Don't have an extra $4000 to spare? Neither do most Washington families.

If your child is born with a hearing loss in the state of Washington and you have no hearing aid benefits through your private insurance plan (more than half of plans have absolutely no coverage at all), you could be looking at spending likely a minimum of $20,000 on hearing aids alone by the time your child reaches the age of 18. That number could exceed $35,000 if premium technology is purchased every 3 years.

Image courtesy A. Balaraman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Today, the average price of hearing aids and the associated professional services is approaching $2000/ear. Because children are generally much more active than adults, their hearing aids will likely be in need of replacement sooner than the average adult hearing aid user (who generally replaces them about every 4-6yrs). As a child grows and their hearing needs change, hearing aids will typically need replacement about every 3-5 years.

Since the management of other chronic medical conditions, such as juvenile diabetes for example, is often covered at least in-part by nearly all insurance providers--why isn't hearing loss treated the same way?  Decades of research has shown the tremendous benefit of early identification and treatment of hearing loss with hearing aids. Yet, we still see so many health plans deal with hearing aids as a luxury item, rather than the true medical necessity that they are.

Please sign our petition and join with us to help make Washington the 21st state to provide hearing aid coverage for children.