Economic and Business Perspective

In 2012, Massachusetts became the 20th state to require insurers to cover hearing aids for children. Their legislation would serve as an excellent model for Washington and any other state looking to pass this type of legislation.



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However, the discussion of politics is often inevitable when it comes to any type of mandate or requirements for insurance coverage--especially considering the debate and controversy surrounding the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Regardless of your political persuasion, you may appreciate a business person's perspective on why a hearing aid mandate (at least for children) is a good thing:


"Health care reform opponents hate the idea of mandated benefits. From a free market purist’s standpoint it’s a bad idea to tell health insurers what they need to include in their products because it will tend to drive up costs and interfere with the ability of suppliers to meet market demand. This opposition to mandated benefits is a major reason that so many in the GOP are enamored of the idea of allowing health plans to sell policies across state lines."


"As someone with an undergraduate degree in economics and an MBA, I really and truly do understand this free market argument and am sympathetic to it. But it’s important to take more than free market orthodoxy into account when making policy decisions..."
 

Read more at: http://www.healthbusinessblog.com/2012/07/mandated-hearing-aid-benefit-for-massachusetts-children-sounds-like-a-good-idea-to-me/