What I want to know is when devices like these that obviously improve your life WILL be covered by insurance. Or will things like this divide social classes even further, whereas the people who can afford these things can and will, and the people who live pay check to pay check (and subsequently pay exorbitant insurance premiums) will not be able to. Social divides will be taken one step further, as the rich people will have super hearing and super strength while the middle class (what's left of it) will have trouble getting expensive (and neccessary) surgery covered by their insurance companies.
I dunno where you come from dude but hearing aids are almost never covered by insurance... at least in the US. It sucks, and they should be covered, but they're not.
My only question is whether this is a *cochlear implant* or a *hearing aid*. They are entirely different, look it up, main one here is that hearing aids are NOT implants, they are devices that you stuff in your ear and can take right out afterwards and no surgery is needed.
Waah, waahhh...social divide, boo hoo. Yeah, let's have it covered by insurance where the price will never come down and our insurance prices will continue to skyrocket. Great idea. Look at LASIK eye surgery. What was once several thousand dollars can now be had for several hundred. You think that would have happened if it was covered by insurance? Nope. There would never have been any incentive to bring the price down. Insurance is the problem not the solution.
Are you friggin' kidding me? Social divides? What an irrelevant comment. It's expensive because it's experimental. If these are successful and are ever mass-produced, I doubt they're gonna cost $20k.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bryan @ Dec 20th 2007 5:26PM
What I want to know is when devices like these that obviously improve your life WILL be covered by insurance. Or will things like this divide social classes even further, whereas the people who can afford these things can and will, and the people who live pay check to pay check (and subsequently pay exorbitant insurance premiums) will not be able to. Social divides will be taken one step further, as the rich people will have super hearing and super strength while the middle class (what's left of it) will have trouble getting expensive (and neccessary) surgery covered by their insurance companies.
wickedpheonix @ Dec 20th 2007 6:08PM
I dunno where you come from dude but hearing aids are almost never covered by insurance... at least in the US. It sucks, and they should be covered, but they're not.
My only question is whether this is a *cochlear implant* or a *hearing aid*. They are entirely different, look it up, main one here is that hearing aids are NOT implants, they are devices that you stuff in your ear and can take right out afterwards and no surgery is needed.
Other than that, welcome news I guess :)
HenryJonesJr @ Dec 20th 2007 6:57PM
Waah, waahhh...social divide, boo hoo. Yeah, let's have it covered by insurance where the price will never come down and our insurance prices will continue to skyrocket. Great idea. Look at LASIK eye surgery. What was once several thousand dollars can now be had for several hundred. You think that would have happened if it was covered by insurance? Nope. There would never have been any incentive to bring the price down. Insurance is the problem not the solution.
Mike @ Dec 20th 2007 7:00PM
Are you friggin' kidding me? Social divides? What an irrelevant comment. It's expensive because it's experimental. If these are successful and are ever mass-produced, I doubt they're gonna cost $20k.
Bryan @ Dec 21st 2007 9:41AM
I guess I never looked at it from the angles you guys provide. Makes sense. My bad.