PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A law taking effect on New Year’s Day makes Maine the fifth state to require private health insurers to provide hearing aid benefit.
The law, the result of a bill sponsored by Rep. James Handy in 2019, requires private health insurers and the state’s Medicaid program, MaineCare, to cover hearing aids up to $3,000 per ear every three years, the Portland Press Herald reports.
As many as 173,000 Mainers have some level of hearing impairment, according to a report by the state’s Bureau of Insurance in 2014.
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State law previously required coverage for children under the age of 18 and capped the insurer’s expense at $1,400.
Maine joins Arkansas, Illinois, New Hampshire and Rhode Island in requiring hearing aid coverage for both children and adults, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
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