Hearing Aid Tax Credit
One idea for reducing the effective cost of hearing aids
is a tax credit on Federal income taxes. This proposal has been made
several times, but has never been close to being passed by Congress. Now
it seems that support for the idea is growing!
October
2003 - Here's one idea for a tax credit for
hearing aid purchase.
February 2004 -
Here's
an update from SHHH on the tax credit proposal.
May 2004 - Remember the idea
about providing tax credits for hearing aids? Well, here's
an update on that proposal.
October 2005 - The Tax Credit for Hearing Aids idea is back in the
news. Here's Stephen Frazier with some good reasons why
this bill should be passed!
November 2005 - Here's a great article on strategies for enacting a
hearing aid tax credit. This
article by Joan Cassidy is a report on a presentation at the 2005
SHHH National Convention.
May 2006 - Hearing Aid Tax Credit Update
July 2007 - Hearing Aid Tax Credit Introduced in
House
April 2008 - BHI Launches Hearing Aid Tax Credit
Website
May 2009 - Sen Harkin Reintroduces Hearing Aid Tax
Credit, Expands Coverage
May 2009 - More Support for Hearing Aid Tax Credit
August 2009 - Hearing Aid Tax Credit Gets 100th
House Cosponsor
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May 2006
Editor: Regular readers know that the vast majority of people who could
benefit from hearing aids don't have them, and that one of the main
reasons is their expense. One possible remedy is a tax credit for hearing
aid purchases. Here's the latest on that initiative from the Hearing
Industries Association.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alexandria, Va. (May 11, 2006) The Hearing Industries Association (HIA)
has joined with eight other national organizations to make hearing an
issue of national concern during May is Better Hearing and Speech Month.
On May 18th, members of the Congressional Hearing Health Caucus will
host an Issues Forum with Representatives Ryun, Walsh, McCarthy and Capps
to discuss the Hearing Aid Assistance Tax Credit Act (H.R. 414/S. 1060)
and the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act (H.R. 5250). The Dear
Colleague letter, signed by the four representatives previously listed,
was issued to all members of Congress yesterday.
HIA continues to push passage of the hearing aid tax credit legislation
aggressively. Hearing loss is one of the few medical conditions for which
there is little financial assistance available, despite the documented
benefits of amplification for people with hearing losses. Earlier this
year, the Better Hearing Institute issued a study confirming that there
are economic, as well as psychosocial benefits of hearing aid use as
people with hearing losses who use hearing aids earn, on average, $12,000
more in income annually than non-users.
HIA is urging all hearing aid tax credit supporters to contact their
Congressional Representative or Senators and ask them to support and
co-sponsor H.R. 414/S. 1060. To find out if your Representative or
Senators are co-sponsors already, please visit http://www.hearing.org/public.
HIA, headquartered in Alexandria, VA, is the national trade association
of manufacturers of hearing aids, implantable hearing devices, assistive
listening devices, component parts and power sources for amplification
devices.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 2007
Reps. Carolyn McCarthy (D-New York) and Vernon Ehlers
(R-Michigan) with 21 House members introduced H.R. 2329, the Hearing Aid
Assistance Tax Credit Act, which would provide a tax credit of $500 per
hearing aid every five years for seniors 55 and older and for dependents
of taxpayers. Although H.R. 2329 will not cover the entire cost of
hearing aids, the tax credit provides some financial relief to those in
need of the devices. The bill was introduced in May during Better Hearing
and Speech Month. Ten million older Americans have age-related hearing
loss. A study by the National Council on Aging shows that, left untreated,
hearing loss often results in distorted communication, isolation,
withdrawal, depression, anger, and severely reduced overall psychological
health, in addition to an average loss of income per household of up to
$12,000 per year.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2009
Call it the speed of sound. The Hearing Aid
Assistance Tax Credit (HR 1646) has reached the symbolic cosponsorship
threshold of 100 representatives at the end of July before the start of
the 111th Congress' August reces, said the Hearing Industries Association
(HIA) in a statement. In addition the HIA has also announced that Sen
Olympia Snowe (R-Me) has joined as a cosponsor of the Senate's version the
Hearing Aid Tax Credit (S 1019), and will cosign a "Dear Colleague" letter
with Sen Harkin (D-Iowa) urging support from other senators. This key
milepost in the House was reached in only 5 months after the bill was
introduced by congresspersons Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Vern Ehlers (R-Mich)
on March 19. The legislation also includes 14 cosponsorships from members
of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over all tax
legislation. In the 110th Congress (2007-2008), it took more than a year
to reach the 100 cosponsor plateau. The bill has solid bipartisan House
support from 66 Democrats and 34 Republicans, says the HIA.
Full Story
