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Medicare Coverage for Hearing Aids – Write to your Senator
News from HLAA National Office…
HLAA is thrilled to announce that the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act of 2021 (H.R. 5376) on November 19, 2021. The Build Back Better Act of 2021 includes the expansion of Medicare to cover hearing aids and services.
HLAA has spent years supporting the idea of Medicare coverage of hearing aids and hearing health services. This year, HLAA spent our time since the spring in talks with members of Congress and key committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate, encouraging them to vote YES! to expand Medicare to include hearing aids and services. That would mean for the first time, seniors who rely on Medicare to pay their medical bills would also be able to turn to Medicare to cover the cost of hearing aids and related services. We are happy to report that the U.S. House of Representatives listened!
Proposed Coverage
The provisions for hearing aid and hearing health care coverage include:
This legislation also contains certain limitations, such as covering hearing aids – one per ear – not more than once during a 5-year period, only for hearing aids that are not over-the-counter hearing aids, for people with moderately severe, severe, or profound hearing loss. These hearing aids can be furnished by a written order of a physician, an audiologist or a hearing aid specialist.
What Can You Do?
The Build Back Better Act does not become law until both Houses come to agreement on the final language. Write to your U.S. Senators to urge them to include Medicare coverage of hearing aids and hearing health care services with a bill that mirrors the one passed by the House. There is still time to push this to the finish line! We can get this done!
Drawn from article on HLAA national website:
U.S. House of Representatives Expands Medicare to Cover Hearing Aids
ADA: “Include Architectural Improvements For Those With Hearing Impairments”
The January 3, 2021 Boston Globe Magazine published a Letter to the Editor by HearAtBoston board member Carol Agate entitled, “ADA Anniversary.”Boston Organizations Subsidize Clear Masks for Boston Residents
Boston Lyric Opera and Costume Works Inc. have formed a partnership to manufacture and make available clear face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Find more information and get your mask here: https://blo.org/facemasks/Mass.gov’s New Campaign to Stop Covid-19 Includes Captions and Sign Language
Accessibility is getting better in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (MCDHH) has helped produce a series of accessible videos encouraging folks to wash hands, avoid groups etc.
Please see the ASL version of the new Mass.gov campaign on its Facebook page: Actions = Consequences:
Shari Eberts of HLAA Was Interviewed on National Public Radio (NPR)
Shari Eberts, hearing loss advocate and HLAA National board member, was interviewed by NPR’s Peter O’Dowd on Here and Now about Zoom and the lack of captioning on their free accounts. It is well worth a listen and here’s a link to the podcast and transcript:ALDA/HlAA accessible tour with the MFA on Saturday November 21,2020
Registration is now open for the ALDA/HlAA accessible tour at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on Saturday November 21,2020. Please join us for the first of an ongoing schedule of virtual MFA tours via Zoom with Karen Moss as our guide . Our first event is based on the topic “Gatherings Over Time”. This time of year some people are planning their holiday celebrations and such gatherings have been pared back or cancelled altogether during the Covid pandemic . Let us explore various art images in the context of “Gatherings Over Time” as festive, upbeat and enjoyable.
Virtual HLAA Chapter Meetings Around the Country
Organizer: Toni Barrient toni@hlaamv.org 949-391-9756 text
Description: Popular Professor, Fan-Gang (UCI Researcher) will present his ongoing research about technologies that help people hear including over the counter devices like AirPods.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting. When: Nov 10, 2020 11:00 AM Pacific Time, 2:00 pm EST.
Here are more upcoming virtual events (Details below):
- Saturday November 14 at 4pm: HLAA Virtual Meeting hosted by HLAA California Association – “Surviving the Holidays with Hearing Loss?”
- Tuesday November 17 at 8pm: HLAA Veterans Across America – “What’s in your Hearing Rucksack?”
