Hearing Aids

Advocacy / Hearing Aids / In the Media / Legislation

BIG News! OTC Hearing Aids coming this fall

- by Hear@Boston

HLAA Makes News as Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids Move Closer to Store Shelves

On Tuesday, August 16, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the final rule for hearing aids sold directly to consumers, without a prescription. This will open the market to a new class of devices for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss.

Executive Director Barbara Kelley is featured on many top media outlets as the news breaks. She talks about why HLAA supports this additional pathway to hearing health care.

While these devices aren’t for everyone, it’s an exciting step to help some treat hearing loss sooner.

HLAA Press Release (will open new page)
Advocacy / Hearing Aids / Legislation / Medical Health Care

Medicare Coverage for Hearing Aids – Write to your Senator

- by Hear@Boston

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

 

 

Captioning / Events / Hearing Aids

Open Captions in Theaters are Back! And Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids Update

- by Hear@Boston

Theaters are opening for live audiences again! The first open captioned performances in our area start this weekend.  There is also good news to share on the OTC hearing aids.

Boston Opera House OC Performances

The following performances have been identified as OC:

  • Hadestown: 11/6/2021
  • Pretty Woman: 1/22/2022
  • To Kill a Mockingbird: 4/9/2022
  • Ain’t Too Proud: 4/23/2022
  • Wicked: 6/11/2022
  • Anastasia: 8/20/2022
  • Hamilton: 1/21/2023 and 3/4/2023

The times and links for tickets are on their website:

https://boston.broadway.com/theatre/citizens-bank-opera-house/#accessibility

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  Trinity Rep OC Performances

The following performances have been identified as OC:

 

  • A Christmas Carol: 11/7, 12/1, 12/2, 12/3, 12/4, and 12/5/2021
  • Tiny Beautiful Things: 1/16, 2/9, 2/10, 2/11, 2/12, and 2/13/2022
  • Gem of the Ocean: 2/27, 3/23, 3/24, 3/25, 3/26, and 3/27/2022
  • Sueno: 4/10, 5/4, 5/5, 5/6, 5/7, and 5/8/2022
  • Fairview: 5/22, 6/15, 6/16, 6/17, 6/18, and 6/19/2022

Trinity Rep also has new assistive listening devices.  They offer the RF option where you borrow the new receiver with a headphone or neck loop.  They also offer a new option using the Listen Everywhere app on your own smartphone.  You can see more information about this and the times for the OC performances on their website:

https://www.trinityrep.com/box-office/accessibility/

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Over-the-Counter (OTC) Hearing Aids

The FDA released proposed rules for over-the-counter hearing aids that made national news.  The idea is that people with a mild-to-moderate loss can purchase a low-cost hearing aid that safely amplifies sound with simple tuning across the frequencies.  HLAA supports this effort to improve access to hearing aids and encourage technology innovation that will lower the cost of hearing aids.  There is more information on this ruling and background information on OTC hearing aids on the HLAA website:

https://www.hearingloss.org/fda-releases-proposed-rules-otc-hearing-aids/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=getresponse&utm_content=It+was+a+banner+news+week+for+people+with+hearing+loss%21&utm_campaign=Hearing+Loss+Association+of+America

Hearing Aids

Policy & Politics: Why Hearing Aids Are Not Covered by Medicare

- by admin

cover illustrationHearing Journal: Policy & Politics: Why Hearing Aids Are Not Covered by Medicare — cover story by Gordon Glantz

It is unclear what former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter meant when he said: “All our work, our whole life is a matter of semantics, because words are the tools with which we work, the material out of which laws are made, out of which the Constitution was written. Everything depends on our understanding of them.”

It comes down to how words are heard, then interpreted.

For the hearing impaired, both hearing and interpretation seemingly form an unholy alliance when it comes to Medicare coverage of, or affordable alternatives to, hearing aids.

Based on what could be tricky wordplay, hearing aids do not fall under the definition of a durable medical device, which Medicare.gov describes as the following:

  • Durable (long-lasting)
  • Used for a medical reason
  • Not usually useful to someone who isn’t sick or injured
  • Used in your home
  • Has an expected lifetime of at least three years

This equipment must be “medically necessary” and something “that your doctor prescribes for use in your home.”

Examples include blood sugar monitors and test strips for diabetics, canes and crutches for the immobile, and oxygen equipment for those with compromised breathing capacity. And, since 1986, so are cochlear implants, which involves a surgical procedure for the “severe-to-profound” nerve deafness.

But when it comes to hearing aids, the swelling number of people with age-related hearing loss is left in the dark. [Full story]