Anyone have luck with Medically Needy & Hearing Aids?

Well, slightly O/T from my own question here....

I called a local eye doctor's office who is listed as taking Medicaid. They said they took Medically Needy. They ran my number and said I have full Medicaid this month, and it covers everything (for eye care).

So there is hope for getting hearing aids, just have been playing phone tag with my audiologist.

Actually, I hope my posts will end up being useful for anyone on the board that has Medically Needy Medicaid and really needs hearing aids. I'll post what happens.
 
Well, I am getting somewhere! I called my audiologist's office and they ran the number and they DO take it and it covers hearing aids. BUT...they have a waiting list. They are checking with their other office down the road - it's not that far for me to drive. They probably also have a waiting list and there's a good chance I'd not make it by the end of the month.

I called another audiologist that is an hour and 15 minutes away and they can get me in this Wednesday, and they have no waiting list. They win!

They actually called Medicaid and they were told I would have to do it this month or I won't be covered. It's worth it for me to drive the distance in that case for sure. Actually it's probably easier than going to Orlando where most of my doctors are which is about the same amount of time driving.

So Medically Needy and Medicaid DOES work! In this state (Florida), one must have met their SOC (share of cost) FIRST. Just found out my bill for the ER on the 1st was $7K....wow!

I really was quite sick, but just for a couple of hours visit? I'm not complaining as they'll pay it and it qualified me for my SOC...but this is why costs are so high and it is so hard for people to get medical treatment under these plans. Sorry, there is this part of me that feels funny because I worked all my life and paid my own bills...

Enough of that. I hope that if there are others on this forum - or you know people who have Medically Needy Medicaid and they need hearing aids...let them know about it. The SOC can be daunting, but if you get a month when gosh forbid you end up meeting it - run as fast as you can to get to an audiologist that takes it. Finding one takes a whole lot of research...however I suspect most of us on this forum are used to that. :roll:

UPDATE AS I WAS WRITING THIS...

My ENT/Audiologist's office called back. The one a little further down the road is willing to fit me in tomorrow! I'd have just re-written this post - but I want to show that one has to be quite a bit pro-active. I'm thrilled as I know their office real well as they were my treating ENT before they sent me to a specialist for my Meniere's.

I'll update when I get back. As I said, I hope this helps others find services. (though don't doubt for a second I am glad it helps me too!)
 
The Medically Needy plan with Medicaid works - in Florida anyway!

Okay went to the Audiologist today and got tested. Although at one time my right ear tested badly (I posted the audiogram a few posts above) it must have been during a Meniere's episode as it's back to almost normal.

My left ear however keeps going down, and has gone down with every audiogram. So she ordered a HA for that. I know it's a Siemens. Medicaid only allows a few models/brands and my audiologist felt that would be the best. I'm pretty sure it's a Siemens Life - probably one of the less expensive ones - I'll find out next week which one. Didn't have much choice, Medicaid tells them what's allowed and the audiologist picks what they think will work best within those parameters. I did have to go with an ear mold rather than the open fit as she said it would be easier to work with as my hearing decreases.

Not that this matters - but I did get to order a pretty one. It's black and grey with flowers (called Charming). The ear mold will be clear.

So...if you have Medically Needy Medicaid this may be worthwhile looking into. In Florida - the cost of the HA's could not be used to meet the share of cost. It might have been different at one time.
 
Well they called me today. The BTE hearing aid they recommended for me didn't come in the flowered version. The open fit version of it would, but I need the kind with an ear mold. My hearing is expected to deteriorate and has been steadily so she said that the open fit wouldn't work as well. BUT, I did get to get blue ones! (can you tell I didn't want boring beige?)
 
This is an amazing story. I had never heard of this "medically need Medicaid" thing before. You have really stuck with it and come out on the other side, looks like.

Also looks like you and "LoveBlue" are two of a kind! Her aids are a pretty shade of dark blue.
 
This sounds like medicare for the disabled when I applied for it. They went by my husbands income (I don't work) but we thought maybe I could get insurance this way and it ended up we had to pay like 1600 a month for it and all I needed was hearing aids! So since you have to get analog hearing aids wasn't really worth it, by the way I am from Ohio so now you know other states have it also. When we called and asked about it we asked for medical for the disabled and they knew what we were talking about.
 
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