallie Mae (800-891-4599) and the DOE (800-433-3243). —ADRIENNE CARTER
Savings
Net auction mania strikes banks too
From eBay to Priceline.com, Internet merchants have championed the “name your own price” concept. Now two banks are applying the same principle to certificates of deposit. At PNC Bank’s Auction Zone (www.pncbank.com) and USABancShares.com’s CDenergy (www.cdenergy.com), you can bid online for the rate you want to earn on a CD.
The twist: The lowest bid wins. Both sites run reverse auctions for CDs of various maturities, in which bidding starts at an annual yield of 10% and consumers place successively lower bids.
At USABancShares.com, the victor earns the rate that he or she bid plus 0.1%. The next 5% of bidders—up to 100 people—get a CD that pays the winning bid. At PNC’s Auction Zone, the 25 lowest bidders get CDs at the rates they bid.
The results? So far, savers have earned yields that far surpass the national average but are similar to the best no-haggle yields available. In a recent auction of 12-month, $5,000 CDs at the Auction Zone, for example, savers won yields of 5.94% to 6.05%. At that time, the national average was 4.72%, and the top-yielding CD in the country paid 6.11%. If you’re inclined to get in that game, check out the nation’s top savings yields at www.money.com/rates before you bid. —J. F.
Turning No into Yes
You may be able to get your insurer to cover treatment after a denial. But it takes work.
WHEN YOUR HEALTH plan refuses to pay a medical claim, the biggest mistake you can make is to accept that no as your final answer. More than 30 states have enacted laws giving patients the right to appeal managed-care decisions to an independent reviewer, a process called an external appeal. What’s more, pending patients’ rights legislation—still awaiting the resolution of differences between the versions passed by the House and the Senate—should, if passed, extend that right to nearly all Americans.
Of course, the right to appeal a health-care decision doesn’t guarantee victory. And even if you’re in a plan like United Healthcare, which no longer demands that doctors get preauthorization for all tests and procedures, you could still end up grappling over care. So far, patients in managed-care plans have won their external appeals from 32% to 68% of the time, depending on the state (30% for those in Medicare managed-care plans nationwide), according to a 1998 study conducted by the Georgetown University Institute for Health Care Research and Policy. But consumer advocates contend that you can increase your odds of being among the winners by taking the right steps on your own behalf.
“When consumers have a disagreement with their plan, most don’t gather the information they need to have a good chance of succeeding when they do appeal,” says Peter Lee, executive director of the Center for Health Care Rights, a Los Angeles consumer advocacy organization. The first step: As soon as your claim is denied, call the managed-care contact listed on your denial letter to learn about the company’s own review process, usually called an internal appeal. You may find that your situation can be resolved in a couple of weeks. If not, call your state insurance commission or health department to find out about your external-appeal rights. You’ll probably be sent to an objective external reviewer, typically a physician in active practice with expertise in the medical area in question and with no ties to the managed-care organization or the patient. Even if your plan isn’t legally required to submit to an external appeal, it may still do so. “There may be a sense among patients that the cards are stacked against them, so we have called for our members to voluntarily offer independent reviews of claim disputes to address questions of trust and confidence in the health-care system,” says Susan Pisano, spokeswoman for the American Association of Health Plans, the trade group for HMOs.
The HMO generally contracts with an outside firm that selects a reviewer for your case. The external reviewer will examine supporting documents from the HMO and from you, generally making a decision within 72 hours in emergency cases and within 30 days in others. That verdict usually is legally binding for plans covered by state mandates, but even when it isn’t, most managed-care companies still abide by the reviewer’s decision.
Don’t expect your doctor to fight your insurer for you—especially if he relies on the plan for his business.
Here are the steps that Lee and other experts suggest you take to maximize your chances of a successful appeal.
1. When your HMO says your claim is excluded or limited by your plan’s contract, demand to see the specifics in writing. Ask the managed-care company to specify which sentences on which page of your health-plan summary (also known as evidence of coverage) are the basis for the denial. You may find that the issue is clear-cut: If the provision states that your plan under no circumstances covers acupuncture, prescription drugs or more than 25 days of inpatient psychiatric care, your appeal for such coverage is likely to be denied.
