Lost my hearing aid!

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SeattleDeafGrl

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I recently lost my hearing aid at a friend's house, I called her and she couldn't find it. I must have put it in my small purse and it fell out somewhere outside. It has been a week of searching! I really want to find my hearing aid but all hope are lost. I don't know what to do nor afford another one. Does anyone know how I can get a new hearing aid? Is there a way possibly of getting one via Social Security Administration? I haven't gotten a new hearing aid since 9th grade. I can't afford to pay $700 or so and I don't have any insurance. Help me out, ahh!
 
SeattleDeafGrl said:
I recently lost my hearing aid at a friend's house, I called her and she couldn't find it. I must have put it in my small purse and it fell out somewhere outside. It has been a week of searching! I really want to find my hearing aid but all hope are lost. I don't know what to do nor afford another one. Does anyone know how I can get a new hearing aid? Is there a way possibly of getting one via Social Security Administration? I haven't gotten a new hearing aid since 9th grade. I can't afford to pay $700 or so and I don't have any insurance. Help me out, ahh!
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You can get a replacement one IF you have medicare coverage, I think. I'm not sure. Tho, if people make too much money then they will have to get their own health insurance to cover that, I think. You might need to call DSHC or CSCDHH about the issue. They might try their best to help u with hearing aid, OR u can ask DVR to help u pay for a new one. You haven't gotten a new one since 9th grade? That's a long time! Normally they are replaced every 5 years due to weather abuse, daily use, etc.
 
SeattleDeafGrl: I'm sorry that you lost your hearing aid! :( If you have Medicaid coverage, they have a program which entitles you to receive new hearing aids every 4-5 years. I don't know the specifics, but I'm sure Medicaid and/or your audiologist can give you more information. Another organization who may be able to help you is the Lions Club.

deaflibrarian: I couldn't agree with you more!! Unfortunately, the government considers hearing aids to be cosmetic. Everyone on this board knows differently, but try to convince the government of that. :( If beaurocrats could spend a day in the life of someone who is HoH or Deaf, they would realize hearing aids are anything but cosmetic.

Instead of trying to change the Social Security system, our government ought to start re-evaluating what services they will/will not pay for. Why they can pay for Viagara and not hearing aids is completely beyond me. I don't get it. I really don't...but then again, we *are* talking about the government. Who says anything they do makes sense? :(
 
If you have insurance on your hearing aids, that might help. You could also get help from your local vocational rehabilitation. :thumb:
 
SeattleDeafGrl - I suggest you to write down what did you do in that day that might help you to trace it - like this:

8:30 a.m. gas station
9:00 a.m. deposit at a bank
10:00 a.m. stop at a grocery store

12:00 p.m. lunch at your friend's house
1:00 p.m. went home

3:00 p.m. discovered that you lost your hearing aids.

So that you would trace these plan. Maybe, your hearing aid might be in the couch or under the couch or behind the pillow or in the car...

I wrote down my plan. I checked the laundry basket and found it in my shirt pocket before putting in the washing machine. If not, I hope that you would able to get a new hearing aid somehow. Good luck.
 
deaflibrarian said:
Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't the government or Medicare/Medicaid pay for cochlear implants? If they do then why don't they pay for hearing aids? It is simply ridiculous people are paying $700 and more for one hearing aid. If they use two that is double the price.

That's my position; if the government, Medicare/Medicaid or health insurance pays for other things like Viagra, eye glasses, dental work, cochlear implants, etc., they should pay for hearing aids.

Just crazy, crazy. :crazy:

Btw, that really sucks about losing your hearing aid SDG.
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The insurance coverage varies by state. For example, here in Missouri, medicare/medicaid will not pay for any percentage of a CI, while next door in Kansas they pay in full.
 
Shouldn't you have a warranty on it? I know that i can lose my for up to 2 years and it iwll be replaced, but any time after that there's nothing they can do about it. That sucks though. I often can't find mine, and i take them out at ppl's houses and can't find them. Maybe the next time you should bring the little hearing aid box to put it in or something.

Good luck finding it!
 
The insurance coverage varies by state. For example, here in Missouri, medicare/medicaid will not pay for any percentage of a CI,
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That's surprising....you'd think that Missouri would have that as an option b/c of it being a center for oral deaf education....but I guess I was right....they're only looking out for the realtively rich people!
I would also look into VR programs and contact your state's DHH dept.
I think you'd qualify seeing as you had your current aid since ninth grade....I still gotta wait three more years to get new aids.
 
Try the Starkey Hearing Foundation http://www.sotheworldmayhear.org and they offer hearing aids ( possibly refurbished ) to qualified individuals for a small fee.

Take a look at their website and you'll find something mighty familiar in it!

Richard :cheers:
 
First of all, I don't have any insurance and I doubt that the gov will cover it. I am going to try DVR and the DSHC and see what they can do about my hearing aid. My hearing aid's warranty is expired without any notification (been 8 years now). On the bright side, it's time for new one anyway. I hope I can get a digital hearing aid instead of analogy kind.

Thanks for your ideas and help!
 
Hey, I hope you are having luck getting new aid. I am in the process of getting two new aids here in Pennsylvania. The PA Department of Vocational Rehabilitation is paying 100% for EVERYTHING and I am getting top of the line aids! They have been very accommodating and REALLY easy to work with. I am going to my audiologist too! They even make the audi do more extensive testing than she normall would do so there's an additional benefit. They even pay for the ENT. This has been a real blessing because I can't afford to pay for the aids and my insurance (pitiful excuse for a policy) won't even pay for a hearing test let alone HA's. Good luck! Lisa.
 
webexplorer said:
SeattleDeafGrl - I suggest you to write down what did you do in that day that might help you to trace it - like this:

8:30 a.m. gas station
9:00 a.m. deposit at a bank
10:00 a.m. stop at a grocery store

12:00 p.m. lunch at your friend's house
1:00 p.m. went home

3:00 p.m. discovered that you lost your hearing aids.

So that you would trace these plan. Maybe, your hearing aid might be in the couch or under the couch or behind the pillow or in the car...

I wrote down my plan. I checked the laundry basket and found it in my shirt pocket before putting in the washing machine. If not, I hope that you would able to get a new hearing aid somehow. Good luck.
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How she's gonna remember what she did a week ago? heh!
 
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