On Sunday, May 24, 2009 ABC Channel 7’s Karen Meyer did a compelling segment on Senate Bill 68 (SB68) of which is legislation mandating insurance companies to provide insurance coverage with no age restrictions. The segment included Senator Ira Silverstein who is the sponsor for SB68, Dana Craig of LIFE Center for Independent Living and JulieAnn Chavez of DuPage Center for Independent Living. If you missed the segment, you can still view it online.   Senate Bill 68 on ABC 7 Chicago
The deadline for SB68 is May 31st! Please take the time to call your legislator and ask him/her to co-sponsor Senate Bill 68!
We wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Karen Meyer of ABC 7 Chicago for taking the time to assist us in getting the word out on SB68!

We also wish to thank Senator Ira Silverstein for his diligence in pushing Senate Bill through.

Calling Senators on the road

SB 68 is still very much alive.  We have an extension until May 31st, this means we need to really ramp up the calls, emails, letters and faxes to the Illinois Senators.

Take a look at the current sponsors:

Senate Sponsors
Sen. Ira I. Silverstein – Jacqueline Y. Collins – Martin A. Sandoval, Dan Cronin, A. J. Wilhelmi, Don Harmon, M. Maggie Crotty, Deanna Demuzio and Mattie Hunter

These are the Senators who believe that the time is now to provide insurance coverage to Illinois residents of all ages.   Just recently, Arkansas became the very first state to pass a bill requiring insurance coverage for hearing aids for Arkansas residents of all age.   Other states are beginning to draft bills to pass similar coverage.  We are gathering momentum, but we need a huge push from each and every one of you reading this.

Call each of the Senators above and thank them for sponsoring this bill.  Then call YOUR local Senator and tell them to please co-sponsor this bill and support it. 

Here is a list of all the Illinois Senators and their contact information:  Illinois Senators

Here’s how to find out who is your Illinois Senator: Find Senators by Address

The deadline is May 31st to get this bill to the floor and voted on. Call, write, email, fax, visit YOUR Senator and the following Senators (thank the co-sponsors!):

Here’s the contact information for the Senators:

Senator Ira Silverstein (Bill sponsor) isilverstein@senatedem.ilga.gov     217-782-5500

Senator Jacqueline Collins (Bill co-sponsor) : senatorcollins@sbcglobal.net 217-782-1607

Senator Dan Cronin (Bill co-sponsor): 630-792-0040

Senator Martin Sandoval (Bill co-sponsor): (708) 656-2002

Senator A. J. Wilhemi (Bill co-sponsor): (217) 782-8800

Senator Don Harmon (Bill co-sponsor): (217) 782-8176

Senator M. Maggie Crotty (Bill co-sponsor): (708) 687-9696

Senator Deanna Demuzio (Bill co-sponsor)

Senator Mattie Hunter (Bill co-sponsor)

Senator William Haine (heads the subcommittee): whaine@senatedem.ilga.gov    217-782-5247

Senator Duffy: dan@senatorduffy.com  217-782-8010
Senator Forby: gforby@senatedem.ilga.gov     217-782-5509
Senator Hendon: ihammons@senatedem.ilga.gov      217-782-6252
Senator Burzynski: senatorbrad@verizon.net     217-782-1977
Senator Munoz: amunoz@senatedem.ilga.gov      217-782-9415
Senator Syverson: info@senatordavesyverson.com      217-782-5413
Senator Hayes: jhayes@sentedem.ilga.gov   

The time is now to get this bill passed.  Let’s make it happen.

According to this recent news item:

Joanna Smith, Hearts for Hearing chief executive officer, said the high cost of technology and the lack of coverage by insurance providers prevent many babies diagnosed with hearing loss at birth from being fit with hearing aids for more than a year.

It isn’t just babies in Illinois that do not have the benefit of insurance coverage for hearing aids, it is people of all ages.   We are still waiting to hear the outcome of SB 68 which would provide insurance coverage to Illinois residents of all ages.  There’s a chance we could have an extension on it and the possiblity of getting it moved to the floor.  If that doesn’t happen, we know we’ll draft another bill and have another go at it.  We started out with just one Senator behind the bill, Senator Ira Silverstein.  We now have seven Senators sponsoring this bill:
Sen. Ira I. Silverstein – Jacqueline Y. Collins – Martin A. Sandoval, Dan Cronin, A. J. Wilhelmi, Don Harmon and M. Maggie Crotty.

Senator William Haine  has been very supportive of this and he leads the subcommittee for this bill.

Come and join us on Facebook where we are growing in numbers each day:

Hearing Aid Action on Facebook.

Remember, we can always take this to the federal level and get a law passed to provide insurance coverage for everyone of all ages.

The time is now to make it happen!

