CINCINNATI — While signing a flurry of bills into law at the start of the new year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine allowed House Bill 315 to become law, lowering health care costs for some young people with hearing impairments.
The law, known as Madeline’s Law, will require health insurance to cover $2,500 per hearing aid, every four years—for patients under 22 years old. To qualify, a licensed professional must verify a patient is deaf or hearing impaired.
“Both of my children wear hearing aids,” said Karen Klugo, an advocate of the legislation since 2018. “We had no idea it was going to take six years, but we're glad that we're here.”
Klugo’s daughter, Alexis, and son, Chase, were born with congenital hearing loss, she said, which led her to shock during an audiology appointment with her daughter nearly 20 years ago.
“I was very surprised to find that, not only were the services not covered, but they were basically considered elective, or, as some people say, cosmetic,” Klugo said.
The initial shock is a somewhat universal experience, said Camille Warren, another advocate who has children who are hard of hearing.
“I think for many people who I've spoken to about this issue, it's sort of (shocking) that it's not been covered all along,” Warren said. “So finally, it's taken 20 years for us to get to this point in Ohio where now families from the point of identification now have access to amplification through their employer-provided health insurance.”
Klugo and Warren blame several factors on the length of time it took to get the bill passed, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
The legislation was first introduced in 2019 and dubbed Madeline’s Law for a Northeast Ohio girl with hearing impairments named Madeline Rohlin.
“Medicaid does offer coverage, Medicare offers coverage, but there’s nothing in between,” Rep. Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, one of bill's primary sponsors, said in 2019. “So you’ve got a lot of families that are above the poverty level with kids who are working families and don’t have coverage.”
