For Idaho children who are hard of hearing, we will make your voices resonate

More than a thousand Idaho children want your voices to be heard, because otherwise they may be unable to hear you themselves. We mean this literally. There are hundreds of children across this state who are deaf or hard of hearing whose parents cannot afford to provide them with proper hearing aids. Following months of bipartisan work, that could change, with your help.

The problem is lack of insurance coverage. While Medicaid does cover hearing aids, families who earn over the (extremely low) income cut-off for Medicaid must rely on private insurance. The problem is, Idaho insurance carriers are not required to cover hearing devices for children. That means hundreds of hardworking families all over Idaho who buy their own insurance cannot afford medically necessary hearing aids for their kids. Those who do manage to scrimp and save the thousands of dollars needed to buy these devices do so at great sacrifice. Money that could go toward saving for college instead must go toward expensive hearing aids.

Many states – including Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Missouri – understand this problem. They require insurance companies to cover hearing technologies for children because they know helping children to hear benefits everyone by saving us all tax dollars in the long run. Hearing-assistive technology, once fitted and programmed appropriately by a licensed professional, creates an excellent return on investment.

Without this, kids are negatively affected at school, not to mention with family and friends. When children have trouble communicating with their peers, they suffer from low confidence and social isolation. Furthermore, money gets spent unnecessarily on treatments for behavioral disorders or cognitive dysfunctions. That leads to fewer educational opportunities, greater need for costly support resources, and a decreased ability to maintain independent, long-term, gainful employment. We can all avoid those bad outcomes by being proactive. It saves all of us money and dramatically improves life for the affected children when they receive proper intervention. These children can do absolutely anything, except hear.

Earlier this year, the Idaho State Department of Insurance proposed new rules requiring insurance companies to cover new medically necessary hearing devices for children every three years along with speech therapy sessions. This is the result of nearly a year of work which started with a group of concerned parents, continued during the legislative session with passage of a resolution calling for new insurance requirements, and culminated in the proposed new rule. This issue is being supported by Idaho families, legislators from both sides of the aisle, and the DOI. The insurers are also part of the conversation and are showing a heartening willingness to compromise to help Idaho families.

We encourage you to show your support for this proposed new rule and bring real change to the lives of hundreds of Idaho children.

Now is the time – please speak up for Idaho’s kids.

This story was originally published November 26, 2018 at 12:00 AM with the headline "For Idaho children who are hard of hearing, we will make your voices resonate."