Cochlear implantation at risk as Medicaid cuts threatened

October 29, 2011

The Hearing Journal - November, 2011

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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.

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