Insurance Coverage: Cochlear Implants vs Hearing Aids ⎮ ASL Stew 

We adopted our daughter through foster care. When a child is in foster care the agency (DCFS, DHS, CP, whatever it’s called in the state) makes the medical decisions. Our girl is profoundly Deaf due to nerve insufficiency & issues with her actual cochlea. She couldn’t even try a hearing aide without being on a CI path. DCFS chose to get a CI even with her nerve insufficiency bc there was a Dr who would do it. A CI for us is MORE intervention, more everything. You have to be enrolled with a speech therapist and hearing therapist after surgery to even get the surgery speech & Hearing therapy can be forever. Without the implant if you mainstream it’s the same interventions without the added $$ (you normally get 2 processors each of ours are $10,000). And, honestly, 2 years post surgery and Finally adopted we aren’t focused on speech, etc. She’s Deaf, she needs ASL, Especially bc even with the implant her brain can’t interpret what it’s hearing bc her nerve is damaged. It’s insane that insurance will shell out SO MUCH MONEY for the CI (oh, and the processors do get replaced every 5 years just like all durable medical equipment) and not for hearing aides. This is the same with physical disabilities & physical or occupational therapy-many insurances will deny therapy if the think you need too much (aren’t improving at the schedule they think you should l) or if you are improving too fast. It’s insane. I honestly think that a lot of this stuff comes down to the way that society at large views people, they think that a CI will “fix” a Deaf person & make them Hearing (nope) and that therapy should “fix” a person with a physical disabilities & if it doesn’t it’s the persons fault (nope) when really no one is “broken” we’re just different & there is nothing to be fixed, people are just asking for tools to help them navigate the world.

Yess!!! They are way too expensive, I lucked out last year and got my old job to pay for new ones as a medical expenses I nneed. But if I didn't have that I would still have really old ones and who knows how long I'd have to have them for. This problem needs to be changed! I was always super confused and angry about this. In the past my old insurance only covered 2,500 for ONE hearing aid and I always need two. So I was like what the hell?! Plus insurance over here never covers your ear molds. So you pay out of pocket... Like how do they expect me to wear hearing aids without the ear molds... Do they not even know how Hearing aids work?!😑

I need hearing aids but can't afford them! I would love a video about y'all talking about your experience with audiologist (deaf audiologist), audiograms, and the process of getting HA~~

I was born with a hearing loss, and as a kid I wore hearing aids. I stopped wearing them when I was in middle school due to teasing. My hearing loss is more far away sounds and base(i.e.: There is a thunderstorm coming, I don't know until it's closer, or people talking to me in another room - if I do hear it, sometimes it sounds more like Charlie brown's teacher) I keep the closed caption though on TV all the time so I don't miss stuff (plus your videos too! I'm learning sign but your voice level is not the problem for me with my hearing loss) I don't have hearing aids because of the cost. I can not afford it. It almost makes no sense why I can go and get my hearing checked (Funny story - When I was a kid and used to do the hearing tests, I used to raise my hand randomly in the sound box room because I didn't want them to think my hearing was bad! LOL) but yet it will cost so much money to actually be able to hear correctly. I did a google search and there are some states where it is required to have coverage for hearing aids. I wish all states would! I mean there is dental insurance, vision, health, why not hearing? (wow - longest comment I ever wrote on a video!)

I do appreciate your video. I’m a late deafened adult that grew up with progressive hearing loss and hearing aids. I did end up getting a cochlear implant and if you want to talk about my experiences with hearing aids and cochlear implants, let me know. I’d be happy to share with you the insurance side of both and I do agree wholeheartedly that hearing aids NEED to be covered fully by insurance. So yeah, hit me up if you’d like to know more about my insurance struggles with my CI, growing up with hearing aids and eventually transferring over to CI.

I am a hearing, and learning ASL to help communicate with clients. I understand that this is a very sensitive, personal, and controversial topic within the Deaf community. I think you should do a video on touchy subjects within the community. Example, your earlier video of Sim-Com. Not the obvious rules. Thanks.

I have profound loss in both ears and really on the benefits of hearing aids for everyday communication in and out of work. Fortunately, I work under a state agency for Deaf and hard of hearing services so mine are covered but even so, it’s possible they will be dropped soon due to budget cuts. It’s frustrating since I’m mainly oral when it comes to family and friends. I’m fluent in ASL but I can’t rely on it to talk with my spouse and family. My hearing aids are 6 years old and working (knock on wood!). I agree that a more balanced approach is needed since hearing loss is such a wide spectrum with some of the most diverse needs.

I have hearing aids for each year and it cost $2000 for my set of hearing aids and that’s because there are Bluetooth. My first set I had for 14 years and I was just basic simple hearing aids. And then I say 3 to 4 years ago I got some new hearing aids day or $2000 that’s for both together. And I couldn’t afford it so vocational rehab here in Tampa paid for for me because today we’re help me look for a job. I cannot afford popular implants. And they probably will not hear. My hearing aids or $1000 apiece. So that’s $2000 but thank goodness I did not have to pay out of my own pocket.

One big mistake around 3:15 is that cochlear implants help ALL hearing loss between the outer ear and cochlea. That is actually wrong. Cochlear implants work in the cochlea. They do work for some cases of nerve deafness but not for conductive hearing loss (which can’t be bad enough to qualify for a CI if it’s purely conducive).