If, on the other hand, coverage for cosmetic surgery is excluded but you are a burn patient with a medical need for reconstructive surgery, you have a good case for appeal. The odds are against you if you’ve gone out of network for care that was available in network, but if you can prove that the location of the in-network doctor presented a severe hardship, you may still stand a chance. “There are many shades of gray in health care today, so when in doubt, appeal,” counsels Geraldine Dallek, one of the authors of the Georgetown external-appeals study.
2. Find out the plan’s basis for decisions to deny claims as medically unnecessary. Demand a written explanation of the denial that answers the following questions: Did a physician review my case? What were his or her qualifications? Did the reviewer contact my doctor and review my medical records? Was the decision based on treatment guidelines established by a national medical specialty society or other independent group or on guidelines established solely by the managed-care organization itself? Ask for copies of any such guidelines.
3. Make the right allies. “If you work for a large employer and can get your benefits manager to go to bat for you, you can often get a dispute settled in your favor without going through a formal appeal,” says Dallek. And having your doctor’s support, preferably in the form of a letter, also is vitally important. Managed-care companies often vigorously fight claims for treatment that is considered experimental because they fear setting a precedent (see the box below), although that hardline stance appears to be softening, especially for cancer victims. If your physician can make a cogent argument emphasizing why the treatment is necessary in your case—given your very specific circumstances—you’ll stand a better chance of a favorable verdict.
While it’s reasonable to request a letter of support, don’t expect your doctor to fight your battle for you. “If a doctor relies on the plan for most of his business, he may not want to push too far,” says Michael Donio, director of projects for the People’s Medical Society, a consumer advocacy group. And if your dispute involves a disagreement with your primary doctor—such as failure to refer you to a specialist—it will be up to you to clearly explain the circumstances and solicit letters of support from any out-of-network physicians who treated you.
4. Maintain a thorough paper trail. Your records of all correspondence and conversations with doctors and managed-care representatives will be crucial to your success in any appeal, internal or external. Written communication is always preferable to phone conversations, but when you do speak by phone, keep a record of the name of the person you spoke with, the telephone number, when the call was made and what was said. “Some people are so angry that they rip up letters of denial, but to succeed, you need to keep those records and send your correspondence via certified mail with return receipt requested,” says Andrew Kessler, a Philadelphia attorney whose practice focuses on managed care and insurance.
Carefully read all letters from the HMO to ensure that you don’t miss deadlines. “Your ability to exercise your rights lives or dies by time frames. You may have to appeal a decision within 15 or 30 days, and it may have to be done in writing,” says Kathleen McCarthy, president of the Massachusetts Peer Review Organization, a company that provides external appeals services in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont.
5. Make sure the reviewer receives enough material to support your case. “Too frequently, the external reviewer looks only at evidence sent by the health plan because the patient hasn’t provided any,” says consumer advocate Peter Lee. He recommends asking the managed-care company for copies of any documents that it is providing to the reviewer. Then prepare your own package that fills in any gaps and clearly makes your case. You can include supporting letters from your primary-care physician or specialist, copies of medical studies or medical society treatment guidelines pertaining to your condition, and any correspondence or other material that explains why you believe your claim is valid.
And finally, to avoid any unnecessary hassle in the first place, do the unthinkable: Read your summary of health-plan benefits and highlight sections regarding exclusions, limitations and requirements for referrals or pre-authorization. Even if you’re in perfect health, it couldn’t hurt to know when you might have to do battle with bureaucracy.
E-mail your health questions to health_column@moneymail.com.
How one woman fought for coverage—and won
For six years, Mary Mazcuri, 39, has battled Hodgkin’s disease, but an estimated $1 million of medical care, including two bone marrow transplants, had failed to vanquish the cancer. In July 1998, one of her doctors at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston recommended donor lymphocyte infusion, a treatment considered investigational for Hodgkin’s patients. But Mazcuri’s insurer, Cigna Healthcare, declined to authorize the $20,000 procedure on the grounds that it was not medically necessary.
