(marker pen scratching)
(Pokemon game sound)
So I have a guest speaker on my channel today.
This is a topic about hearing aids,
cochlear implants, and insurance.
Why insurance will cover cochlear implants,
but they won't cover hearing aids.
Now I don't have any actual experience with this
because I've never worn hearing aids,
I don't have a cochlear implant,
they were too expensive for me, blah blah blah.
And I have no interest in a cochlear implant.
But my friend Amanda has grown up with hearing aids,
and currently has a cochlear implant.
She is here to tell her story.
I wanted someone who knows the drill,
who lives the life to tell you the story,
rather than just here's the facts.
So, without further ado here is Amanda.
Hey everyone, my name is Amanda McDonough,
and I am an actor, who happens to be deaf.
Now, I grew up hard of hearing.
I started losing my hearing when I was four years old.
And I started using hearing aids when I was seven years old.
At that time back in the '90s...
(laughs)
We didn't have the option of insurance companies
paying for hearing aids and I needed two.
Two hearing aids, one for each ear.
And so my parents had to pay themselves,
for my hearing aids growing up.
And I used hearing aids from the time I was seven years old
all the way 'til the time I was 22 years old.
That's a lot of hearing aids.
Now when I was growing up, hearing aids cost
roughly $2,000 to $4,000 for one.
One hearing aid.
And I was using two.
That is a lot of money.
Especially because I was changing and getting new
hearing aids as technology changed,
as my hearing loss changed,
as I broke them,
I went through a lot of hearing aids.
Now, when I was 22, I had lost
so much of my hearing
that I couldn't even utilize hearing aids anymore.
They couldn't help me anymore.
So I started looking into information
on cochlear implant surgery.
And I decided, as a 22 year old, that I wanted to have
one cochlear implant put in.
Just to help me communicate a little bit better,
and to help me understand my surroundings.
Because I had no access to sound at all.
I was 100%, 100% fully deaf.
In both ears.
So I had cochlear implant surgery,
and at that time I was with an insurance company
called Blue Cross.
And they did pay for the entire surgery,
and the outside processor.
It wasn't easy to get them to pay for it.
We had to fight just a little bit to make sure that happened
but they did pay in the end for everything.
Now due to certain circumstances
I had to have a second surgery on the same cochlear implant,
and I had that done with a different
insurance company called Kaiser,
and they paid for the whole surgery,
and the outside processor the same.
Um, so yeah, I think something that insurance companies
really need to understand about hearing aids,
is they are not a vanity item.
We don't wear them because they're beautiful.
We need them, especially as a little kid,
growing up with hearing loss,
I needed, I depended on those hearing aids,
to help me get through school.
To help me communicate.
To help me make friends.
To help me understand my surroundings.
To understand when danger was near.
This is not something that I used for fun.
It was not fun to wear.
It's necessary for, for life.
It's a tool that we use for life.
Same things with cochlear implants.
They're a tool to help us have a better life,
to communicate better and to understand
what's happening around us better.
So I hope that insurance companies in the very near future
will understand that about hearing aids.
Alright, thank you so much for listening to my story.
Bye, guys!
RIKKI: So thank you very much Amanda,
for sharing your story with us.
I very much appreciate it,
and I'm sure the viewers do as well.
Amanda is also a YouTuber so I will have her link down below
so you can subscribe to her channel.
That's it.
I do plan to have other guest speakers on here.
That's currently a work in progress.
Just waiting for the submissions from them.
So they're coming, they're coming.
This is a brand new thing I'm working on for my channel
to make it a little diverse.
So, if you wanna follow me and all of my social media
links to that will be down below.
If you wanna help support my content on Patreon,
you can do so by being a patron.
And the link to that will be down below.
Or you can leave a one-time tip on ko-fi.
Because I love coffee, we know this.
I upload every Monday and Thursday unless otherwise stated.
And I will see you later, bye.