Federal Employee's Health Insurance Hearing Aid Coverage info

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone: I got this in my in box today and for sure wanted to send

this on. So any Federal employees out there - please contact your

congressperson.

Subject: Hearing Aid Insurance Coverage for Federal Employees

Hearing Aid Insurance Coverage for Federal Employees

The national office of Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc. (SHHH) is

working to get hearing aids covered by health insurance for Federal

Employees. Representative Connie Morella (R-MD) was asked to introduce

legislation that would require health insurance coverage of hearing aids.

H.R.2321 has been introduced in Congress on June 23,1999.

H.R.2321 requires all health insurance companies that participate in the

Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan (FEHB) program to offer hearing aid

coverage. It does not specify the details of the coverage, such as the

amount of the coverage, co-payments of limitations on the number of hearing

aids that may be purchased in a certain time frame. These issues would be

left up to the insurance companies that compete for members under FEHB.

Although H.R.2321 only applies to federal government workers, it has

significant implications for all people with hearing loss for two reasons.

First, if the federal government provides hearing aid coverage for its

employees, this will serve as an incentive for state and local governments

and private sector employers to also offer coverage. The federal government

is often viewed as a model for other employers to follow, and hard of

hearing people could point to the federal government when asking their own

employer for coverage. Second, this legislation could lay the groundwork

for

a much broader bill mandating hearing aid coverage for all insurance plans.

If

successful in passing this legislation, we will be in a much better

position

to ask federal and state legislators to enact legislation mandating hearing

aid coverage for everyone.

Representative in Congress are needed to cosponsor H.R.2321. If you don't

know who your representative is:

1. Call the Capitol Switchboard at and ask for your

representative's office.

2. Write to your representative at: HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, WASHINGTON,

DC

20515

3. Email and get the addresses for members of Congress at:

http://www.loc.gov/global/legislative/email.html (when sending email, be

sure to include your home address so that your representative knows that

you

are their constituent.

For further information, contact Battat, deputy executive director,

SHHH National Office, at: battat@...