news-record.com

Insurance companies will have to provide coverage for hearing aids for those 21-years-old and younger under a bill Gov. Bev Perdue signed into law Monday.

The measure came about in part due to the efforts of Collin Tastet, a 9-year-old third grader from Greensboro. Tastet helped lobby lawmakers to pass the bill and testified at committee hearings on the measure’s behalf.

“Without my hearing aids I wouldn’t be able to hear my teacher in my classroom, so I wouldn’t be really learning,” Tastet said after a bill signing ceremony at the State Capitol Building in Raleigh.

The law requires every health plan to provide coverage up to $2,500 for one hearing aid per ear every 36 months for covered individuals up through age 21. The coverage includes hearing aids and services ordered by a physician or an audiologist including:

• Initial hearing aids and replacement hearing aids.
• New hearing aids when alterations cannot adequately meet the needs of the individual.
• Services, including the initial hearing aid evaluation, fitting and adjustments, and supplies, including ear molds.

For more on this story, read Tuesday’s News & Record or visit our e-Edition.