Children’s hearing aids are generally much more expensive than adult hearing aids for several reasons. Adults might be able to make do with lower cost hearing aids, but children who are still developing the ability to speak and process language cannot.
Access to hearing aids for children with hearing loss doesn’t just mean kids can hear — it means they can learn, grow and communicate.
State leaders estimate that the federal Medicaid cuts will force 3.4 million Californians out of our version of the program, known as Medi-Cal. But we do not have to sit idly by and wait for the fallout. In fact, states and communities still hold real power to blunt the worst outcomes and protect coverage for millions.
California can implement the law in the least harmful way: creating broad exemptions, simplifying paperwork and deploying technology to reduce administrative friction.
While we’ve heard a lot about how new changes to federal program will hurt Medicaid, there’s another big part of the health care system that’s also at risk: Covered California, our state’s health insurance marketplace.
In California, nearly 2 million people depend on Covered California for health care.
The Affordable Care Act has saved countless families with medically complex children, including columnist Jennifer McLelland’s. Her son was born without a functional airway and quickly racked up more than $1 million in medical bills. The ACA protected her family– but these protections are not guaranteed.