Can You Hear Me Now? Senate Bill on Hearing Aids May Make the Answer 'Yes'

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in March unveiled legislation that could make it easier for hearing-impaired Americans to get help by permitting Medicare to pay audiologists to teach beneficiaries how to adjust to and use their hearing aids and manage communication with other people, reports Kaiser Health News . Currently, Medicare is authorized to reimburse audiologists for diagnosing hearing loss in older adults but not for providing assistance to fit, adjust, and learn to maximize use of hearing aids. The Senate proposal follows a law signed last summer instructing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish and regulate a new category of hearing aid to be sold over the counter for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. People can purchase products off the shelf without consulting an audiologist or hearing aid dispenser, and standards for online sales will be tightened. The FDA has three years to devise consumer protection standards. However, the new law fails to address insurance coverage, as neither traditional Medicare nor most private insurers usually cover hearing aids. Studies estimate just 10 percent to 20 percent of people with hearing loss have ever used hearing aids, while lack of access to care and the stigma associated with wearing a hearing aid also discourage users. "The over-the-counter law will lower the cost and make hearing aids more accessible," says Nicholas Reed at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "But if the services aren't covered, people, especially older adults with health literacy issues, will stop using them."