For Introducing Hearing Aid Tax Credit
WASHINGTON, DC, February 27, 2015 — Hearing health champions will welcome Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) to the Hearing Industries Association (HIA) Annual Meeting on Friday, March 6, to thank him for introducing the Hearing Aid Tax Credit (S.315) in conjunction with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). The group will also thank him for his support of successful efforts to convince CMS to revise a 2014 proposal that would have eliminated Medicare coverage of Auditory Osseointegrated Implants (AOIs).
Senator Heller was appointed to the Senate from Nevada in 2011 to fill a vacancy, and was reelected to a full term in 2012. He previously served in the House of Representatives from a district representing Northern Nevada, and has been a steady champion of the HATC. Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) members first thanked him for his support at the HLAA Convention in Reno in 2008. He is a member of the Senate Finance Committee which has jurisdiction over all tax legislation including the HATC.
S.315 was introduced on January 29, and it would provide a $500 credit to people who need a hearing aid. Medicare expressly excludes coverage of hearing aids as do most private insurance policies, and as a result, cost is cited as a prohibitive factor by two thirds of the people who do not treat their hearing loss.
Representatives of the following hearing health organizations that endorse the HATC will attend the HIA Annual Meeting to greet Senator Heller: Alexander Graham Bell Assn for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (AG Bell), Hearing Loss Assn of America (HLAA), Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA), American Academy of Audiology (AAA), American Speech Language Hearing Assn (ASHA) and International Hearing Society (IHS).
HIA, headquartered in Washington, DC, is the national trade association of manufacturers of hearing aids, implantable hearing devices, assistive listening devices, component parts and power sources for amplification devices. Visit www.hearingaidtaxcredit.org for information about the bill and to send a letter to your Senators urging them to support this legislation.
