Insurance update

I understand that you are interested in the Wyoming Health Insurance Pool coverage and are wanting to find out if a cochlear implant would be covered. Pre-existing conditions are not covered in the first 12 months unless you have had previous insurace within the last 90 days. If you meet the low income requirements and qualify for the coverage, the cost for the plan would probably be either $368.20 or $504.20 per month, depending on the plan you choose. After you have been on the coverage for 12 months, a precertification would have to be done in order to deterime if this specific procedure would be covered.

There is just no way I can afford the $368 plan. That is like one entire paycheck, and there is just no way I can get by the rest of month with the 2nd paycheck alone to pay all my bills and car insurance, oh no. That's just not possible for me. Maybe if I had another part time job, MAYBE. But I haven't had any luck of finding a part time job that will be flexible enough with my current work schedule and such, and be willing to accomodate my deafness (no phones, not having to deal with customers, noise-free or as little noise as possible, etc.).

Looks like the CNI CI Assistance Program and fundraising is my best bet right now, that is if the CNI does accept my application. I shall be proceeding with the CT scans, new hearing test and whatever else needs to be done so I can apply to the program.

Phone call frustrations!

Oh how frustrating is this! The Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance guy called back the other day, and left a message on the machine. I have played the message a couple of times but I cannot understand the message. I couldn't catch his name or the number he left, or anything else he said. So frustrating! And I'm the only one at home until the 19th. Right now, I'm on a relay call with the BCBC of Wyoming, and they're going to try to get me in touch with the representative that has been researching affordable plans that covers cochlear implants, but blah. The call got rerouted a few times and I ended up with someone from the Cheyenne office. Oy! So incredibly frustrating. I hate that I can't make sense of the message, I hate that I'm making this Cheyenne representative do "extra work" just because I couldn't get a name of the representative doing the research. I'm surprised the Relay Operator is still handling this call haha. It's been over half an hour now, and I'm on hold yet again while the Cheyenne representative calls the local office.

If I could at least get the stupid Cap-Tel phone to work at home, I'd try using that to make phone calls. But no, ever since the Qwest phone company came over to the house 2 years or so ago and did something, none of MY phones have worked. I've tried plugging them into different phone outlets throughout the house and nothing. I don't know why. I have two different phones that are for the deaf (the Captel, and one from PlanetAble), and they both don't work. Most certainly isn't the phones, it has to be the phone line. I've mentioned this to mom and stepdad several times in the last few years but nothing has been done.

Well, at least I finally got our home number removed from Omaha Steak's call list. They have been calling our house at least 2 times a day on a daily basis. No one in the house ever answer their calls (we just pick up then immediately hang up on them). I went online to the Omaha Steaks website, and found an email address. Shot off an email and requested they stop calling us! They removed the number from their list, finally. No more obnoxious calls from them.

Oh, off hold. She's telling me I can stop by the local office and talk to them. Ok. I'm not exactly sure where this street is, but I can look it up, no problem. Oy. Will have to look up the address online, and try swinging by sometime before going to work tomorrow or the next day. Maybe I can get them to start emailing me information from now on, instead of leaving messages on the phone. That would be so much easier for me. Golly!

Well, that relay call lasted almost an entire hour. That's the one thing I don't like about relay calls, they take longer.

Insurance Info Update

Woot! Finally heard back from the insurance guy that was doing research.. He called and spoke with my mom and mom shared the info with me.

The personal insurance through BCBS, that covers the implant, would cost me over $700 a month.... errrrgh.

But he thinks it might be possible to get me on the disabled insurance plan, and that one would be $150 a month (that I could afford).. but he's still doing more research.

Even if I did get the insurance, because deafness is a preexisting condition, I'd have to be on the plan for 9 months before I can even ask them to cover the implant.

I'll keep waiting to hear from him, and figure stuff out. And I'll still try some fundraising so I can get the money necessary to finish out the tests and stuff (Ct scans, hearing test, whatever else), doctor's visits and all that jazz, and even apply to the CNI CI Assistance Program as well (just in case the insurance plan doesn't fall through).

