For those of you who wonder, it’s stories like this that keep Marceline-with-fire-eyes as my Twitter avatar:
In Texas, private insurance companies are not required to cover children’s hearing aids. They’re considered cosmetic devices — even though doctors agree that early intervention for young children with hearing loss is critical. Without hearing aids, it’s difficult for the child to learn to listen and speak. And a child who misses the critical period for learning language will require expensive, difficult interventions later.
House Bill 2979 would require insurance companies to cover children’s hearing aids. On April 29, Houston father Michael Wachs delivered this testimony before the House Insurance Committee.
Each year, in an ideal world, a small child has about 10 million words spoken to them. That’s not a luxury; it’s necessary for proper language development. How anyone can argue that’s “cosmetic” is beyond me.
I honestly don’t know how this father was able to deliver his testimony calmly. Go read him.
