Tax Credit for Hearing Aids

Editor: A couple of weeks ago I was lamenting the fact that we haven't seen much about hearing aid insurance legislation. A couple of people sent me information on what's going on in their states, and I'll share that with you in the near future.

In the meantime there is a bill before Congress that will provide tax credits for hearing aids. Here's an article by Brenda Battat from the latest edition of SHHH-E-News. Please take the time to contact your representative and urge him or her to support this legislation.

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SHHH supports Rep. Ryun's "Hearing Aids Assistance Tax Credit Act." Bill H.R.3103 provides a tax credit of up to $500 per hearing aid, available once every five years towards the purchase of such hearing aid to individuals age 55 and over and to those purchasing a hearing aid for a dependent.

This bipartisan initiative is supported by major organizations concerned with hearing health including Hearing Industries Association, International Hearing Society, Deafness Research Foundation, American Academy of Audiologist, and American Speech- Language Hearing Association among others.

Right now the push is to get co-sponsors. There are currently 30 co- sponsors.

If you haven't already, I encourage you to visit, write, call or email your representative to urge him/her to support HR 3103.

Though I am working on this on a national level for SHHH I also wanted to appeal to my own Congressional representative. I made a personal visit to meet with him, Rep Van Hollen (D-MD), in his Capitol Hill office yesterday. Accompanying me were two representatives from the Hearing Industries Association. We wanted to show that there was widespread support for the Bill not only among consumers but also audiologists, and hearing aid manufacturers. I sent background materials ahead of time to his aides to explain what the bill is, why we need special tax treatment for hearing aids, the extent of hearing loss in this country, the cost of untreated hearing loss and statistics of hearing loss and hearing aid use in his state of Maryland. He had done his homework and had reviewed the materials and so had few questions. He agreed to co-sponsor the bill and also agreed to become a member of the Hearing Health Caucus. For more information on the Caucus go to www.hearingloss.org/html/public_policy.html

He was responsive to me as one of his constituents. I also used the opportunity to let him know that the SHHH office is in his district and he now knows that we are there as a resource for hearing health issues.

Bill HR 3103, introduced by Rep Ryun (R-Kansas), that provides tax credits for hearing aids, now has thirty one sponsors. To see who they are go to or search from here: http://thomas.loc.gov/. Click on Bill Summary then under Bill, Amendment, or Public Law Number type in H.R. 3101 and click search at the right. Then click on "All Bill Summary & Status Info. Scroll down. If your representative is not there be sure to contact him/her and urge them to support the bill by becoming a sponsor.