Studies: Bilateral Cochlear Implants Rock!.. Read on

deafdyke said:
............ Although taxpayers don't pay out for them, it also translates into higher rate costs for the people who hold the insurance policies, and it also translates into higher health care costs for everyone! ............
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That's what I hate about all these poeple that smoke. I don't but the costs of the smoking of other people is still calculated in my insurance-costs.....

Why do I feel that the additional costs would not be that much... $0.50 per person?
 
deafdyke said:
Let me explain my position regarding coverage of bilateral CIs.
I think in some cases, that they should be covered, no questions asked.
BUT, I also think that they should be limited. That is b/c although they are a wonderful thing, they also are VERY expensive. Although taxpayers don't pay out for them, it also translates into higher rate costs for the people who hold the insurance policies, and it also translates into higher health care costs for everyone! The majority of people can get along just fine with ONE CI. If the second one translated into drastic extreme benifit, I'd definitly be for insurance companies covering a second CI. But the majority of the time, it just has been shown to have rather minimal benifits.
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Uhhh last time I check... There are agencies that will pay for it for free...im getting mine upgraded to 3G soon and I found out medicare and medicaid and vr and church plus insurances will pay so basicially its free for me. There's always a way to get what u want for less cost.

2nd thing... Since ur not getting one...why concern with this urself? Let parents decide for themselves. I have several opinions abt this some I agree some I don't agree but I don't put myself in a position where I becomes very annoying and making them feel bad. Instead I give facts and nothing but facts. If they wants my opinion ill gladly give them mine. So hence....since ur not paying taxes for it...suffering by having one...or have any personal experiences...I would suggest u just to shut ur mouth. Give the parents some respect here.
 
:gpost:
Yeah, Spice! I totally agree -- cynicism needs to go somewhere else! We don't need you!
 
There are agencies that will pay for it for free...im getting mine upgraded to 3G soon and I found out medicare and medicaid and vr and church plus insurances will pay so basicially its free for me. There's always a way to get what u want for less cost.

2nd thing... Since ur not getting one...why concern with this urself? Let parents decide for themselves. I have several opinions abt this some I agree some I don't agree but I don't put myself in a position where I becomes very annoying and making them feel bad. Instead I give facts and nothing but facts. If they wants my opinion ill gladly give them mine. So hence....since ur not paying taxes for it...suffering by having one...or have any personal experiences...I would suggest u just to shut ur mouth. Give the parents some respect here.
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It's free for you, but it STILL costs a lot...HELLO!!!! Like are you NOT aware of the high costs of health care? I remember reading about how a lot of times with publicly funded operations , there's a shortfall of money for various and sundry things.
It concerns me b/c the fact of the matter, is that for MOST people a second CI is superfluous. Most people can get along with just ONE! Why drive up the health care costs just so that wittle Smashlie can localize sounds? It's almost exactly like a rich person whining that the government is taking away their money, and they can't get a Jaguar with a real diamond encrusted steering wheel, instead of a plain Jaguar.
I mean I think that deaf-blind and multihandicapped people should get one. No problem there. I also am 100% OK with someone getting a second one, if they haven't gotten to functionally hoh levels with their first CI. I am not TOTALLY against it. I just think it's a little too much, since most people can get along FINE with ONE! If the research indicated that bilateral CIs were REALLY good.......like significently improved on speech or other perception of sound, all across the board, then I'd have ZERO problems with insurance companies covering it. But right now, it just seems very superflourous.....Especially since there are TONS of people out there who can't even afford health insurance!
 
