Spring 2003 Issue | Volume 12, No. 1
The mission of advocates for better communication (a.b.c.), a volunteer group allied with the League for the Hard of Hearing, is to make it possible, through education and advocacy, for people with all degrees of hearing loss to participate fully in society.
Editor-in-Chief: Arlene Romoff (aromoff@aol.com)
Editorial Staff: Dulcie Schackman
a.b.c. Executive Board:
Coordinator: Rosalind Pretzfelder
Commendations Committee: Ruth R. Green
Cultural Affairs Committee:
Arlene Romoff and Paula Brown Glick, Ph.D., Co-Chairs
Emergency Service Personnel Committee:
Edward McGibbon
Health Care Committee: Ruth R. Green
Legal Affairs Committee: Charlotte N. Roth
Libraries Committee: Toby Kurzband
SeniorCenter Committee: Ruth C. Green, Chair
Telecommunications Committee: Joseph Gordon, Chair
Travel Committee: Ruth Bernstein, Chair
League Liaisons:
Amy Boyle, Assistant Director, Public Education
Joe Brown, Co-Executive Director
Josh Gendel, Director, Assistive Technology Center
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Profile: Meet our New Coordinator
Theatregoers: Tell Us About Your Experiences
Emergency Services
a.b.c. Members at Forum on Rebuilding the World Trade Center
Learn More About a.b.c From Our Newly Revised Website
a.b.c. Members in the News
Hospital Survey and Workshop
Houses of Worship Committee
Commendations
HEAR AGAIN Now Available In Bookstores and Online Sellers
Dept. of Transportation Opens Hotline for Disability-Related Air Service Problems
How To Complain to the FCC
Captioning Info Help on New NCI Website
Coalition For Movie Captioning Update
Captioned Movies – How To Advocate In Your Area
Captioned Entertainment Resources
NJ Arts Accessibility Guide Now Available
New Communications Access Guide Helps Courts Comply with the ADA
Internet Relay with VCO
Hearing Aid Legislation
Donations Requested
PROFILE: MEET OUR NEW COORDINATOR
As of July 2002, Rosalind Pretzfelder assumed the responsibilities of coordinator of Advocates for Better Communication (a.b.c.). She is a native New Yorker, born and educated within the city limits, receiving a BA and MA from Barnard College and Columbia University, respectively, in Psychology. She has held a variety of positions in Human Resources, focusing on both training and affirmative action within the fields of finance and communications, including eleven years at the American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.(or abc, without the periods!)
Rosalind is hard of hearing, losing her hearing gradually beginning in her late teens. By the time she was in her thirties, her loss began to interfere with both her work and social life, forcing her to admit she had a problem. She now wears two powerful behind-the-ear hearing aids, takes advantage of closed captioning and uses various assistive listening devices to talk on the telephone and attend lectures. She has always enjoyed movies and finds that she misses words at movie performances, even with various receivers. She joined a.b.c. about six years ago with a special interest in getting more movies open captioned. She started and still maintains the League's Captioned Movies listing on its website (http://www.lhh.org/movies). She is frequently frustrated with both the industry for their lack of understanding of the range of hearing problems and the size of the potential audiences, and movie audiences for not being more assertive about their needs. Rosalind hopes that a.b.c. can have a greater impact on this and other issues through the use of its website.
THEATERGOERS: TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCES
Paula Glick, Co-Chair of the a.b.c. Cultural Affairs Committee, is gathering reports submitted by deaf and hard of hearing attendees at performances in New York theaters, museums, and other cultural venues to assess the need for follow-up with those in charge of providing assistive listening devices for their audiences. Please take the time to send your response to the following brief survey. Your answers will help improve the level of accessibility for all. Send your reply to her c/o a.b.c., League for the Hard of Hearing, 71 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010.
Quick Theatre Survey (fill in and send back to abc@lhh.org)
I went to (saw, heard)________________________________________
On (date) _____________ [ ] mat [ ]eve
Saw, heard, visited___________________________________________
The assistive listening system was: [ ]FM [ ]Infrared [ ] None [ ] Other_________
Quality and clarity: [ ] Excellent [ ] Good [ ] Fair [ ]Poor [ ] None
Comments:___________________________________________________
Captioning: [ ] Good [ ] None
Problems: ______________________________________________________
Name (optional)__________________________________________________
EMERGENCY SERVICES
For over a year, people everywhere have had a heightened awareness of emergencies and how to deal with them. Even before 9/11, a.b.c. was concerned with and started planning for emergency preparedness for people with hearing loss. The project was begun early in 2000 and a.b.c. presented its first workshop at the SHHH convention in Cherry Hill, NJ, on June 24, 2001. Charlotte Roth, Ed McGibbon and Ruth Bernstein were the presenters.
The workshop gave Charlotte the idea to create a print version, an emergency package. A committee of a.b.c. was formed (Charlotte, Karin Mango, Ruth Bernstein, Ed McGibbon, Lise Hamlin and Roz Pretzfelder) to discuss the project, and over the past year Charlotte compiled an emergency manual intended to provide some answers to basic questions. Entitled For Consumers with a Hearing Loss: A Kit for Coping with Emergencies, the manual, edited by Karin Mango, is now ready for printing.
