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Rep. Laura Wiley, a High Point Republican, is running H 589: Insurance/Cover Hearing Aids. The bill would require insurers to cover one hearing aid per affected ear for people 22-years-old and younger every 36 months.

Although the bill covers children of all ages, Wiley said that it would be particularly useful in addressing the needs of newborns.

“If these children are given proper care and amplification in the first six months of life, they will the language foundation necessary for literacy and academic success,” Wiley said.

Joni Alberg, director of Beginnings for Parents of Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, Inc., said that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina supported the bill. Nobody from outside the legislature spoke against the measure in committee.

According to staff reports, this bill might cost the average health insurance policy holder 39-cents additional on their policy. Medicaid already covers hearing aids in a similar way.

Push back came from Rep. William Current, a Gastonia Republican, who worried that imposing more requirements on insurance companies would drive up the cost of health care.

Wiley argued that it would cost more for both the insurance companies and the state care for hearing impaired children in the long run if they didn’t provide hearing aids.

And Wiley brought cute kids to testify on behalf of the bill. Meet Collin Tastet, 8, of Greensboro, who told the committee he got hearing aids at 8-weeks-old and that they should pass the bill.

 "I've got an annexation bill coming up and I'm going to use these kids," said Committee Chairman Bruce Goforth, an Asheville Democrat.

The hearing aid measure passed on a voice vote and is now headed to the House Appropriations Committee.