STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1123

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 65

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Human Services and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 65 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE AUDITOR TO ASSESS THE SOCIAL AND FINANCIAL IMPACTS OF REQUIRING HEALTH INSURERS TO OFFER COVERAGE FOR HEARING AIDS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Auditor to assess the social and financial impacts of requiring health insurers to offer coverage for hearing aids.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Disability and Communication Access Board and one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that according to the National Institutes of Health, an estimated one-third of Americans between the ages of sixty-five and seventy-five and around one-half of those older than seventy-five have some degree of hearing loss.  In addition, a 2005 study by the Better Hearing Institute estimated that untreated hearing loss resulted in a loss of income per household of up to $12,000 per year. 

 

     Your Committees further find that according to the Lions Club, the cost of a custom low- to mid-level analog or digital hearing aid begins around $2,000 or less and around $3,000 and higher for a high-end hearing aid.  Medicare and most private insurance companies do not cover the cost of hearing aids through their base health care coverage.  As a result, it is not unusual for people with hearing loss to choose not to purchase hearing aids because these expensive devices are not covered by insurance.  Your Committees recognize that some plans do offer limited coverage on hearing aids, but because of the costs and frequency of hearing aid replacement, expanded coverage needs to be further investigated.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by inserting the appropriate Senate Bill number referenced in the measure.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 65, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 65, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair