Have you ever had a friend come to you and say, "I really need your help and support. I need you to 'have my back'!" Well, you and I are not friends, but I am so desperate that I am asking YOU, a total stranger, to 'have my back.' When you become a parent they say you will become almost superhero in that you go to great lengths to protect, help, challenge, and provide for your children. For the past 4 years our family's life has been altered financially, structurally, and emotionally. I drive my little girl, Amelia, down to the Atlanta Speech School in Buckhead from Woodstock everyday for speech therapy. The Speech School has provided financial aid to us so that Amelia can get the speech therapy she needs so this has helped with some of the financial burden. I have not been able to go back to my teaching job. I have put my personal goals on hold. I have poured all my attention into getting Amelia aided with hearing aids and into speech therapy so that she can be mainstreamed into elementary school with her siblings. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel...or are we? The lifespan of hearing aids is about 3 to 5 years. Her hearing aids costs $4,000. Insurance did not cover any of it. We were a young couple, both teachers, with 3 children under the age of 4 when we were hit with the financial burden of the first pair of aids. We are a middle class family so we did not qualify for government help, but we could not just write a check that big. To make the story short, the school my husband taught at surprised us and raised the money for Amelia to have her first set of hearing aids. Amelia has had her hearing aids for 4 years now. Deja Vu ....here we go again. How are we going to keep a float by taking this financial hit every couple of years? The better question is of all the things insurance does cover, why is hearing aids for children not one of them? Hearing is a necessity! Now I know that you get bombarded with sad stories and injustices all the time. I am not your wife, Amelia is not your child, but you could 'have my back' and support House Bill 74 at the vote on November the 18th. It makes sense socially and financially for the state of Georgia to require insurance companies in to cover children's hearing aids. Thanks for listening. I just want my child to be able to hear .
-Scarlett Giles-Woodstock Ga
* I have listed below a video link of Public Affairs on Peachtree t.v. segment that my husband and I appeared on talking about insurance coverage for children's hearing aids.
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