We help children with special needs to purchase necessary aid devices that are either not covered by the Health Insurance Fund or are not covered in a sufficient amount. When needed, we help the families cover the costs of renting aid devices. We support both families as well as organisations working with children with special needs.
The Children’s Foundation can help once all state-funded options have already been used. In case of aid devices, it is possible to submit a request to the Social Insurance Board to reduce the own contribution to five percent (5%). In addition, the local government can also help to cover the own contribution. Once these options have been used and the family still needs help, we encourage the family to turn to the Children’s Foundation.
The Children’s Foundation is currently helping 29 children pay for aid devices: Kelli, Kuldar, Ali, Anni, Desiree, Reili, Miia-Madleen, Miron, Kaisa, Viktoria, William, Ragnar, Franka, Elly, Maribel, Liisa Eleonora, Maria, Ragnar, Tenar, Teja, Markus. Hendrik, Aleksander, Klerkon, Kristofer, Ilja, Heidi, Hanna and Mia Kelly.
In addition, the Children’s Foundation is helping children with impaired hearing by helping the families to pay the own contribution for cochlear implants which is 10% of the cost of the implant.
Cochlear implants are amazing but complex and expensive devices that can help children who can’t hear. Similarly to other modern electronic devices, the speech processors in cochlear implants need to be periodically replaced to ensure that the implant keeps working well.
The internal part of the cochlear implant is surgically placed into the person’s head for basically their whole life. The external part, i.e. the speech processor, needs to be replaced every seven years. In addition, the producers of the devices are constantly making improvements to the speech processors, e.g. making the devices smaller, more ergonomic and adding plastic covers that help the children to hear also when they go swimming. All these improvements help to increase the quality of life for children with impaired hearing.
The cost of one speech processor is 10,000 euros. Once every seven years, people with a cochlear implant have the right to receive a new speech processor for which the state covers 90% of the cost, i.e. the state covers 9,000 euros out of the 10,000 and the remaining 1,000 euros must be covered by the patients or their families themselves. It is possible to apply for an exception and request the Social Insurance Board to reduce the own contribution to 5% – these requests are handled case by case.
However, it is usually still challenging for an average Estonian family to pay 500 to 1,000 euros at once in these situations, which is why the Children’s Foundation has stepped in and helps the families to pay for the own contribution for the speech processors.