Awaiting another response from him.

what to do hmm

Am still trying to find options. Contacted the local Department of Family Services about Medicaid, from my description to them, they don't believe I'll be eligible for Medicaid. But they told me to try contacting the Resource Center as they usually are able to help people find different options and whatnot. So I'll try this resource center and see what they can do. I don't have a number for them, but the Medicaid office did give me their location. I don't how how long this office is open during the day, but after work I'll see if I can find the center, and go from there.

La de dah. This is nuts, trying to find coverage of some sort. But I'm still working on it!

I'm also on the search for a new webspace host for my Deaf School website. I have given up all hope on 5gbfree.com ever functioning again. The new owner of 5gbfree.com hasn't done a single thing in regards to fixing problems, and this has been going on since September. I'm tired of waiting around and not hearing any words or updates of what is going on with the host, so I'll just find a new one. I really do want to get the archives website up and going, but let's find a reliable host first.

insurance update

Well, after talking with Human Resource last week, it's possible I won't be able to get any of the benefits as apparently the prepress job is still temporary. Come on now, exactly how long is "temporary" now? Last time I was told the job would be temporary, it would last through October and that was it.... Well I'm still working in prepress. Now for how much longer? And they're not sure if they'll have anything I could work on AFTER prepress, to keep my 30+ hours a week, since I can't use the phone and all.

I did call BlueCross BlueShield to get a quote from them. If I were to get insurance through them for cochlear implant coverage, I'd have to get insurance with the health pool... whatever, as the implant coverage would come from the pool thing... and that insurance is pretty pricy. I'll look into other insurances, but honestly, the cheapest way I can get insurance is if I get it through employment. No such luck right now.

So, I am hoping my mom's $5 million lottery thing is actually real and she gets that money. She said if she had that money, she would get her lasik eye surgery, she would pay for my cochlear implant, get her business paid off, help out some people with some of that money. Yeah. Her lawyer is looking into this thing. My mom did some research, found out it would be coming from a REAL bank and all. And when contacting them via email (they haven't asked for any private info such as bank accounts or anything like that), they said they would be more than happy to send a certified letter to her lawyer. So hopefully this deal is real, but who knows. We both know there are a lot of scams online and to be leery of them. She's really hopeful this thing is real.

Oh, life just sucks at times. Can't apply for SSI, I'm making more money than is the limit per month. Can't ask DVR for help, they have been of NO help whatsoever in the last few years, and believe me, I've tried. I have asked them for help with insurance and whatnot, and they haven't done a single thing, so forget them. What else can I possibly do, beside continue looking into different insurance companies? Hm. I know I could try fundraisers and what not, but $105,000 is a LOT of money to try to raise. Hm.

an update

It's been a while since I've posted, now hasn't it. October has basically been a pretty busy month for me. Early October, I flew out to Columbia, SC to stay with a friend for a few nights. We both attended the Hanson concert that was in Charlotte, NC, on the 11th, which was a blast. I took my hearing aid off again for this concert. I'm telling you, when I leave the hearing aid on, everything is just pure noise, I can't tell what is what! But with the hearing aid off, I was able to hear the music well enough. It was a bit quiet for me, but it was still enjoyable. And my friend was able to tell me what song Hanson was playing when I didn't recognize it. It was pretty fun.

After I got back from South Carolina, of course, I had to get my wisdom teeth out. Now that was not a pleasant experience at all, but I got through it and am still slowly healing up today. Also have been keeping busy with work. We have new press machines, so I had to be trained on how to work the machines and on the new system we are to use for printing the newspaper pages. No more negatives! How nice is that?

And now... insurance stuff. Open enrollment for insurance for Lee Enterprises stared last week. I still have no enrolled yet, as I am still trying to find out more information and details. There was a meeting about the benefits that are provided, and I did attend it, but I was just even more confused than ever. So I left the meeting early. Am still awaiting a response from Human Resource with answers to my questions. Also, I did get a hold of, uh, was it WellMark? Lemme go pull up my email. I might as well paste it into this blog post, for progress purpose in terms of the cochlear implant process.

Thank you for your email inquiry. We appreciate you contacting us via the Internet to resolve your questions and concerns.

