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INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana State Department of Health and Hear Indiana are working to get more Indiana children who are deaf or hard of hearing access to hearing aids with a new statewide program.
The Hearing Aid Assistance Program of Indiana, or HAAPI expects to help about 600 Indiana children in the next two years. Executive director of the state’s Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education Christine Moody says hearing aids can cost families up to $6,000, and they aren’t always covered by insurance.
"They’re told how critical it is to get those hearing aids right away and to wear them all waking hours so that they have access to that auditory information and yet they go to do that -- they want to do it -- and they hit these barriers of not having coverage through their insurance or having insufficient coverage," Moody said.
Lawmakers set aside $750,000 dollars in funding for the two-year program in 2014. It starts this month. The department of health hopes to expand the program in the future.
Children who don’t have full coverage can apply for the program through their audiologist.
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