hearing aid insurance

GrayEagle

GrayEagle

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Bummer. Just got a letter from my hearing aid insurance...they won't insure for another year. My aids are now 8 years old, and they have insured for 7 years after the warranty year. They won't insure once the aids get that old. My audiologist warned me this might happen this year. She was right. :/ It is good insurance against full loss & replacement as well as damage. Since my aids no longer can do what I need them to do, as my hearing has dropped twice in the 8 years, so now even as digitals, they cannot be adjusted any further to help, I have known for 2 years I need new aids. Just haven't the $$$ nor do we qualify for any of the benefit programs available as DH is still working full-time. My audiologist said a new kind of aid is going to be available come Fall, that she thinks will help me, and be much less expensive than $6000 for new digitals (which is out of the question for us now). So, I'll be "flying without a net" w/ no insurance from July 'til Fall. At least I can put the insurance money toward the new aids. Maybe I'll only get one aid this year; one new one next year, and hope my old ones keep functioning as long as I need.

Does anyone here carry insurance on their aids? 
 
I don't. You might want to see if you can add them to you home insurance. That's something I keep forgetting to look into.
 
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Ours won't cover aids. And neither does our health insurance, for new aids. All out of pocket cost.
 
I dont carry insurance on mine. I find that sometimes its better and cheaper to just send in old HA for refurbishment for around $260 bucks instead of neew ones so it will last another 1-4 years depending on how its used and taken care of.
 
GrayEagle said:
Wirelessly posted

Ours won't cover aids. And neither does our health insurance, for new aids. All out of pocket cost.
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same with me. they wont cover. There are so many variations, its hard to get insurance to cover it unless you go with CI's. For some reason they think it makes us hearing like them but sometimes it makes it worse when they couldve just went with BTE's and its cheaper that way .:roll:
 
radioman said:
I dont carry insurance on mine. I find that sometimes its better and cheaper to just send in old HA for refurbishment for around $260 bucks instead of neew ones so it will last another 1-4 years depending on how its used and taken care of.
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Well, in my case they can't replace the circuitry without it being a whole new aid. Once my hearing drops below the range of possible adjustment, there is nothing they can do, with digitals. Couldn't do with ITE's, either, when I had those years ago. Had to go for whole new ones. I take good care of mine. They are in my ears or in their dry box. But it's not that they aren't working, they can no longer do the job I need them to do. They're maxed out. The insurance was good in case of breakage or loss, because otherwise I'd be shelling out another $5000 or half that, for one aid replacement.
 
radioman said:
same with me. they wont cover. There are so many variations, its hard to get insurance to cover it unless you go with CI's. For some reason they think it makes us hearing like them but sometimes it makes it worse when they couldve just went with BTE's and its cheaper that way .:roll:
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Yeah. Our health insurance will cover CIs, and their hardware, because it's *surgery,* but not hearing aids. I agree, CIs cost a whole lot more. Go figure! :eek3:

Hearing people, doctors, general public are ignorant that neither CIs nor aids give back full hearing. :roll: They can help, but they do not replace. They are not "Star Trek."
 
Insurance does not cover for any (adult) CI users for visiting the audiologist for the check up or mapping or anything.
 
Frisky Feline said:
Insurance does not cover for any (adult) CI users for visiting the audiologist for the check up or mapping or anything.
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I didn't know that! I know people in my lip reading class who recently got CIs go to speech differentiation classes. I just assumed that was part of the follow-up recuperation from the surgery, until the person was getting full use from their CIs, adjustments fully made, etc. I know my audiologist for aids includes visits at no charge for 1-2 years during the warranty period, whether it's 1 or 2 years w/ the manufacturer because adjustments need to be made over time as I "live with" the new aids in various situations, log what's working or not, so she can tweak things for me. I get my hearing tested yearly through my health insurance because the copay is much smaller than paying the audiologist for the test. I get a copy of the audiogram and make a copy for my audiologist to keep her updated on the status of my hearing. In the past, any changes could be accommodated by plugging my aids into her computer program and tweaking things. Now, since I've maxed out the aids' range for adjustments, she can't do that any more. After the warranty period, I have to pay an office visit for adjustments or new molds (plus the fee for those) or cleaning, etc.
 
I suppose insurance coverage varies greatly: my father's hearing aids were covered fully (batteries, too) throughout his adulthood -- I think it was through Tricare -- and coverage continued when he was quite elderly through the VA.

My insurance was supposedly great, but didn't cover my daughter's hearing aids at all. It did, however cover her cis, lock stock and barrel. Including audi and mapping sessions (which don't even require a copay). We go in roughly 4X a year. Same would apply for an adult CI user on my insurance: everything including surgery, the equipment, standard accessories, audi/mappings.

I think AGBell has been lobbying hard for ins. coverage and tax credits for HAs, I know they've been pushing a letter-writing to senators campaign recently to push several 'stuck' bills through.
 
GrendelQ said:
I suppose insurance coverage varies greatly: my father's hearing aids were covered fully (batteries, too) throughout his adulthood -- I think it was through Tricare -- and coverage continued when he was quite elderly through the VA.

My insurance was supposedly great, but didn't cover my daughter's hearing aids at all. It did, however cover her cis, lock stock and barrel. Including audi and mapping sessions (which don't even require a copay). We go in roughly 4X a year. Same would apply for an adult CI user on my insurance: everything including surgery, the equipment, standard accessories, audi/mappings.

I think AGBell has been lobbying hard for ins. coverage and tax credits for HAs, I know they've been pushing a letter-writing to senators campaign recently to push several 'stuck' bills through.
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Yes insurance coverage varies hugely. Unfortunatly it seems like the only insurance that completely covers CIs is the top flight kind. Many insurances cover CIs, but leave you on the hook for the other stuff associated with it.
 
Grendel, I am predicting that the days of complete all in one coverage for CIs are dwindling, except for the most generous health insurances. Unfortunatly health care in this country is a BUSINESS, and the price of health care is SKY HIGH. So insurers will get away by only covering minimal stuff, so they can make the most money.
 
And yanno, a big part of the reason why they covered CIs intially is both b/c it was surgery, and b/c only a very small percentage of deaf people quaified/opted for them. So although they were expensive, not too many people were opting for them, so the health insurance companies felt safe in covering the CI.
 
Frisky Feline said:
Insurance does not cover for any (adult) CI users for visiting the audiologist for the check up or mapping or anything.
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BCBS and Aetna's health insurance covered all of my mapping visits over the last 9 years, whether the CI's were under warranty or not. Medicare covers them as well.

What they don't cover is the CI itself and the accessories once the warranty expires. Cochlear's processors and accessories are covered for 3 years, and the implant is covered for 10 years.

Cochlear offers an extended warranty after the original warranty expires at $600 per year per processor.
 
Sarfarigirl2011 said:
yeah for me, I'm a blueshield girl.
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Same here! :D

Did you get yours completely covered? Wow. I was told that they would cover like $1,000 per ear per year for children/teens. (For a total of $2,000 a year) For adults, I think it's $1,000 per ear every 3 years, or something like that. Hey, at least they are covered at all...
 
MintyOreo said:
Same here! :D

Did you get yours completely covered? Wow. I was told that they would cover like $1,000 per ear per year for children/teens. (For a total of $2,000 a year) For adults, I think it's $1,000 per ear every 3 years, or something like that. Hey, at least they are covered at all...
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LOL that's true and they kinda do since I'm a teen
 
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