We have researched your inquiry that is attached to this email reply and have made the following determination:

Please be advised prior approval is recommended for cochlear implants. The medical policy can be found at http://www.wellmark.com/e_business/provider/medical_policies/policies/cochlear_implants.htm
If approved, deductible would apply and once that is met, the coinsurance percentage to the out of pocket maximum. Then Wellmark would pay at 100% of allowed charges. Best benefits if provided by in network providers. If you would like more specifics please advise which plan you are considering, by email, or by tty 888-781-4262.

I got the wellmark.com link through Lee Enterprise's employees website, and contacted them from there. There is also Blue Cross Blue Shield, which I have heard good things about in regards to covering the implant, and that is the actual insurance company Lee uses I guess. I don't know, I'm still a bit confused but am working on getting my confusion straightened out.

I'm getting there, very slowly. The plans/benefits will start on Jan. 1, 2008 and from there, hopefully I can get a move on. The insurance would cover most of the implant, but I do have to pay a copay. Once I figure out what that copay is, then I could work on getting the funding for that. But first, get my confusion straightened out, enroll, GET the insurance... then get the CT scan done and make an appointment with the surgeon so he can look at the scan and we'll go from there.

whoooaaa

Oh wow ok. Last week I called the audiology to make an appointment, and that appointment was today at 4. I arrived just in time and within a couple of minutes Shane and I were in his office. I told him I had been audiologically evaluated for a cochlear implant and from the results, that I was a candidate. So he's excited about it. I made copies of the audiogram and test results that Allison had given me so that he could have it in my records. He hooked up my hearing aid to the computer and brought up the lower frequencies gain. I also had him activate the FM+M mode too, so that I can listen to music AND also hear what is going on around me for when I take my music to work with me.

Now, I'm hearing my computer buzzing once again. And when I got into my car after the appointment and started it up, whoa! I was hearing stuff I hadn't heard before, or maybe I did hear it before but just don't remember it. Anyway, yeah. Everything sounds slightly different, and a bit louder, but I'm sure I'll get used to it over time. And ever since I got back from Denver, I've been forcing myself to deal with the background noise that bother me, instead of turning off my hearing aid. If I can't deal with the background noise NOW, then how will I deal with them with an implant? If I absolutely have to, I'll turn off my hearing aid for only just a few minutes, then turn it back on.

Shane is happy for me though. He says Allison is a great audiologist, and that Dr. Kelsall is an excellent doctor. And he has a patient that is going to get his implant turned on soon and he's pretty excited about that. Shane told me this patient was his first adult patient with an implant, so that's pretty cool.

Also recently found out that the Star Tribune gets their insurance through BlueCross BlueShield. Human Resource wants to be sure I'll continue working the "full-time" hours that I have been working so that I can get the benefits. Things are happening within the prepress department, hence the unsureness of the hours. Hopefully I can continue to work in that department, but I'll talk to the prepress supervisor and see what he says. Hopefully all this gets worked out.

rambles

the founder of the Meningitis Angels Organization emailed me and told me I should fill out a request form for $250 for the cochlear implant evaluation. I'll have to get that sent in SOON, since they only help those that are 21 and younger with grants or whatever help they need after having had meningitis. I turn 22 in September, so yeah. Better get on it. But I am dead serious on getting a cochlear implant if I'm a candidate for one. I know my mom's still leery of the idea, but... I don't want a "cure" and a cochlear implant is not a cure. I know, it may not even work for me. But I won't know until I find out if I'm a candidate and go through the process. And I know that it takes time for an implant to work, for one to be able to hear and understand with an implant. I know that. I've talked to different people that have implants, and I'm even friends with a woman who had been implanted at 2 different times but both times the implant didn't work for her and left her with half of her face paralyzed. But that was YEARS ago when she got the implant and replaced implant, when they were still "new". Now that I know how much an evaluation costs from the Rocky Mountain CI Center in Colorado (I've heard good things about that center, have a friend who was implanted there and had good things to say, and a woman who was an audiologist at the deaf school here for YEARS even knows of that center and recommended it), well, now I want to get going. At LEAST go through the evaluation and find out if I'm a candidate or not. And I'll keep bugging the top editor at work about more hours/work for me, so I can be eligible for benefits and find out more about Lee Enterprise's insurance policy.