bone anchored hearing aids

[annekat]

Usually what is billed to Medicare and/or insurances and what gets paid are greatly different. Willingness of a vendor to do work for Medicare rates also varies greatly. One doctor at Mayo wouldn't do it for Medicare rates so I went to state university medical clinic which usually have to accept Medicare. It took the doctor there only a few minutes to do the paperwork and get BAHA approved for me and set up a surgery date.

The audiologist quoted me a guess of a price of the top of her head without reference to me being on Medicare, having little knowledge of that nor being involved in billing. The problem is that the surgery would be done somewhere else, and I'd have a choice of places, it sounded like, and those people would be generating the bill for that part of it. So I'd have to get signed up and talk to those people before knowing the cost for a Medicare patient. So perhaps the amount she suggested was for the device itself alone, and I thought I remembered something like $8000. So I guess the surgery could be pretty expensive on top of that. Obviously, more investigation is needed. It's just hard to commit to something in advance without knowing what the cost will be, even if the rates are greatly reduced for Medicare. I am on original Medicare and have no supplemental plan. I guess when I turn 65 next year I'll be eligible for Medigap plans, whatever those are. All the different terminology is overwhelming.

[mams57]

I'm realizing that my hearing loss in one ear is undoubtedly related to the Wegeners. I've had horrible tinnitus and trouble hearing for years and an ENT said all of the little bones are gone. Oddly this is the same side where I developed a partially deviated septum in my nose and it isn't due to positional drainage. ( I don't sleep on that side of my face ) My sense of taste and smell hasn't been very acute for years either. Is this also a by product of this disease? Thanks 😊

[Pete]

From my experience, Medicare doesn't cover regular hearing aids (mine cost over $6,000 five years ago). Check with your insurance.

[annekat]

I'm realizing that my hearing loss in one ear is undoubtedly related to the Wegeners. I've had horrible tinnitus and trouble hearing for years and an ENT said all of the little bones are gone. Oddly this is the same side where I developed a partially deviated septum in my nose and it isn't due to positional drainage. ( I don't sleep on that side of my face ) My sense of taste and smell hasn't been very acute for years either. Is this also a by product of this disease? Thanks 

Yes, these are all by products of the disease. I haven't heard of that many people losing the little bones in the ears, but I am one of them, in one ear. I had hearing aids in both ears but recently have given up on the ear with the missing bones and eardrum, and just use the one ear that hears well with the aid. My sense of smell is gone and I can still taste, but I feel it is dulled a fair amount. I had some weird tinnitus years before developing WG and more recently have had louder and more troubling tinnitus, along with recurring vertigo. I seem to have eliminated the vertigo and helped the tinnitus by stopping caffeine consumption. This is a big sacrifice to make, but it is worth it. We are all a little different and what may work for one person may not work for another.

[annekat]

From my experience, Medicare doesn't cover regular hearing aids (mine cost over $6,000 five years ago). Check with your insurance.

No, they don't. My hearing aids were donated to my hearing care clinic, which operates within my ENT's group. They are used, and one is a different color than the other. I had to pay some associated costs such as the ear molds, $75 each, and for one aid, had to pay $250 to renew the warranty. They are both out of warranty now and I'd have to pay that to have either of them repaired. Luckily, I have a spare, since I'm not using one of them. The Lions Club is said to help low income people get hearing aids.

As for the bone-anchored hearing aids, they are said to be covered by Medicare because they are considered a prosthetic device. Medicare has tried to withdraw this coverage in the past but there were protests and they are still covering it. Since there would be a 20% copay, I assume, I am still not feeling able to do this. I said above that I have given up on the bad ear, but I really haven't. I can still hear a tiny bit in it despite it's missing an eardrum and the little bones. My audiologist says none of their hearing aids will work in it, if they amplify enough, they will just squeal and bother people. But I am not taking it as gospel truth and may look elsewhere some day. Of course, paying for it would still be a problem.

[drz]

I lost the middle ear bones in my left ear many decades ago and had a mastoidectomy to remove infection and a recurrent cholesteatoma. I use a regular behind the ear hearing aid in that ear and it helps. Without it there was little hearing in that ear but I think the hearing in that ear actually improved after I went deaf on right side from damage from Wegs decades later. The BAHA picks up sounds and send it through my skull to left side so I can hear better.

[Pete]

How are you at locating the source of a sound?

[annekat]

How are you at locating the source of a sound?

That has always been tricky with one ear hearing better than the other. I actually feel my hearing has improved in the better ear since losing most of it in the bad ear. And my brain has somehow been trained to recognize sound location direction a little better, though it is of course not infallible. When I do an online hearing test (not to be considered as good as a real one), some of the sounds that go into the right side are transferred to the left ear, while others are heard in the right ear as they are supposed to be. It's a matter of different frequencies.

[mams57]

I don't drink alcohol or even soda. Just water, unsweetened tea and occasional juice. Don't do illegal drugs and quit smoking several years ago but if I have to give up my morning coffee?..... I fear one may find me climbing up a water tower with a high powered rifle and a new first person shooter video game named after me...LOL ������

[annekat]

I don't drink alcohol or even soda. Just water, unsweetened tea and occasional juice. Don't do illegal drugs and quit smoking several years ago but if I have to give up my morning coffee?..... I fear one may find me climbing up a water tower with a high powered rifle and a new first person shooter video game named after me...LOL ������

No one said you had to give it up. It might not even help anything if you did. If you have ever had moderate to severe vertigo, you might understand my motivation in giving it up. I did not want to, but it enabled me to get off the meds for vertigo which were perpetuating it at the same time as helping. And it was a nice bonus having it help my tinnitus and double vision at the same time. We are all different and our issues are complicated. I'm not even sure it was WG causing my vertigo, though I think there was a connection. I will probably drink coffee occasionally, in fact, had a cup at mid-day recently, and nothing happened. It is more of a cumulative affect on the inner ear. Green or black tea would be less risky. But right now, I'm just enjoying not having vertigo, or the feeling I might get it, and don't want to push things. I hope you never have vertigo as part of your ear problems and are able to enjoy your coffee for the rest of your life!