Insurance

“No, your insurance plan does not cover cochlear implant surgery.” Those are the words we heard a few days after Cal’s MRI. Needless to say that sent us into a frenzy of looking into supplemental insurance, advocacies, anything that would help us in getting Cal’s CI covered. One of the advocacies recommended I request a full disclosure of benefits from my insurance. As I read over these it said nothing about cochlear implants, in fact the only thing it said was, “Do not cover hearing aids or similar devices.” Similar devices? If that was their way out they were going to have to better than that. So I called back up the insurance (immediately asked to talk to a manager or specialist) and explained our situation. After a game of 20 questions, we got our $80,000 answer...we are covered! They will only cover one implant, but for now we will take it. It is such a relief to not have to worry about this along with every thing else. I doubt this will be my first battle with the Insurance companies...but this victory was a big one.

4 comments:

Jen said...

That is great news! Insurance companies are so annoying! Good Luck with everything! Love you guys! :)

PolyglotMom said...

Just wanted to say hi - I found your blog on deafvillage. My son, Lucas, has been implanted for 2 months now. It's been a great experience. He also only has 1 implant (that's all that was approved at the time), but we're looking into getting him a second one soon. Good luck, and I look forward to following your journey!

The Cranes said...

Congratulations for you all and for your little guy! I am so happy that they will cover it! When I first read what you guys were going through my heart ached for you, its amazing what those insurance companies will do to get out of everything. Good luck with everything! I can't wait to read about all the new updates.

Brittney Crane

Jess said...

I think it's fantastic that you are fighting for the things that Elijah needs! It gets so frustrating sometimes working with insurance companies to get everything that you need, but good for you for not backing down. After all, if we aren't advocates for our children, who will be?

~Jess