deafdyke said:
It's free for you, but it STILL costs a lot...HELLO!!!! Like are you NOT aware of the high costs of health care? I remember reading about how a lot of times with publicly funded operations , there's a shortfall of money for various and sundry things.
It concerns me b/c the fact of the matter, is that for MOST people a second CI is superfluous. Most people can get along with just ONE! Why drive up the health care costs just so that wittle Smashlie can localize sounds? It's almost exactly like a rich person whining that the government is taking away their money, and they can't get a Jaguar with a real diamond encrusted steering wheel, instead of a plain Jaguar.
I mean I think that deaf-blind and multihandicapped people should get one. No problem there. I also am 100% OK with someone getting a second one, if they haven't gotten to functionally hoh levels with their first CI. I am not TOTALLY against it. I just think it's a little too much, since most people can get along FINE with ONE! If the research indicated that bilateral CIs were REALLY good.......like significently improved on speech or other perception of sound, all across the board, then I'd have ZERO problems with insurance companies covering it. But right now, it just seems very superflourous.....Especially since there are TONS of people out there who can't even afford health insurance!
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:roll:

I do not think getting a 2nd CI is frivolous. No matter what the case is.
 
*sigh*
I am just saying that getting a second CI simply for sound localization and ease in noisy situtions just seems to be kind of over doing it, that's all.
I mean it does seem like it's a maximum investment for minimal feedback.
 
deafdyke said:
*sigh*
I am just saying that getting a second CI simply for sound localization and ease in noisy situtions just seems to be kind of over doing it, that's all.
I mean it does seem like it's a maximum investment for minimal feedback.
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I understand what you mean. I think what is the problem here is that you do not adres other peoples arguments.
For example, I expressed that economics should not be a factor. When the insurance or state pays for it, then bilateral CI is a good option.
You keep using "maximum investment for minimal feedback" but you keep ignoring the additional benefit of the second CI.
So your "maximum investment for minimal feedback" is for other people "small investment fo additional benefit".

But I see you want to inform people on you point of view..
 
Why am I thinking of those Mastercard "Priceless" commercials? :)

Add up all the costs but the end result is priceless.
 
priceless.JPG

:topic: - I know...​
 
I went to a bilateral CI forum last Friday, and the presenters showed "hard proof" that bilateral CIs improve word localization by five to ten percent.

Like others have mentioned earlier in this thread, bilateral CIs improve localization--the forum cited a study by Washington University in St. Louis that involved ten loudspeakers arranged in a semi-circle around the subjects. At different intervals, the subject had to indentify the loudspeaker a sound was coming from.

With one CI, the subjects had an average of 55% error compared to 45% with bilateral CIs.

So bilateral might be an option for some. As for me, I am considering whether bilateral CIs would benefit me--after all, I'm doing well with one CI, but there's always room for improvment.

Another benefit of bilateral CIs, as conveyed by a speaker with them, is that one doesn't get as tired at the end of the day...
 
Cloggy said:
priceless.JPG

:topic: - I know...​
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That one is new to me :rofl:

And, Fyborg, how old were you implanted and would you have done any better with two instead of one? Would the speech and hearing training have been less stressful with two instead of one? How hard did you work to get where you are today? I ask because my son, I think, takes his hearing for granted...
 
Don't forget another benefit... (our own experience..)
When one fails... you can still hear!!
 
Fragmenter said:
And, Fyborg, how old were you implanted and would you have done any better with two instead of one? Would the speech and hearing training have been less stressful with two instead of one? How hard did you work to get where you are today? I ask because my son, I think, takes his hearing for granted...
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I was seven years old when I was implanted. Before that, I wore HAs on both sides--I got some benefit from them but not enough. So I think it would have been less stressful for rehab and speech lessons if I had bilateral implants, since I was getting sound from both sides before the operation.

But that was in 1996, and the SOP was unilateral CIs...

As for work, I had to have speech lessons five days a week in order to utilize my CI as much as possible, and I still slip up now and then... ;) Going into a hearing enviroment in high school was, and still is, exhausting because I'm getting bombarded with consant sound. All that, and I've made first honors every semester...I think I've had to work hard, but I have been very lucky, compared to some of my peers with CIs.

My parents worked with me when I got my CI, to help me with speech and rehab, and they came into it knowing that a CI was not a cure-all, which helped me. Other friends' parents were not as realistic in their expectations for the CI...disaster.
 
