Manitoba expands cochlear implant cost coverage

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This article was published 09/06/2022 (1376 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Without her cochlear implant, Gladys Nielsen’s world would be silent.

Nielsen, who received the surgery on her right side almost three decades ago, said the electronic device that provides a sense of sound is now obsolete but she wouldn’t have been able to pay for a new one out of her pension income.

That’s why Nielsen (who has no hearing on her left side) welcomed the announcement by the Manitoba provincial government Thursday it will pay for 80 per cent of costs for a new cochlear implant processor for adults every five years.

It will cost the province about $352,000 annually, and matches a program that has traditionally funded such devices for children and youth.

“I’m excited, I’m happy,” Nielsen, former president of the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, said at a news conference organized by the government.

If she wasn’t able to replace the device, “I would live in silence,” Nielsen said. “No conversations. No communication. No sounds of nature. No ability to feel safe.

“And parts of the hearing world: no music, no little voices, no telephone conversations. It would mean feeling lonely, depressed, stressed and not my active self. My cochlear implant gave me my life back.”

Nielsen said the new funding won’t just benefit seniors, as even young adults and adults with families find it difficult to scrape together the money to replace the device every few years.

Nielsen singled out Liberal MLA Jon Gerrard for his help on the issue. Gerrard, a medical doctor, has been pushing for the expanded program for more than two years, and helped organize a rally about the issue outside the legislature last year.

“I am forever grateful to Dr. Gerrard for all he has done,” she said.

Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said in a statement: “This would not have happened without Jon as a tireless and passionate advocate.”

Health Minister Audrey Gordon said the Tory government wants to ensure Manitobans have equitable access to programs and services, no matter what their income is.

“We are investing in patients by following research that shows the sooner a cochlear implant candidate receives the device, the better the outcome and building an expanded coverage of this program to adults to ensure more Manitobans have access to this life-changing technology,” Gordon said in a statement.

The expanded program is expected to benefit up to 40 Manitobans annually.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca