Miss-Delectable
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Duo shocked at deaf ear to son's needs - Local News - Waikato Times
An Australian couple who emigrated to New Zealand eight months ago are dismayed their young son does not qualify for expensive healthcare services and may have to move home.
Ben and Sallyanne McNicholl left South Australia for Cambridge in December last year but threats from Auckland District Health Board to set debt collectors on the couple have soured an otherwise happy move.
Eight-year-old BaileyMcNicholl has deteriorating bilateral sensory neural hearing loss and had a cochlear implant in February last year while still living in Australia.
The implant helps Bailey hear and communicate, but he has had to learn to respond to the auditory stimulus through "mapping" sessions.
In Australia the sessions were free and when the McNicholls decided to move to New Zealand to further career opportunities, they researched eligibility criteria for publicly funded healthcare through the Health Ministry's website.
Under the website's eligibility guide, Australian residents residing in New Zealand and who have been here two years or intend to stay two years are eligible for all services.
While Bailey qualifies for standard healthcare under reciprocal agreements between New Zealand and Australia, the McNicholls were told Bailey would have to attend the Northern Cochlear Implant Clinic in Auckland as a private patient.
"We were never given the option to attend as a public patient and (this) was an issue in direct contradiction with the information provided on the (Health Ministry) website," said Mrs McNicholl.
Each mapping session, which Bailey needs every three months, now costs the couple $200 per hour.
They currently owe $450 for the services.
On top of that Mr McNicholl, an Education Ministry adviser on deaf children, and Mrs McNicholl, a teacher at Leamington School, said the cost of repairing any of the parts associated with the cochlear implant is also not covered.
"If anything breaks, which happens quite a lot with an eight-year-old child, we would have to foot the bill. Some of the parts, like the system itself including the internal part, is anywhere up to $20,000."
The Health Ministry website states that Australian citizens must demonstrate they have lived in New Zealand two years or intend to remain longer than that to qualify for free healthcare.
Mr McNicholl wrote to Health Minister David Cunliffe in March who replied two months later citing budget constraints for cochlear implant services.
"The reason for the eligibility criteria is the demand for cochlear implant services exceeds the available resources," Mr Cunliffe wrote.
Mr McNicholl wrote back to the minister in June asking why the Health Ministry contradicted its own eligibility criteria by providing Bailey with some health services but excluding him from others.
He also wrote to Auckland DHB which responded with "grossly inaccurate assumptions ... that we were private patients in Australia".
After some investigation the family found there was an exclusion within the services for children who already had a cochlear implant when they emigrated to New Zealand.
"If we'd known this prior to moving here we might have thought twice about it," Mr McNicholl said.
Both the Health Ministry and Auckland DHB's chief financial officer Roger Jarrold, pointed out that "eligibility" meant the right to be considered for publicly funded services.
"It is not an entitlement to receive these services."
Mr Jarrold said under the eligibility criteria for the cochlear implant programme, those not eligible for publicly funded services included New Zealand citizens or residents who received their cochlear implants outside the country, which included Bailey.
He said a $225 invoice for the McNicholls was still in the ADHB accounts system and had not yet been issued to a debt recovery agency.
An Australian couple who emigrated to New Zealand eight months ago are dismayed their young son does not qualify for expensive healthcare services and may have to move home.
Ben and Sallyanne McNicholl left South Australia for Cambridge in December last year but threats from Auckland District Health Board to set debt collectors on the couple have soured an otherwise happy move.
Eight-year-old BaileyMcNicholl has deteriorating bilateral sensory neural hearing loss and had a cochlear implant in February last year while still living in Australia.
The implant helps Bailey hear and communicate, but he has had to learn to respond to the auditory stimulus through "mapping" sessions.
In Australia the sessions were free and when the McNicholls decided to move to New Zealand to further career opportunities, they researched eligibility criteria for publicly funded healthcare through the Health Ministry's website.
Under the website's eligibility guide, Australian residents residing in New Zealand and who have been here two years or intend to stay two years are eligible for all services.
While Bailey qualifies for standard healthcare under reciprocal agreements between New Zealand and Australia, the McNicholls were told Bailey would have to attend the Northern Cochlear Implant Clinic in Auckland as a private patient.
"We were never given the option to attend as a public patient and (this) was an issue in direct contradiction with the information provided on the (Health Ministry) website," said Mrs McNicholl.
Each mapping session, which Bailey needs every three months, now costs the couple $200 per hour.
They currently owe $450 for the services.
On top of that Mr McNicholl, an Education Ministry adviser on deaf children, and Mrs McNicholl, a teacher at Leamington School, said the cost of repairing any of the parts associated with the cochlear implant is also not covered.
"If anything breaks, which happens quite a lot with an eight-year-old child, we would have to foot the bill. Some of the parts, like the system itself including the internal part, is anywhere up to $20,000."
The Health Ministry website states that Australian citizens must demonstrate they have lived in New Zealand two years or intend to remain longer than that to qualify for free healthcare.
Mr McNicholl wrote to Health Minister David Cunliffe in March who replied two months later citing budget constraints for cochlear implant services.
"The reason for the eligibility criteria is the demand for cochlear implant services exceeds the available resources," Mr Cunliffe wrote.
Mr McNicholl wrote back to the minister in June asking why the Health Ministry contradicted its own eligibility criteria by providing Bailey with some health services but excluding him from others.
He also wrote to Auckland DHB which responded with "grossly inaccurate assumptions ... that we were private patients in Australia".
After some investigation the family found there was an exclusion within the services for children who already had a cochlear implant when they emigrated to New Zealand.
"If we'd known this prior to moving here we might have thought twice about it," Mr McNicholl said.
Both the Health Ministry and Auckland DHB's chief financial officer Roger Jarrold, pointed out that "eligibility" meant the right to be considered for publicly funded services.
"It is not an entitlement to receive these services."
Mr Jarrold said under the eligibility criteria for the cochlear implant programme, those not eligible for publicly funded services included New Zealand citizens or residents who received their cochlear implants outside the country, which included Bailey.
He said a $225 invoice for the McNicholls was still in the ADHB accounts system and had not yet been issued to a debt recovery agency.