Cloggy,

Good point! :)

One time I was at a restaurant with a friend when one of my processors starting beeping. I didn't have to worry about our conversation being interrupted because I still had my other CI. I was able to change the batteries and continue our conversation as if nothing had happened. :)

Hear Again

Left ear - Nucleus 24 Contour Advance with 3G
Implanted: 12/22/04 Activated: 1/18/05

Right ear - Nucleus Freedom
Implanted: 2/1/06 Activated: 3/1/06
 
deafdyke,

I think many bilateral CI users would strongly disagree with your statement about the second CI offering "maximum investment for minimal feedback."

What you call "minimal feedback" another may call a huge benefit.

Hear Again

Left ear - Nucleus 24 Contour Advance with 3G
Implanted: 12/22/04 Activated: 1/18/05

Right ear - Nucleus Freedom
Implanted: 2/1/06 Activated: 3/1/06
 
Insurance Coverage for Bilateral CIs

Hi, I'm new to this forum, but I have a Google-bot that spotted some language in this thread on bilateral CIs and insurance coverage and I thought I would drop my $.02 in since that is all I do.

I'm the director of the Let Them Hear Foundation Insurance Advocacy Program, and we've accepted over 450 appeals related to insurance denials for treatment related to hearing impairment in the last year. As of today, 220 of the appeals are completed, and we have won all 220. 125 of the 220 appeals were for bilateral CIs. Our program is free, so I'm not trolling for business for financial gain.

I have had the good fortune to be present at a couple of activation sessions where the patients speech actually changed as the result of the additional auditory input just at the activation of the 2nd implant. I cried when the first word a deaf 5 year old child ever spontaneously correctly articulated with the "sh" sound was my first name after he received his second implant. I know of several of my adult clients with post-lingual deafness who were unable to hold their previous jobs who were able to go back to work after receiving their second implant (including two doctors). I have multiple clients who were able to stop taking drugs for clinical depression and ADHD after receiving their second implant. I know hundreds of people who have Bi-CIs, and I have yet to see one who says "you know what, I want to give the second implant back" No one will EVER be able to convince me that if someone wants a second implant and qualifies for it audiologically that they shouldn't get it because it isn't medically necessary.

As far as the insurance argument goes, we all know that people who are deaf on one side can't localize sound. That leads to accidents, which cost insurers money, frequently much more money than the cost of the implant in the case of serious traffic accidents. Kids with single sided deafness are 3X more likely to be kept back a year in school, and that costs society money. People with single sided deafness on average earn 38 % less than their hearing counterparts, so they aren't paying as much in taxes as they might be if they were hearing, and they are also more likely to need to access publicly funded social programs. Costs for the implant sugery can be reduced as more and more children receive simultaneous bilateral cochlear implants in infancy. Furthermore, at the rate that American's are receiving implants, the cost to insurers to add coverage for bilateral cochlear implantation for everyone in the US is a whopping $0.74 (yes, that's 74 CENTS) per covered member. So the argument that covering bi-CIs is going to cause health care costs to spiral out of control or aren't cost effective really isn't supported by the evidence.

Second implants AREN'T for everyone, and I'm not trying to ram them down people's throats. Our program is available for people who have already made the decision they want one, only to be told by their insurer they won't pay for it. So, thank you for letting me drop by, and please feel free to put in an application at advocacy.letthemhear.org if you want a second implant but have been turned down by your insurer

Sheri
 
That's a wonderful thing Sheri...i've heard great things about Let them Hear. We are at a deadend with our insurance right now for my daughter getting a b-lateral. Insurance is saying it is experimental and we don't know what to do next. Unfortunately, she has a freedom upgrade on her left ear and we'd like to stick with cochlear since we are happy with them. I've heard some rumblings that we can't apply at Let them Hear now? I can't read at your website...my computer is not allowing it so I'm going to try the library. Thanks for the information!
 
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