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Hearing aids in but still not understanding words
Hearing Loss | Last Active: Nov 4 4:08pm | Replies (135)Comment receiving replies
We have got to get the millions of people suffering from hearing loss to speak up. There are millions of us that for whatever reason choose to remain silent.
AARP is the only organization that can help us and yet for some reason they are not aggressively advocating for us.
Hopefully people get this message and start pushing for the latest technology that is out there. The fact that Medicare does not pay for hearing aids is inexcusable. Hopefully everyone on this sites contacts AARP along their Senators and congressional representatives. We have the numbers and we vote. It is time to use that leverage.
The stigma over mental health has been lifted because people like Simone Biles and Michael Phelps have had the courage to speak up along with countless other celebrities and everyday people.
When are we going to let our millions of voices be heard. Only then will things begin to change and we will see the end of overpriced hearing aids and greater progress with CI technology.
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@daveshaw The initial Inflation Recovery Act (IRA) 3 years ago included vision and hearing aid coverage under Medicare. It was a bipartisan issue. It was included because of the efforts of a lot of hearing advocates, in particular Lise Hamlin, the Policy Director of HLAA, who had been advocating for it for years. Unfortunately, in order to pass the legislation, the cost of the IRA had to be reduced and hearing coverage got cut out of the final law. There have been plenty of hearing advocates pushing for this issue for years. But Politics keeps getting in the way. Why AARP has not put its power behind the issue is beyond me. The other place this issue can be used is in the individual states. A few have gotten coverage for hearing aids of some amount, but not full coverage as I understand. In my state (PA) there has been bipartisan legislation for over a year to get coverage but it has trouble getting out of Committee, despite support from HLAA and the PA Academy of Audiologists. It is beyond me how hearing coverage is not considered medically necessary. It is one of our 5 senses that we all rely on to live fulfilling lives.