Cochlear implantation at risk as Medicaid cuts threatened

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the heads up, Bob. This is just the kind of news that makes

me want to sit up, scream, and smack someone upside the head. After

reading about how California is giving tuition assistance to illegal

aliens, so they can go to school, I've got to wonder what part of ILLEGAL

they don't understand. And then when children need something like a

cochlear implant, there is no money. Seems we have funds to send to

disaster areas all over the world, but can't help our own citizens lead a

productive life. Someone needs to get Washington to pay attention to our

people first. And individual states legislators to get their head out of

the sand and look around and figure out who is paying their salaries.

Because I'm real sick of our people getting the short end of the stick,

when we're busy sending money everywhere else.

The Hearing Journal - November, 2011

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Cochlear implantation at risk as Medicaid cuts threatened

Scheck, Anne

When the only medical center in Nevada performing cochlear implantation

for

children on Medicaid stopped doing the surgery, Ng, MD, an

otolaryngologist there, stepped into the role of activist. Unlike many of

the hearing devices he places in kids, the task wasn't necessarily a

comfortable fit.

It had never occurred to Ng that one day he would have to become a public

advocate for funding of his life's work, a path he chose many years ago

after he did a residency stint at a Los Angeles clinic for

hearing-impaired

children. " After that, it really was what I wanted to do, and really all

I

wanted to do, " he said.

Now he wonders if he will be able to keep doing it. And he is far from

alone. Other places are facing similar fiscal challenges, including

Kansas,

New Mexico, and North Carolina. (Medicaid Watch: State Medicaid Health

Cuts

and Expansions, September 2011; Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the

Uninsured, May 2011.)

Are these " Medicaid kids, " as they are sometimes called, in danger of

staying deaf in states across the country? In Nevada, they certainly seem

to

be running such a risk. " In effect, this means that, while newborn babies

are screened for hearing deficits, we are not allowed to treat them when

it

would help the most, " Ng said. " We know that one to two years old is the

time to intervene with a cochlear implant; otherwise that part of the

brain

responsible for hearing will not adequately develop in the absence of

sound. "

Now, he and others are working with cochlear-implant companies to slash

costs by offering older implants made before the current generation of

technology.

.......

Complete article: http://tinyurl.com/3ggcbu7