More insurance coverage for hearing aids in the news:

Wisconsin Pushes for Hearing Aid and Cochlear Implant Insurance Coverage

Wisconsin Wants Hearing Aid Coverage for Children

Eight Cents for Insurance Coverage for Hearing Aids

Senate Bill 68 is gathering steam!  Senators Martin Sandoval and Dan Cronin have become the newest co-sponsors for the Hearing Aid Bill in Illinois. 

Julie Chavez, Deaf Services Coordinator at Dupage Center for Independent Living would like to announce another letter writing campaign at her office:

SB68 is a bill to mandate insurance coverage for hearing aids for people for ALL ages!  12 other states have insurance coverage but it is only for ages 0-18. Let our State of Illinois to become the first state to have mandated insurance coverage for hearing aids of all makes for ALL AGES! 

 

So my questions for all of you are:  are you tired of paying out of pocket for hearing aids?  Are you tired of being told that hearing aids are for cosmetic purposes?  Do you find the age limit of 0-18 a discrimination for ages 19 and above? 

 

Hello!! We want equal access to healthcare for our precious ears!!

 

So folks- our office, DuPage Center for Independent Living at 739 E. Roosevelt Road, Building 8–suite 109,  is open on Saturday, March 28, beginning at 10:00 a.m.  Bring your friends, family and kids so we can create a very LOUD buzz in Springfield!! 

How are we going to create a buzz in Springfield?? A LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN- CALLING OUR SENATORS!!  So please, I encourage all of you to make time to come on out and write a letter and/or call our Senators!!  We need to put forth GRASSROOT efforts into this.  I have faith that TOGETHER we can stand united and make our selves heard!!  If you plan on coming out- please do let me know by Friday before 4:30 pm.  (630) 469-2300 Voice and TTY

(630) 469-2492 TTY

(630) 469-2605 Direct VP

(630) 469-2606 Fax

julie_dupagecil@sbcglobal.net

 

I held a letter writing campaign at our center last Wednesday evening and there were individuals who are deaf but do not wear hearing aids that asked, “Why should they write a letter if they don’t need to wear hearing aids?”  My response to them was:  Do you have friends that wear hearing aids?  If so, write a letter to show your support for them.  They never thought of it that way.  If it’s not for yourselves- write or call in support of a family member or friend that do wear hearing aids!

Senator Jacqueline Collins (Bill co-sponsor) :   senatorcollins@sbcglobal.net  217-782-1607

Senator Dan Cronin (Bill co-sponsor):   630-792-0040

Senator Martin Sandoval (Bill co-sponsor):  (708) 656-2002

Senator William Haine:  whaine@senatedem.ilga.gov  217-782-5247

Senator Duffy:   dan@senatorduffy.com  217-782-8010
Senator Forby:   gforby@senatedem.ilga.gov  217-782-5509
Senator Hendon:    ihammons@senatedem.ilga.gov 217-782-6252
Senator Burzynski:  senatorbrad@verizon.net 217-782-1977
Senator Munoz:   amunoz@senatedem.ilga.gov  217-782-9415
Senator Syverson:  info@senatordavesyverson.com  217-782-5413
Senator Hayes:   jhayes@sentedem.ilga.gov

We are so close to making history but it will take some effort from you.  Contact your Senator, contact the ones on this list and tell them:

“Please pass SB 68 which would provide hearing aid insurance coverage for Illinois residents of all ages.”

Chicago Moms Blog:  The Time Is Now for Hearing Aid Coverage

I guess my daughter was a little disillusioned. She had come with me and her big brother to Springfield to testify before the senate insurance committee, and as it turned out we didn’t share our testimony. Our bill was referred to a subcommittee and the proceedings were brief, although Jay Welu and Karen Putz gave eloquent defenses of SB 68 before the committee moved on to other business in a matter of about ten minutes. “Mommy,” she began over dinner at a diner halfway back to Chicago, “Mommy, sometimes you know how there are things we do, or that happen, that….” She paused, carefully considering. I think she was trying to let me down gently. “That don’t really have a point? That’s what happened today. It didn’t have a point. It was for no reason.”

Let me tell you, this girl was geared up to stand quietly before the senators while her mom talked. She was ready to hand them her hearing aids so they could understand what a hearing aid was. And she might have even been ready, given the chance, to tell them that everyone should be able to get a hearing aid if they need one. So she was pretty disappointed not to have the chance after all.

She’s five, but she knows how important this issue is. Because she’s just five, though, she doesn’t know exactly why. She doesn’t know that without hearing help it is harder for kids to learn to read. She doesn’t know that unaided children in public schools cost the system $420,000 per child in special services and remedial education. She doesn’t know that only eight per cent of deaf and hard of hearing children will graduate from college, and she doesn’t know about the 60 to 75% unemployment rate among the deaf and hard of hearing. She doesn’t understand figures like $5,000 for a pair of hearing aids, or what it means to have the insurance you pay for deny coverage for what is surely not a cosmetic enhancement.