Cochlear better than hearing aid When I young I use hearing aid but not good help me. Last September I been operation than cochlear I can hear any. My brother will get one cochlear but I don't when my brother get operation

Ironically just called my insurance to see what they covered for hearing aids. Turns on it’s nothing!... and my mom works for a hospital. Insurance is so great sometimes.

It would be nice even if insurance did it as a lifetime cap on hearing services and making the choices up to the individual case instead of a one size fits all option because of cost

I am a DHH teacher. Half my students have CIs. CI processors have to be replaced just like HAs. The replacement cycle is about every 5 to 7 years for the processors. My student just got two new processors of the tune of $42,000 for both. The surgical procedure from implanting CIs ranges from $130,000 to $150,000. I think it's horrible that there's such a hassle getting hearing aids updated because they are so much less expensive. My students' parents struggle with getting both hearing aids and processors replaced with better technology

I use hearing aids. Because of my type of hearing loss, cochlear implants will not work. I had no insurance or insurance that would not cover hearing aids for adults for years. Last year, after needing hearing aids for well over a decade, I finally got on insurance that covered them 80%. It was a lifesaver for me! I have never been able to understand why health insurance companies don’t prioritize the health benefits an adult can have from hearing aids.

I am a hearing aid wearer and have been since I was in elementary school. We've been fortunate to get help from my grandparents for paying for hearing aids. I think it's ridiculous that insurances don't cover hearing aids, my newest hearing aids were $4600 and that's crazy. On another note I totally agree that people should look at CI and hearing aids as tools to help with hearing loss and not solutions to fix hearing loss. My hearing aids help me a lot, even help me with being able to interpret, but at the end of the day I am still hard of hearing.

My insurance will cover $1,000 per ear / per year ( which I am lucky to have ) BUT they try and get me to use my health savings accounts FIRST. It drove me crazy trying to get them to process what they claimed to cover before I had to use any savings or come out of pocket. I never had to call my insurance for anything until trying to get my new hearing aids.

Leute, sagt mal, was haltet ihr von der Hörgeräte Versicherung auf versicherdich.de/hoergeraeteversicherung/ ? Sind die günstig?

I can't even get my insurance to cover hearing tests....and I work for the school district. Ugh

Moin, sagt mal, was denkt ihr über die Hörgeräteversicherung bei versicherdich.de/hoergeraeteversicherung/ ? Sind die gut?

This question is for Jenna do you have a B or were you live? Maybe you can see if they could help page if you would like some Bluetooth hearing aids. It’s just a suggestion or a thought OK

Australia lets you get free hearing aids if you're under the age of 26, they're government funded and you also get other free equipment if needed. It's pretty good.

The point of view of not wanting one at all. Can you discuss why you decide not to get one? Person decided not to get a hearing aid or IC.

Hi Jenna, I ask a question, umm... if I have full deaf like born was deaf and no hearing. How get hearing aid?

I knew about HA not being covered, but not about CI coverage. This doesn't make any sense! It would be like having corrective laser eye surgery covered, but not prescription glasses. Yes, it's seperate coverage, but it's coverage.

My cochlea *is* where the issue is, but I am not a candidate for the implant because my cochleae are completely ossified. This, of course, means hearing aids don't do anything for me either. When I was in high school, I found it baffling how the gov't could justify cutbacks to interpreting services (and other services for the Deaf) in my home province of BC while providing CI to those who qualified under the provincial health plan without issue. I now know it's because interpreting services isn't linked to healthcare but it does disappoint me to know that deaf people like me can't expect to receive alternative accommodations. "If neither the CI nor hearing aids are useful for you, then you get... nothing!"

Doesn’t make sense that insurance company would want to pay $30,000 or more for a ci if they try to save money. I could buy lots of good Hearing aid for that kind of money the rest of my life. I think they pushing ci because surgical procedure new technology and supposedly a cure. I don’t have anything against ci that great for some people.

I'm shocked at the fact that hearing aids are not covered by insurance since I have a lot of friends with HA. I assumed that HA would be cheaper than CI and be more cost effective than CI. It is a little silly that people still thinks CI is a cure for hearing loss. I want to smack them for thinking that. Now mind you, I have CI and am grateful that it's covered by insurance otherwise I would shell out ~$5,000-$7,000 every 5 years. However, I still deal with employers going "oh, you can hear, then you answer phone calls." Uh, no, phone calls are still difficult for me despite of CI. 🙄 sorry for ranting but people needs to be more educated about CI and how much speech therapy it requires, how "hearing" improves with each upgrade, how a change in brain chemistry can affect "hearing", and that the user is the one who can advocate for themselves, not people around them. CI is not a cure, just another tool for us deaf people to use in this hearing world. Wow, I sound very anti-hearing when I read it over. 😂 Not my intention but it just drives me up the wall when people praises CI. It's nice but still not a cure. I met a lot of older people with CI being shocked by the fact of how CI sounds mechanical compared to their natural hearing. It takes some getting used to it before a brain adjusts and makes it "natural". Ok, I'm done. 😁 keep up great work, ladies! 👍