Mazcuri protested, so Cigna referred her appeal to an external appeals company. The outside expert in Hodgkin’s disease reviewed the six-inch-thick medical file, including strong letters of support from Mazcuri’s doctor, and issued a verdict in favor of Cigna because there was no data to show the procedure was helpful to Hodgkin’s patients. Under Texas law, Mazcuri was entitled to another appeal through the state insurance department. She lost again. Then, she tried a third route: the volunteer service of the national Medical Care Ombudsman Program, free to patients seeking coverage for expensive medical care (call 888-313-6267 for details).
In this third appeals process, the verdict was not binding on Cigna, so the reviewer was free to ignore the insurance contract language and instead focused on Mazcuri’s medical uniqueness, including her value to research. The reviewer found that the treatment she desired was likely to benefit scientific knowledge, if not Mazcuri herself. Based on that finding, Cigna and M.D. Anderson entered negotiations and struck a deal: The research hospital would absorb the cost of the procedure itself, and Cigna would cover any complications resulting from treatment.
Mazcuri underwent the procedure in April 1999. Her brother. George Autry, donated stem cells (taken from his blood). As of December, Mazcuri’s cancer is in remission. —A.R.
Editors’ Choice
February Travel Buys
►CARIBBEAN High-season savings. It’s peak season in the Caribbean—with prices to match. But some destinations in the region are relative bargains. The Dominican Republic and Margarita Island, which is off the coast of Venezuela, have historically attracted mostly European tourists, but they’re working to attract Americans with reasonable rates. Moment’s Notice (718-234-6295), a New York City travel club, offers an all-inclusive package to Margarita Island, including meals, air fare from New York and seven nights at the beachfront Isla Bonita Hotel, for $1,199 per person, double occupancy, plus a $25 per-family annual membership fee. (It’s $1,449 per person from Chicago and $1,504 from L.A.) Travel agent TourScan (800-962-2080), meanwhile, has an all-inclusive seven-night package at the Gran Ventana beach resort in Puerto Plata, on the Dominican Republic’s northern coast. It costs $1,098 per person, double occupancy, from New York and $1,128 from Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
►AMERICANA Rockwell exhibit packages. The blockbuster Norman Rockwell exhibit—a re-evaluation of this beloved but tragically unhip artist—is traveling the country until 2002, but Jan. 30 is your last chance to catch it at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art. The Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta (404-881-9898), just steps from the museum, is offering Visa cardholders a two-night package, including breakfasts and tickets for two to the show, for $320—only $10 more than the hotel’s single-night rack rate. On Feb. 26, the exhibit will reopen at the Chicago Historical Society. The Essex Inn on Grant Park (800-621-6909) is offering passes for two to the show, parking and accommodations for one or two nights for $138 and $199, respectively. Check www.rockwelltour.org for more exhibit and hotel information.
►IRELAND Summer vacations. Act fast for high-season discounts to Ireland. If you book by Jan. 31, Aer Lingus (800-474-7424) is offering groups of four traveling together 20% to 30% off roundtrip tickets to Dublin or Shannon. Depart on a weekday between June 1 and Sept. 30 and pay $1,799 (or $450 a person) from Boston or New York and $1,999 (or $500 a person) from Chicago or L.A.
► FREQUENT FLIERS Loyalty-program alerts. Several popular offers are set to expire later this month. Hyatt’s Nights After Nights deal (800-544-9288), which awards extra miles to members of 21 airline frequent-flier programs, ends Feb. 29. Until then, you get 2,000 bonus miles for a four-night stay, 4,000 for six nights and 6,000 for eight nights. Northwest’s Rule Buster program (800-447-3757), which lets you pay extra miles to bypass blackout dates and other travel restrictions, is temporarily discounting its award structure. Until Feb. 15, an unrestricted flight in the U.S. is 35,000 miles instead of 40,000. Round-trip flights to Europe are 80,000 miles instead of 100,000. And until Jan. 31, two stays at any Holiday Inn (888-560-5660) in the U.S. or Canada earn you 2,000 bonus points, transferable to most airline programs.
