Family’s Story and Connections Move Major Hearing Health Legislation

Abstract

You have accessThe ASHA LeaderFirst Person on the Last Page1 Oct 2019Family’s Story and Connections Move Major Hearing Health LegislationThe father of an educational audiologist’s client propels passage of a bill requiring hearing-device coverage. Tena McNamaraAuD, CCC-A/SLP Tena McNamara Google Scholar More articles by this author , AuD, CCC-A/SLP https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.FPLP.24102019.72 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In A new law in Illinois requires health insurers to cover hearing instruments for children. And the family of one of my clients played a major role in getting that legislation passed. Signed into law on Aug. 22, 2018, House Bill 4516 amends the Illinois Insurance Code, the Health Maintenance Organization Act, and the Voluntary Health Services Plans Act to mandate hearing device coverage for children through age 18 years. When we learned the bill had been introduced in February 2018, my first instinct was to contact Clint and Sarah Drury, the parents of one of my students. Their daughter Sawyer, 11, has Mondini dysplasia, resulting in a bilateral moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. During the five or so years I have worked with Sawyer as an educational audiologist, I forged a close working relationship with the family. The Drurys remember the time Sawyer was initially diagnosed with hearing loss as life-changing. They were stunned at the price of hearing technology and totally unprepared for the cost. They had family insurance coverage, but amplification devices and related services were not covered. They knew firsthand how beneficial the bill would be to families of children with hearing loss. The Drurys had been staunch advocates for hearing loss-related causes—for example, along with some help from Sawyer’s school speech-language pathologist, Sarah Moon, they raised approximately $7,000 for the Hearing Loss Association of America’s Walk4Hearing—so I knew they would work hard and be dedicated to promoting this legislation. In addition, Clint’s professional position as executive director of the West Central Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council had prepared him for work with the state legislature; he has developed relationships with many legislators throughout the state. Clint promptly began promoting the bill in the General Assembly. He shared his family’s story, illustrating the hardships that parents encounter when they must pay out-of-pocket for hearing instruments for their children. By contacting dozens of senators and representatives, he boosted the number of sponsors for the bill. Clint’s efforts were not, however, self-serving. His family’s insurance is through a union health and welfare fund not required to comply with legislative mandates. But he continued to work on behalf of the children with hearing loss who would benefit from the legislation. The efforts of the Drurys, other families, and the Illinois Speech-Language-Hearing Association paid off. The bipartisan legislation passed both the House and Senate with little opposition. Now, insurers included under the mandate must provide coverage for one hearing instrument every 36 months, along with repairs, selection, fitting, adjustments, and earmolds when medically necessary. I learned two important lessons from this experience. The first is to know your clients and their families beyond their educational or medical needs. They may have skills and knowledge that can help you professionally and aid with specialized practice needs. This is especially true with legislation. Second, I have learned the power of personal and human-interest stories in influencing government officials. Legislators want to know how prospective laws may affect their constituents, and these testimonials are effective in illustrating that. Author Notes Tena McNamara, AuD, CCC-A/SLP, professor emeritus at Eastern Illinois University, is a pediatric audiologist at Mueller Pediatric Therapy in East Peoria, Illinois. [email protected] Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Additional Resources FiguresSourcesRelatedDetails Volume 24Issue 10October 2019 Get Permissions Add to your Mendeley library History Published in print: Oct 1, 2019 Metrics Downloaded 523 times Topicsleader_do_tagleader-topicsasha-article-typesCopyright & Permissions© 2019 American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationLoading ...