Miss-Delectable

Bill Passes to Make Insurance Cover Children's Hearing Restoration - WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News:

Thursday the state Legislature warned insurance companies they must pay for hearing aids and cochlear implants for children.

A bill to force insurance companies to pay for them had no trouble passing both the Senate and the Assembly. Now it's up to the governor to sign the proposal into law.

"I think the cochlear implant bill is a very important thing because it will allow children who have hearing impairment to be able to communicate well and to be able to be an active part of their school," Representative Penny Bernard Schaber (D-Appleton) said.

"When you're told that your child does have a hearing loss, your first question should be, 'What can I do to help my child?' not, 'How am I going to pay for this?'" says Susan Moore, whose daughters have cochlear implants.

Those dealing with hearing loss say the new law could save families hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Not only can seven-year-old Justice and eleven-year-old Liberty Moore hear, the two sisters can easily talk, too. It's a miracle, their mother says, since both girls were born deaf.

"It was a big decision in the beginning to make, obviously for a number of reasons -- financially, surgically -- but it's a choice I'm so happy we made."

Cochlear implants were surgically placed in the girls to restore their hearing. The total price tag was about $200,000.

Trouble is, about $100,000 of that came right out of the family's pocketbook-- an unbelievable expense, but that lack of insurance coverage could soon change for others. The bill would require insurance companies to cover the entire cost of hearing restoration for children.

"The bill specifically says that you cannot consider the hearing loss as a pre-existing condition, and therefore insurance companies are required to cover the surgical process that's used for the cochlear implants," Schaber said.

The Moores believe it could mean a better life for more children.

"I like using the cochlear implants because it helps me hear better and without them I wouldn't hear anything," Justice said.

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