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> Batteries are about $500 each and they last at least a year before they start to degrade. Wow, that sounds killer for me. My batteries are about half that an

> Batteries are about $500 each and they last at least a year before they start to degrade. Wow, that sounds killer for me. My batteries are about half that and last the same amount of time; I buy four or five a year since I cycle through them due to my thick skin/skull that causes me to get half the expected life out of them every day... What about cables/headpieces/earpieces for that? Is your government program the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, by any chance? I went through them in PA and they were spectacularly flaky... and it wasn't helpful that my liaison was someone I'd known for a while since I was friends with her son and she kept pushing me to "give back" in return for receiving benefits.

Kluny 9y ago
No, Canadian here, which explains most of the price difference as well. CAD is weak at the moment. There's a waterproof sleeve thing that you can use for swimming - I believe that was $700. There's a bluetooth dongle that works with my iphone, but it's incredibly frustrating to use, so I mostly don't. That was $350 if I recall. All these things are tax write-offs for me, which is helpful, but I still have to pay out of pocket. It doesn't help much in low-income years, either. BC Medical tends to get a pile of funding every couple years for CI patients, like 10 million or whatever, and out of that pile they prioritize younger adults who need at least one CI to be able to hold down a job, people whose equipment is starting to fail, etc. If there's any left after everyone who needs one CI or replacement equipment has got what they need, they can offer second implants. They've never gotten that far down the list though.
- sdrothrock 9y ago
  > BC Medical tends to get a pile of funding every couple years for CI patients, like 10 million or whatever, and out of that pile they prioritize younger adults who need at least one CI to be able to hold down a job, people whose equipment is starting to fail, etc. If there's any left after everyone who needs one CI or replacement equipment has got what they need, they can offer second implants. They've never gotten that far down the list though. That sounds like a relatively reasonable methodology... I would really like to see the balance sheets of these companies to see how much they're gouging us -- I refuse to believe that what's essentially a condom and plastic tweezers really costs $700.
  - smeyer 9y ago
    >I would really like to see the balance sheets of these companies to see how much they're gouging us Not broken down to each accessory or anything, but you can see overall profit margins and such. https://www.sonova.com/en/first-half-results-201617-sonova-strong-foundation-further-growth https://www.sonova.com/en/first-half-results-201617-sonova-s... http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/b0dffcb0-9826-4c99-9d58-ad7a760bddac/en_corporate_cochlear_annualreport2017_1.78mb.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-b0dffcb0-9826-4c99-9d58-ad7a760bddac-lTJByF- http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/b0dffcb0-9826-4c99-9...

Kluny 9y ago

No, Canadian here, which explains most of the price difference as well. CAD is weak at the moment. There's a waterproof sleeve thing that you can use for swimming - I believe that was $700. There's a bluetooth dongle that works with my iphone, but it's incredibly frustrating to use, so I mostly don't. That was $350 if I recall. All these things are tax write-offs for me, which is helpful, but I still have to pay out of pocket. It doesn't help much in low-income years, either. BC Medical tends to get a pile of funding every couple years for CI patients, like 10 million or whatever, and out of that pile they prioritize younger adults who need at least one CI to be able to hold down a job, people whose equipment is starting to fail, etc. If there's any left after everyone who needs one CI or replacement equipment has got what they need, they can offer second implants. They've never gotten that far down the list though.

sdrothrock 9y ago
> BC Medical tends to get a pile of funding every couple years for CI patients, like 10 million or whatever, and out of that pile they prioritize younger adults who need at least one CI to be able to hold down a job, people whose equipment is starting to fail, etc. If there's any left after everyone who needs one CI or replacement equipment has got what they need, they can offer second implants. They've never gotten that far down the list though. That sounds like a relatively reasonable methodology... I would really like to see the balance sheets of these companies to see how much they're gouging us -- I refuse to believe that what's essentially a condom and plastic tweezers really costs $700.
- smeyer 9y ago
  >I would really like to see the balance sheets of these companies to see how much they're gouging us Not broken down to each accessory or anything, but you can see overall profit margins and such. https://www.sonova.com/en/first-half-results-201617-sonova-strong-foundation-further-growth https://www.sonova.com/en/first-half-results-201617-sonova-s... http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/b0dffcb0-9826-4c99-9d58-ad7a760bddac/en_corporate_cochlear_annualreport2017_1.78mb.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CONVERT_TO=url&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-b0dffcb0-9826-4c99-9d58-ad7a760bddac-lTJByF- http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/b0dffcb0-9826-4c99-9...