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My Journey


Ms_D

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  • HearPeers Heroes

It can get expensive, mine as well use them if you got em

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  • HearPeers Heroes

Yes the batteries are expensive- especially when bilateral. I would not have known this except for reading about it on the Facebook group page but you can ask MedEl to check with your insurance plan to see if the batteries are covered. My insurance covers the batteries so I just pay the co-pay amount. You can be put on a monthly schedule and MedEl will ship batteries every month.

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  • HearPeers Heroes

Mine doesn't cover the batteries. It's interesting, they pay for a hearing aid but not the batteries.

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  • HearPeers Heroes

Yeah I will have to check into that. We just got insurance this year.

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  • HearPeers Heroes

My situation: I get batteries as other CI users (although I am not) but hearing aid users do not get.

With recent update my batteries started to drain even faster - now I am at the 4th day. Before this I had to change a battery on the 5th day - pretty interesting because we did not do much just raise a little bit some frequencies. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • HearPeers Heroes

That's pretty interesting, wonder how long you ( Ivana) can get them to last

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  • HearPeers Heroes

That's pretty interesting, wonder how long you ( Ivana) can get them to last

 

Well, 4 and 1/2 day stretched but now when I think about it I could easily change the battery even earlier because I am pretty sure that I do not hear all frequencies equally all the time - hard to explain... :huh:  :wacko:

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  • HearPeers Heroes

I've noticed that after each mapping my batteries last at a lesser rate. The max I can get now is 3 1/2 days. At the start it was 5 days.

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  • HearPeers Heroes

I guess this is understandable if audiologists broad our perception spectre....

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My batteries tend to last about 4 days.  My insurance do not cover hearing aid or cochlear implant batteries.  As far as my hearing aid batteries go, the doctor office from which I bought my hearing aid, provides my hearing aid batteries to me free of charge for the life of the device.  They told me that it's to help their patients out - if they buy a hearing aid through them, then they will supply the batteries.  As far as the CI batteries go, well, I order them online.  I really do need to check a battery specialty store around where I live to see if any carries the batteries.  I have seen the battery size in stores like Walgreens; however, since my audiologist said that it must say "implant plus" on it, I don't buy them.  My audiologist had stressed the importance of making sure the battery pack says implant plus on it.  Since I can't find them in stores so far, I order them online.  I sure wish shipping was free for orders over like $75 or even $100 - I bought a 300 pack several months ago and had to pay about $10 in shipping charges.  While I can get reimbursed from my HSA bank for the actual cost of the batteries, I cannot request a reimbursement for the shipping charges (as far as I know).  The 300 batteries alone cost a bit over $150.  They ain't cheap.  I love my Rondo...I just wish it had rechargeable batteries for it. :-)

 

Regarding my second implant journey..well, as far as I know, they somehow got my doctor in network (though, I will be double checking next week so that there are hopefully no surprises later), so I have an appointment on April 14th with the audiologist for the needed hearing tests to send with everything to the insurance company for their approval, and I will meet with my doctor right after I am finished with the hearing tests just to have a follow up with her.  After that, they will send off the paperwork, then it's a wait and see if the insurance company will approve it. 

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  • HearPeers Heroes

Fingers crossed for you, Donna, about your second implant. I'm fortunate that although my insurance did not pay for hearing aids nor hearing aid batteries, it does cover CI batteries. So I pay my part of that cost until I meet my maximum out of pocket for the year. MedEl was able to check that out with my insurance company so I didn't have to do anything except ask my CSR to have my insurance checked for battery coverage. I have read that many people order implant batteries through Amazon and get free shipping. That may work for you too. We do go through lots of batteries! Now that I am wearing bilateral Sonnets, I am zooming through batteries.

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  • HearPeers Heroes

At ebay.com you can also find a good deal. :)

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  • HearPeers Heroes

My batteries tend to last about 4 days.  My insurance do not cover hearing aid or cochlear implant batteries.  As far as my hearing aid batteries go, the doctor office from which I bought my hearing aid, provides my hearing aid batteries to me free of charge for the life of the device.  They told me that it's to help their patients out - if they buy a hearing aid through them, then they will supply the batteries.  As far as the CI batteries go, well, I order them online.  I really do need to check a battery specialty store around where I live to see if any carries the batteries.  I have seen the battery size in stores like Walgreens; however, since my audiologist said that it must say "implant plus" on it, I don't buy them.  My audiologist had stressed the importance of making sure the battery pack says implant plus on it.  Since I can't find them in stores so far, I order them online.  I sure wish shipping was free for orders over like $75 or even $100 - I bought a 300 pack several months ago and had to pay about $10 in shipping charges.  While I can get reimbursed from my HSA bank for the actual cost of the batteries, I cannot request a reimbursement for the shipping charges (as far as I know).  The 300 batteries alone cost a bit over $150.  They ain't cheap.  I love my Rondo...I just wish it had rechargeable batteries for it. :-)

 

Regarding my second implant journey..well, as far as I know, they somehow got my doctor in network (though, I will be double checking next week so that there are hopefully no surprises later), so I have an appointment on April 14th with the audiologist for the needed hearing tests to send with everything to the insurance company for their approval, and I will meet with my doctor right after I am finished with the hearing tests just to have a follow up with her.  After that, they will send off the paperwork, then it's a wait and see if the insurance company will approve it. 

 

Donna,

 

this seller on E-Bay does not charge shipping's cost in the U.S.:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300-PowerOne-P675-IMPLANT-PLUS-Hearing-Aid-batteries-for-cochlear-Fresh-up-2018-/281111401550?hash=item41738b944e:g:KHsAAOSwr7ZW7BGm

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  • HearPeers Heroes

Donna, please let us know how things are going. I know there are a number of non profits out there that can help pay.

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I have not heard of any non-profits.  I'm just eagerly awaiting my next appointment.

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  • HearPeers Heroes

We are eagerly waiting for you as well :D

Looking forward to hearing what you find out

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Thanks.  I am looking forward to it.  My appointment is on Thursday, so I am just about finish with the pre-surgery journey and then it's just waiting around to see if the insurance company is going to be a friend or foe. :-)  

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Okay, yesterday was appointment day.  Several news: when they tested my left ear with my hearing aid on, I only got 11% of the sentences.  The audiologist said that while the hearing aid helps me to hear, it does not help clarify.  Also, my implanted ear has improved since February 12th of this year - it has improved by 10% in two months and two days!  They are sending off the paperwork to the insurance company - so now it's "wait and see" time.  The doctor said that we could possibly be doing the surgery in two months (if the insurance company does not take a long time to approve it).  My doctor also recommended speech therapy after the surgery.  Even if my insurance do not approve of the second implant, I am going to look into speech therapy anyhow. :-)  At the appointment, I got my Sonnet programmed - and it's great!  It is not as heavy as the Opus 2.  I wore the Sonnet today to help me get used to it as I have the Rondo and Opus 2. :-)

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  • HearPeers Heroes

Great news Donna, all of it. Keep us posted. And I'm glad you are enjoying your Sonnet.

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  • HearPeers Heroes

Good luck, Donna. I hope the insurance company approves your request.

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