The Gyeonggi provincial government plans to help a total of 30 hearing-impaired children under age 15 with expenses for cochlear implants this year. 

Similar programs benefited a total of 85 such children: 7 in 2002, 20 in 2003, 16 in 2004, and 42 in 2005. Most of the expenses for cochlear implants have been covered by the health insurance since 2005. Other expenses amounting to 4 to 6 million won per surgery are still a heavy burden on the parents. 

After the surgery, patients need several months to years of a rehabilitation therapy, including memory mapping, and speech and hearing training, to adapt to new circumstances. But the parents of each patient have to pay 30,000 to 40,000 won per therapy, as rehabilitation is not covered by the health insurance. Due to this financial burden, many parents are found to have given up such a surgery in the first place. 

To resolve such a problem at its root, the provincial government will give subsidies of less than 8 million won per patient for surgery and rehabilitation if he or she receives implants this year. The province will also ensure that the city or county of each patient’s residence gives each patient less than 3 million won annually, for three years, to cover the expenses of rehabilitation that is conducted in the years after the surgery. 

If they want such a surgery, the parents of children with hearing impairments will only have to submit to village or township offices in their locations of residence by Feb. 20 the operability certifications for their children’s cases issued by a medical institution equipped with a speech therapy room, more than two ENT doctors, and technical assistants for speech assessment. 

If there is more than an expected number of applications, priorities will be laid on younger children, children at institutions for the physically handicapped, and children with low-income parents, in that order.