Hearing Again (www.openfit.com) encourages those in need of hearing aids to contact Congress and ask them to support the Hearing Aid Assistant Tax Credit. This bill is currently before Congress as HR2329 and S1410. If enacted, the bills would provide a tax credit of $500 per hearing aid, available once every 5 years, for hearing aids purchased for dependents and seniors aged 55 and older.
According to figures from the Better Hearing Institute and the Hearing Industries Association, hearing loss affects an estimated 31.5 million Americans and numbers are expected to rise dramatically as the baby boomer population ages and the younger population misuses personal communication devices. An article in the July 28, 2008 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine said the numbers could be even higher, estimating hearing loss could be affecting as many as 55 million people. The article noted that hearing loss can be a disabling condition affecting verbal language processing and limiting communication and social connectivity. "Such communication difficulties negatively affect work productivity, health-related quality of life and cognitive and emotional status. These disabilities impede healthcare access and use, with possible adverse consequences to health and survival," the authors wrote.
Hearing aids could help approximately 95 percent of those experiencing hearing loss, but only about 22 percent use them. The rest fall through the cracks in our healthcare system because most existing insurance programs, including Medicare, exclude coverage of hearing aids. Nearly two out of three adults with hearing loss cite financial constraints as the main reason they don't wear hearing aids, and they desperately need your help.
Hearing Again (www.openfit.com) is a low priced leader of high quality open fit hearing aids to customers in the United States and the world. We feel this legislation along with our wholesale pricing structure can bring hearing help to the millions of people that desperately need to hear better.
