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COCHLEAR IMPLANTS |
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Disability Rights |
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Sitemap |
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The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates a $21 million per year program providing health to approximately 3.8 million veterans through 163 VA hospitals and over 800 outpatient clinics. However, it fails to cover all veterans. Nearly 1.7 million veterans were uninsured in 2003, according to Harvard University. This was largely due to a Bush Administration order halting enrollment of most middle income veterans. Others were unable to obtain VHA care due to waiting lists at some VHA facilities, unaffordable co-payments for VHA specialty care, or the lack of VHA facilities in their communities. The VA provides benefits for all FDA-approved cochlear implants and related services. Payment for the cochlear implant device is signficantly higher than under Medicare and most Medicaid programs, as the VA purchases the device directly from the manufacturer at a discounted invoice price (10 percent discount for every bulk order of 10 Nucleus devices.) Coverage is provided for primarily under two Federal laws: 38 U.S.C. Sec. 1717(c) provides for Veteran's Administration benefits to furnish medical devices for "assisting in overcoming the handicap of deafness...to any veteran who is profoundly deaf and is entitled to compensation on account of hearing impairment. 38 U.S.C. Sec. 1714 requires that the VA must pay for all fitting and training for the use of a covered prosthetic appliance, whether in a VA facility or other institution, or by outpatient treatment, and including travel and incidental expenses to and from the veteran's home to the facility where the service is furnished. VA policy allows benefits for other devices to enhance the ability of CI users to communicate. These include hearing aids or FM amplification systems. Payment for post-operative aural rehabilitation and speech processor programming is approximately $218 (significantly higher than under Medicare (approximately $91). These are the VA outpatient facility rates as of July 1, 2000. Cochlear implant services are covered only when provided at one of the seven designated VA cochlear implant centers (CICs)listed below, and Medicare is prohibited from paying for any part of the services provided at these centers. VA Medical Center 700 South 19th Street Birmingham, AL 35233 (205)-933-8101 VA Medical Center 5901 East 7th Street Long Beach, CA 90822 (310)-494-5414 VA Medical Center Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology West Spring Street West Haven, CT 06516 (203)-932-5711 ext. 4539 VA Medical Center Otolaryngology Section Audiology 126 Iowa City, IA 52246 (319)-338-0581 ext. 6150 VA Medical Center Department of Audiology 2215 Fuller Road Ann Arbor, MI 48105 (313)769-7100 ext. 5902 VA Medical Center ASP (126) JC 915 North Grand St. Louis, MO 63106 (314)-289-6341 VA Medical Center 1430 Second Avenue New York, NY 10021 (212)-535-2298 VA Medical Center 2002 Holcombe Blvd. Houston, TX 77030 (713)-794-7112 VA Medical Center Audiology Section-126 1660 South Columbian Way Room 2D-189 Seattle, WA 98108 (206)-764-2109 |
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