She also doesn’t quite get it that when you face what looks like an insurmountable challenge to reach a goal that is simply necessary, absolutely necessary–that whatever you do in order to reach this goal is never for no reason. It always has a point. We have come together, a small group of us, to stand up on behalf of all hearing aid users in Illinois. By fits and starts we have gotten a bill written, introduced, sponsored, and discussed. We have watched with amazement as so many people in our communities have made their voices heard, causing the senate to take notice of this issue. We email, fax, cajole, telephone–Dennis even made a video and put it up on youtube. And little by little our hope advances that this bill, SB 68, will become a law. Every little thing we do has an impact. It does have a point, it is for a reason.

Please join with us, do a little thing: call or write your senator or those on the insurance committee using the information in the previous post, tell your friends to do the same, and have them tell their friends. Have an impact. The time is now.

Julie Vassilatos

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Chicago Moms Blog: The Time is Now for Hearing Aid Insurance Coverage

Do you feel the same way?

Then let’s take some action.   Call the Senators below and tell them you want them to support SB 68 which would provide hearing aid insurance coverage for Illinois residents of all ages.  Yes, that’s all you have to tell them.

Here’s the contact information for the Senators:

Senator Ira Silverstein (Bill sponsor) isilverstein@senatedem.ilga.gov 217-782-5500

Senator Jacqueline Collins (Bill co-sponsor) : senatorcollins@sbcglobal.net 217-782-1607

Senator William Haine: whaine@senatedem.ilga.gov 217-782-5247

Senator Duffy: dan@senatorduffy.com 217-782-8010
Senator Forby: gforby@senatedem.ilga.gov 217-782-5509
Senator Hendon: ihammons@senatedem.ilga.gov 217-782-6252
Senator Burzynski: senatorbrad@verizon.net 217-782-1977
Senator Munoz: amunoz@senatedem.ilga.gov 217-782-9415
Senator Syverson: info@senatordavesyverson.com 217-782-5413
Senator Hayes: jhayes@sentedem.ilga.gov

All it takes is a small, determined group of citizens to change the world.

Just like Margaret Mead said.

Karen Putz describes her experience at the Senate Insurance Committee Hearing on SB68 on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 in the following blog:
Insurance Companies and Hearing Aids–The Time is Now!

Take a moment to watch this video by Dennis O’Brien, in which he explains the status of Senate Bill 68 which originally was to provide insurance coverage to Illinois residents of all ages. Now two amendments have been introduced which is turning the bill into coverage up to age 18.

The time is NOW. Take a moment to view the captioned video and take action!

The following bill, Illinois Senate Bill 68 will come up on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 4 p.m. in Springfield.   Please plan to attend if you can.  Please call your Senator immediately and tell them to support this historical bill which will provide hearing aid coverage via insurance for all ages:

BILL:  Amends the Illinois Insurance Code, the Voluntary Health Services Plans Act, and the Voluntary Health Services Plans Act to require coverage for hearing instruments and related services for all individuals when a hearing care professional prescribes a hearing instrument. Provides that an insurer shall provide coverage for up to $2,500 per hearing aid per insured’s hearing impaired ear subject to certain restrictions. Provides that an insurer shall not be required to pay a claim if the insured filed such a claim 36 months prior to the date of filing the claim with the insurer and the claim was paid by any insurer. Effective immediately

STATUS:  Assigned to Insurance;  hearing on Thursday, March 5th at 4 p.m.

Here’s a list of all Illinois Senators:

Current Illinois Senators and their contact information.

Take a moment today to call your Senator and tell them:

The time is now to provide hearing aid coverage through insurance for Illinois residents!

Introduced in January of 2009 by Senator Ira Silverstein, Illinois Senate Bill 68 seeks to provide insurance coverage of hearing aids for people of all ages.

Legislation which states that insurance companies must cover hearing aids has already been passed in 12 states. Previous legislation has been attempted in Illinois and has failed. This is why your help is very much needed.

Please contact your local state senator and state representatives and ask them to support Illinois Senate Bill 68. Then, tell as many people as you can and ask them to also contact their state senators and representatives.

Together, we can make a difference!

To find your state senator or representaive, please visit:

http://www.elections.il.gov/DistrictLocator/SelectSearchType.aspx?NavLink=1

To learn more about Illinois Senate Bill 68, please visit:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=68&GAID=10&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=40313&SessionID=76&GA=96

If you want to learn more about families and individuals affected by this, please visit our stories.

For a form letter to your legislator that you can copy, paste, and edit, click on “Legislator Letter” in the top bar of this page!

Thank you so much for your time and support!