I am about to venture into a topic I know everything and nothing about. I have worn hearing aids since I was diagnosed with congenital hearing loss around 18 months of age. I have had access to varying qualities of health care my entire life. I have been a dependent on my Father's military medical benefits, his civilian benefits, and currently my husband's medical benefits through the United Methodist Church. I have never been uninsured. I'm very blessed.
I just dropped $6,095.00 on new hearing aids. They are top of the line, digital hearing aids that will last between 4-7 years. I'm hoping to stretch them to 8 years. I am not a candidate for a cochlear implant. I do not function on "cheap" hearing aids (that's another post altogether!). Hearing aids are typically not covered under most insurance company policies. Mine is one of the most. I looked online for reasons why insurance companies exclude hearing aids from their coverage. I found this article: http://califmedicineman.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-insurance-companies-dont-pay-for.html (forgive me- I'm not up to date on creating links). This article is written by a doctor in California and is not completely researched, but not completely bogus either. The summary of this doctor's point (I believe) is that insurance companies are intended to insure against catastrophic events (ie- homeowners insurance pays for when the house burns down). SO health insurance is intended to pay for when you surprisingly have to have surgery. In this theme, the happenstance of a heart attack is insured, but the certainty that a hearing impaired person needs hearing aids cannot be "insured" because that person will definitely, always need hearing aids- so it isn't a "what-if," catastrophic possibility. I can see on paper why this makes sense. Why would you pay a company to cover all your health needs if your health needs are 100% predictable? You cut out the middle man and pay for it yourself. The company has no profit capacity if they cover the predictable.
It hit me as I read some of the comments on the blog entry.... regardless of the logic of money- people need hearing aids and only the financially stronger folks can afford it. I have yet to pay for my own hearing aids with my own money. The last set were paid for with help from my parents and my Grandmother. This time I guess you could say I paid for this set, except it was through the yearly inheritance check from my Grandmother- hardly my own bootstraps. We do have savings- but they would have been completely depleted- 4 years of savings would be whittled down to next to nothing. In a year when it is likely that we will be moved, and possible that we will need to purchase a home- it would be bad not to have savings.
So I think the question: "Why don't health insurance companies cover hearing aids?" -is really the wrong question. The question is rather, why do we have a system of health insurance that hardly substitutes for a lack of a system of health CARE? Think about it. If the catastrophic events were the only things that broke the bank- health insurance could be fairly simple. Hospital visits and major surgeries would be covered. Health CARE is a concept that folks need care to live- for most people this includes a host of 100% necessary and predictable things. For everyone- those needs are different. For the unfortunate, those needs are more and complex. The simplest problem with how our systems operate currently is that health CARE is not affordable. So we look to health insurance to fill the gap. Health INSURANCE is trying (and failing miserably) to be the system for all health needs- when it really should just be for the house burning down. Health insurance companies are now in powerful position over our health care. This is bad. Those who are unfortunate enough to have been born with any physical or mental disability are either uninsurable or without proper care. Essentially, under this broken system- if you don't have money and you do need health care- you're screwed.
Take the basic argument for hearing aids. Hearing impairment fits under one of those "stupid amounts" statistic. As my friend Katy describes, a stupid amount of pumpkin pie is the amount you should just eat because it is too small to put back in the fridge and too much to throw away. Hearing loss over the whole population is too small to have lobbying might, but too big to include hearing aids as an included service. Too many elderly need hearing aids. Too few young people need them. I found several sites that say 1 in 5 hearing impaired people that need hearing aids actually wear them. I think some of this is due to the fact that hearing aids are an acquired taste, but largely the cost seems to be the main deterrent. For insurance companies- the argument is that they cannot justify the young paying higher premiums to cushion the cost of the elderly needs. This argument seems shaky at best, since elderly are generally more expensive and have more health care needs and costs than younger people regardless of the hearing aid issue. $6000 every 5 years is a lot to us, but is it that much for an insurance company? I honestly don't know. Again- I think the issue is that we don't have a system of health CARE in place, and so our health insurance industry is under identity crisis- providing both catastrophic insurance and basic needs when and where it wants, with profit in mind.
All I know is this: hearing is a big deal. If I don't have hearing aids- I cannot function as well in the world. I cannot participate in the economy, workforce, or socially in any way that would not require significant assistance from others. With hearing aids, despite my severe to profound hearing loss- I have even fooled some people who are surprised to learn that I cannot hear. My Grandmother needs hearing aids. Before she deteriorated to her current state of dementia, her hearing loss acted as a compounding factor in social and intellectual decline as she isolated herself because she couldn't hear. Once I got a hold of her and got her fitted with better quality hearing aids (like I said- a whole different post)- it was too late in her stage of dementia and ear health. Now her hearing aids are more of a safety feature. She may not be able to carry on a detailed social conversation, but she can hear "STOP!" There was a man who wrote a comment on the blog I linked above- he was 45 years old, his marriage was suffering from communication issues and his finances could not handle another investment in hearing aids. With hearing aids he is probably fully capable of social interaction and holding a skilled job. Without them, he is forced to retreat into his shell and figure out another way to function in the world.
This is a problem. Hearing aids are just one of a plethora of examples of how we are not close to solving the issue of health CARE in America.
What do you think? I want to petition the government or someone to help insurance coverage of hearing aids- but I think this is asking for the wrong thing... There is a much larger problem here. Any thoughts? Ideas?
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