Ohio could soon require health insurance to cover kids’ hearing aids
December 21, 2024
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With Gov. Mike DeWine’s support, Ohio will soon require insurance to cover up to $2,500 per hearing aid every four years for those age 21 and younger
Fifth-grade student JD Podojil, of Strongsville, named his hearing aids “J-Bucks” for JD and Bucks for his favorite sports team.
“And they are expensive,” JD told lawmakers while wearing an Ohio State University pullover. JD was fitted for bilateral hearing aids in the second grade after having mumps as a 4-year-old despite being vaccinated.
But JD’s hearing aids, which cost about $6,000 for the pair, aren’t covered by health insurance. Hearing aids are considered “cosmetic devices” instead of medical necessities.
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But that is about to change after a more-than five-year effort. With Gov. Mike DeWine’s expected signature, Ohio law will soon require health insurance to cover up to $2,500 per hearing aid every four years for those age 21 and younger. A licensed professional must verify that patients are deaf or hearing impaired for them to qualify.
Ohio lawmakers approved the change to a sweeping piece of legislation early Thursday, and DeWine is expected to sign it into law in the coming weeks.
The fight to cover hearing aids has been a lengthy one despite bipartisan support for the change. Ohio lawmakers were initially hesitant to impose another health insurance mandate after requiring coverage for autism, but that opposition softened over time, said Rep. Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, who sponsored the bill.
Weinstein and House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, first introduced legislation in 2019 called Madeline’s Law for Madeline Rohlin, a girl from Shaker Heights diagnosed with hearing loss at age 2.
Madeline’s mother, Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley, described the shock she felt after learning that health insurance wouldn’t cover the $4,000 out-of-pocket costs for Madeline’s hearing aids.
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“I remember calling the insurance company sobbing because it’s a pretty isolating experience to find out that your 2-year-old has hearing loss,” said Greenhalgh-Stanley, a Kent State University professor, during a news conference introducing the bill.
Almost half of health insurance plans aren’t required to cover children’s hearing aids even though the cost would be minimal spread across all insured people, Weinstein said.
A financial analysis estimated school districts statewide would pay $1.7 million in the first year to expand coverage and counties, municipalities and townships would pay $1.3 million. The state’s health benefit plans currently cover hearing aids for children.
So why did the bill take so long to pass? Weinstein said logistical hurdles slowed the bill’s progress during this two-year legislative session. Lawmakers didn’t meet much during a presidential election year, legislative leaders were fighting over the same job and Weinstein’s Republican co-sponsor resigned amid domestic violence charges.
“We had a lot going against us, but what we had right was this amazing coalition that came together to keep pressing,” said Weinstein, citing the perseverance of groups like Let Ohio Hear, a coalition of families with children with hearing loss. “It’s a good bill for kids.”
Jessie Balmert covers state government and politics for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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