You may recall back in June I put up this post:
In a stunning turn of events…
Monkey has a freaking assistive tech/voice output device. Holy crappen!
We have been discussing this issue since…hmmm, let’s see…June, 2008! TWO YEARS!!! Several times we thought we were close only for it to continue to drag on but at today’s meeting the Assistive Tech trainer/evaluator had a “loaner” device for him to use, until his device arrives in July, IN HER HAND. An actual, honest to goodness device…I was so shocked I didn’t even look at what it is, lol. She did say that it’s the older model of the VantageLite which is what he’ll be getting.
AND, AND, AND…my insurance company is paying for it. Stunning. Simply stunning.
Then there was radio silence again until August when I posted this gem:
It looks like we finally did it!
Monkey’s assistive tech device, the Vantage Lite, will be shipping early next week!! Our insurance company is paying for the device (about $7,300) and the school system is paying for the carrying case and the software (about $500). I am in shock. After 2 years, 2 insurance companies and countless forms…he’s got a voice.
A tip for any of you out there who need a device and haven’t yet been able to get it covered…it’s being covered as a prosthetic device, not durable medical equipment. Neat little trick, eh?
Did you think maybe we just totally forgot about the device or what? We did not. What happened was…nothing. There were 4 parties involved in this fiasco and, unfortunately, we had none of the power. We have spent the last 2 months making calls and being lied to. Repeatedly. Between the school, the device manufacturer and the company they use for financing we have been getting the runaround but good. We were told it was being shipped “in the next two days” or “early next week” every time we called. We were even told once that it had shipped but when we pushed for a tracking code that statement was retracted.
This is all just so much bullspit. I want to be really happy about all this, and I am getting there, but I’m still so angry that the school managed to nearly blow this entire deal with their lack of responsiveness and ultimately ended up costing themselves several extra thousand dollars because they gave my insurance company time to reconsider their percentage contribution.
But…Duhdee actually physically touched the device today so…bygones, right? Psht. Gimme a week or two.