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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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Hearing Aid Tax Credit Update

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.

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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.

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Hearing Aid Tax Credit Introduced in House  

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

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Hearing Aid Tax Credit Gets 100th House Cosponsor

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