- Wednesday November 18 at 4pm: HLAA Plymouth Chapter – “A Life in Music Lost and Found”
Saturday November 14: 4pm (Eastern Time)
HLAA California State Association virtual meeting
“Surviving the Holidays with Hearing Loss?”
Speaker: Alison Freeman
Join our next virtual meeting to learn some tips and strategies on how to deal with hearing loss during the holidays ahead. Speaker Alison Freeman, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who works part-time at California State University at Northridge (CSUN) with both hearing and hard of hearing/deaf/Deaf students. She also has a private practice and is doing teletherapy during the pandemic. She has had a severe hearing loss since early childhood, was orally trained, and is a long-time member of HLAA (she knew Founder Rocky Stone!).
Tuesday November 17: 8pm (Eastern Time)
HLAA Veterans Across America virtual meeting
“What’s in your Hearing Rucksack?”
Speaker: Juliette Sterkens
Most people with hearing loss will say they can hear just fine but that they have difficulty understanding speech, particularly in background noise, watching TV or while attending religious services, a lecture or theater performances even when using the most modern, up-to-date hearing aids. This lecture will go beyond hearing aids and will help you become an informed consumer to get the hearing care and technology from the VA that will work for you.
Juliëtte Sterkens is the HLAA Hearing Loop Advocate and professional advisor to HLAA on Hearing Loop Technology.
Register at [link expired]
Wednesday November 18: 4:00 – 5:30 pm (Eastern Time)
HLAA Plymouth Chapter virtual meeting
“A Life in Music Lost and Found”
Speaker: Betty Hauck
Betty Hauck, who was supposed to perform with the violin and viola for our chapter at the Plymouth Public Library, on March 18, 2020 (just before the pandemic started), will be talking A LIFE IN MUSIC LOST & FOUND: My Journey as a Musician with Hearing Loss. Betty was featured in an NPR story about musicians and hearing loss, which was reprised as a favorite story of 2018.
http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/04/17/classical-musicians-hearing-loss
Contact Sandy Spekman (sspekman@gmail.com) to request the link.
HLAA Virtual Meeting Recordings
You can view recordings of past Hearing Loss virtual meetings at:
https://www.hearingloss.org/hearing-help/communities/hlaa-national-virtual-meetings/
Hear @ Boston – Holiday “HAT” Check – December 5, 2020 4:00 pm
Holiday HAT Check – Hearing Assistive Technology.
The holiday season presents us with many challenges in our hard-of-hearing world. Fortunately, there are many tech tools to help us all live with hearing loss. Let’s learn from each other! Let’s share our knowledge!
Please attend, and please bring and share a favorite device that helps you with safety, stress, and relates to hearing loss. Show and tell! It will help us all get through the challenging holiday season.
December 5, 2020 4:00 pm – Virtual VIA Zoom
Please join the hear@boston Zoom Meeting! Please email hearatboston@gmail.com to get the link.
October 16, 2020-Jonathan O’Dell: Why You’re Losing It and Why What You Don’t Know May Hurt You.
| This is a virtual meeting presented by Jonathan O’Dell about our hearing: Why You’re Losing It and Why What You Don’t Know May Hurt You.
Friday, October 16, 2020, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon, ET |
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Are you struggling with hearing loss, or is a family or friend struggling with hearing loss? Jonathan O’Dell, assistive technology manager and training specialist at Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, discusses cochlear implants, assistive listening devices, movie theater access, Bluetooth streaming, amplified and captioned phones, applicable laws for communication, and making your home accessible.
Brought to the Cary Library in partnership with the Lexington Senior Services. Closed Captioning will be provided by CART.
Please register for this meeting and you will receive the program link in the confirmation and reminder notices – please check your spam folder for the emails and scroll to the bottom for the link. This program will be recorded with permission and we will upload it to our YouTube channel.
Below is the registration link.
When you register, a link to join the meeting will be sent to you.
Contact us at caryprograms@minlib.net with any questions.
Sponsored by the Cary Library Foundation.
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