► SKIING Drive to the slopes. Rental-car companies are offering package deals to win your ski-trip business. On rentals of three days or more until April 15, Budget will give you a free ski rack and a one-day lift ticket usable at 11 resorts nationwide. Call 800-527-0700 ford (and ask for rate code L9). And until Feb. 15, Hertz will rent AmEx cardholders a ski-rack- equipped SUV for a week—and throw in a one-day lift ticket valid at 36 resorts nationwide—for $299. Call 800-654-3131 for more information.
Price Alert If you travel before March 31, Central Holidays’ (800-935-5000) package to Florence, Italy, including air fare from New York or Boston and five nights’ accommodations, is $599 per person, double occupancy. It’s $741 from Chicago, $843 from L.A.
Reported by Natasha Rafi
Travel: Lost in America
by Paul Lukas
Jurassic Lark
Everyone knows kids love dinosaurs. These museums make you remember why.
WHEN I WAS IN THE THIRD GRADE, my class took a field trip to the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. We’d been learning about dinosaurs, but nothing our teacher had told us—not even when filtered through our youthful imaginations—prepared us for what we saw at the museum. Those huge fossilized skeletons of the brontosaurus, the stegosaurus, the fearsome tyrannosaurus rex—hearing about them in a classroom was one thing, but seeing them in person just blew our little minds.
Everybody studies dinosaurs in grade school, which perhaps explains why so many of us end up thinking of dinosaurs as kid stuff. If you fall into this camp, think again—a good dinosaur museum is every bit as capable of blowing your mind today as it was when you were nine. Fossil exhibits take dinosaurs from the realm of fantasy to reality. No matter how well you think you’ve come to grips with the fact that these creatures once walked the earth, seeing them up close is a staggering experience. Moreover, prevailing theories on dinosaurs have changed a lot since you were in grade school, so it’s a good time for a refresher course. And since dinosaurs continue to captivate children of all ages, fossil exhibits make excellent family travel destinations. (See the box on page 178 for inexpensive, kid friendly hotels and restaurants.)
Happily, just as America was once teeming with dinosaurs, it’s now teeming with dinosaur museums. They can generally be divided into two categories: the older, hallowed science museums of the East, and the newer, usually smaller facilities of the West, many of which offer hands-on interaction with the fossils. Examples from both regions follow. I’ve tried to focus on exhibits of particular historical significance and entertainment value. But you can be sure that they all have high “Ooh!” and “Ahh!” factors.
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th St., New York City, 212-769-5000; www.amnh.org
Still the quintessential dinosaur collection, with the grand exhibit halls housing about 100 specimens, an impressive 85% of which are real (most museums’ displays are made from casts). The exhibits recently received a $48 million overhaul and now reflect current scientific theory—tails, which once dragged, point upward, and the brontosaurus skull, which was found to be from another species shortly after my class visit, has been replaced with a correct one.
Peabody Museum of Natural History
170 Whitney Ave., New Haven; 203-432-5050; www.peahody.yale.edu
It was here that paleontologist John Ostrom helped develop the now respected theory that dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded ancestors of birds rather than cold-blooded reptiles, as had previously been thought. The deinonychus skeleton that spurred Ostrom down this road is part of the museum’s spectacular collection, which is among the largest in the nation.
National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution
10th St. & Constitution Ave. N.W, Washington, D.C.; 202-351-2020; www.mnh.si.edu
Seven of the Smithsonian’s dinosaurs are “type” specimens, which means they are the original fossils scientists used to name a species. The museum’s collection includes the world’s only public display of a horned beast called a ceratosaurus, and also features an allosaurus that served as the model for a “Far Side” book-cover illustration by cartoonist Gary Larson.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
4400 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh; 412-622-3131; www.clpgh.org/cmnh
Andrew Carnegie became obsessed with dinosaurs around the turn of the 19th century, and the result is a massive collection of over 500 specimens. Like most of the grand eastern museums, the Carnegie feels a bit stuffy but contains all the classics: a stegosaurus, a brontosaurus (or apatosaurus, as the species is now known) and a terrifying T-rex, found in 1902, that served as the animal’s type specimen.
Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia; 215-299-1000; www.Acnatsci.org
A 42-foot giganotosaurus looms over the reception desk, but this museum offers much more than just skeleton exhibits.
There’s a working paleontology lab where you can see staff members preparing fossils for future display, and a popular video attraction called the Time Machine, where you can confront surprisingly realistic animations of the creatures from Jurassic Park.
Field Museum of Natural History
Lake Shore Dr. at Roosevelt Rd., Chicago; 312-922-9410; www.fieldmuseum.org
The Field Museum is about to become extremely popular, thanks to Sue, the largest and most complete tyrannosaurus rex ever found. Sue will make her highly anticipated debut in May, but if you want to beat the crowds, the museum already has an impressive fossil collection, supplemented by some clever use of audio: Thundering footsteps simulate what an approaching dinosaur must have sounded like, and each sign with a dinosaur’s name has a button—push it, and a recorded voice gives the proper pronunciation.
Dakota Dinosaur Museum
200 Museum Drive, Dickinson, N.D.; 701-225-3466
Although the more celebrated dinosaur exhibits are located in the East, the most fertile fossil beds are out west. This small, well-designed space, with a huge T-rex skull in the main lobby and a nice mixture of skeletons and brightly colored models in the main gallery, is a fine example of how the smaller western museums honor their regional fossil heritage.
Dinosaur Valley Museum
Fourth & Main Sts., Grand Junction, Colo.; 970-241-9210; www.mwc.mus.co.us/dinosaurs
Another good example of the western museum style, this facility supplements its skeletons with innovative displays such as robotic dinosaurs and the hands-on Kids’ Quarry, where youngsters are encouraged to handle real fossil bones.
Black Hills Institute of Geological Research
217 Main St., Hill City, S.D.; 605-574-4289; www.bhigr.com
Not truly a museum, the Black Hills Institute is a commercial paleontology operation that doubles as a gallery. Its founders, who have a reputation for supplying first-rate specimens to other museums, are best known for excavating Sue, the massive T-rex that was later acquired by Chicago’s Field Museum (see page 178). Exhibits change fairly frequently as work progresses, and the gift shop is practically a museum in itself, with drawers full of real fossils right there for the handling (and buying).
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
1501 Montgomery St., Fort Worth; 817-732-1631; www.fwmuseum.org
Texas has proved to be a good source of dinosaur fossils, and several of the skeletons on display in Fort Worth were found near the museum site, including two that were discovered by local youngsters. For children who aspire to similar paleontological glory, the museum features a “color a dinosaur” touchscreen video and an interactive dinosaur quiz.
Tate Geological Museum
125 College Drive, Casper, Wyo.; 307-268-2447; www.cc.whecn.edu/tate/webpage.htm
This museum, the smallest on the list, makes up in intimacy what it lacks in scope, with an extremely friendly staff that encourages hands-on interaction with the collection. Visitors can also view the prep lab, where scientists work on the latest finds from Wyoming.
Utah Museum of Natural History
University of Utah, Salt Lake City; 801-581-4303; www.umnh.utah.edu and
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles; 213-763-3466; www.nhm.org
Unlike most western dinosaur facilities, these urban museums are big and fairly comprehensive, more like their eastern counterparts. Both offer a wide array of skeletons and models, and the Utah museum has an intercom connected to the prep lab that enables visitors to ask the scientists questions as they work.
Most of these museums, and many more, are profiled in the excellent book Dinosaur Digs, edited by Blake Edgar. And for the latest dinosaur information, just ask some third-graders what they’ve been learning in school lately.