The manual consists of the following sections: The Law and Emergency Personnel Services; How to Get Help/911; Preparing Before an Emergency Occurs; What to Do in the Most Common Types of Emergency; the Fire Department and Fire Safety Tips; Tips for Surviving a Fire in an Office Building; General Safety Precautions; and tips on specific emergencies such as credit card loss, driving safety and ATM safety. Following the text is a list of Resources – catalogue, organizations, and useful websites. A set of inserts comes with the package, including such topics as Air Travel, Communicating with People who have Different Types of Hearing Loss, Using a TTY and What is a Cochlear Implant.
The Emergency Committee offered two further workshops at the League on April 30, 2002 with Ed McGibbon as the keynote speaker. We are aware that the hearing impaired community generally needs to be more involved and assertive. Unfortunately this population does not take advantage of all that is available to them - or perhaps believes itself invulnerable - and the sessions were poorly attended. Those who came, however, were enthusiastic and told us they had learned a lot and felt much better prepared should an emergency occur.
a.b.c. MEMBERS AT FORUM ON REBUILDING THE WORLD TRADE CENTER
Ruth Bernstein, Ed McGibbon and Roz Pretzfelder attended the "Listening to the City " conference held at the Javits Center last June. They presented information regarding the accessibility needs of deaf and hard of hearing people, which the planners should take into account in all aspects of the design process. Since they were seated with three different roundtable discussion groups, they were able to discuss their concerns with a variety of participants.
LEARN MORE ABOUT a.b.c FROM OUR NEWLY REVISED WEBSITE
In order to give users a fuller understanding of the scope of our activities, Paula Glick, Dulcie Schackman and Florence Steiger have given our website home page a new look, adding separate links to information describing the work of each of the committees, and including a new section with information on consumer advocacy resources.
Log on to http://www.lhh.org/abc to keep up to date on a.b.c. projects, reports, and publications; and find out how you can become an active member and participate in our activities.
MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
A New York Times article headlined, MAKING THEATER ACCESSSIBLE TO PEOPLE WITH TROUBLE HEARING, highlighted the efforts of a.b.c. board member, Arlene Romoff, to introduce captioning at live performances in New Jersey. This ultimately led the way to captioned performances on Broadway. The article focused on the work of the Theater Access Project of the Theater Development Fund.
Telecommunications Chair Joe Gordon has had two letters published recently in the New York Times and one in the New York Daily News advocating for captioned announcements on subway cars so that all, not only deaf and hard of hearing riders, can read and understand what is being said.
HOSPITAL SURVEY AND WORKSHOP
The Health Committee mailed a questionnaire to area hospitals. Our goal was to obtain information on what hospitals were providing to ensure accessibility for their patients with hearing loss. In addition, hospitals were requested to send back a copy of their patient handbook with the completed questionnaire. To date the response has been limited. A follow-up is planned.
A workshop for health care providers, sponsored by a.b.c.'s health care committee was held at the League offices on December 12th. The goal of the workshop was to disseminate information on how hospitals need to make their facilities accessible for people with hearing loss and to comply with the law. Presenters included Ruth Bernstein, Ruth C. Green, and Ruth R. Green. Information on the ADA, understanding hearing loss, communication strategies, and assistive devices was provided.
HOUSES OF WORSHIP COMMITTEE
Ed McGibbon has made several presentations to members of the Catholic clergy on the needs of deaf and hard of hearing parishioners for assistive listening devices during services. Since a.b.c. receives inquiries from people interested in finding houses of worship in all denominations that are accessible, the board formed a committee to explore the subject. Chaired by Florence Steiger, members Toby Kurzband, Ed McGibbon, Roz Pretzfelder and Dulcie Schackman are in the process of meeting with representatives of various denominations to discuss issues relating to accessibility, such as ways for houses of worship to improve existing resources and expand their outreach to worshippers needing such help.
The Commendations Committee of a.b.c. recognizes person(s)/organization(s)/programs who provide exemplary access and accommodations to meet the needs of people with hearing loss.
In 2002 the following received letters of commendation:
Ira Cummings and Robert Essman for their assistance with the art and graphics for a piece on the cochlear implant
Museum of Modern Art for their continued provision of aids and services to provide access for people with hearing loss.
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OPENS HOTLINE FOR DISABILITY-RELATED AIR SERVICE PROBLEMS
If you experience hearing-related problems during airline travel, there is now a hotline available to receive your reports. The toll free numbers are 1-800-778-4838 (voice) and 1-800-455-9880 (TTY). The Department of Transportation reports that it has established the hotline to provide general information to consumers about the rights of air travelers with disabilities, respond to requests for printed consumer information, and assist air travelers with time-sensitive disability-related issues that need to be addressed in "real time." The line is staffed from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time, seven days a week. As in the past, air travelers who would like the Department of Transportation to investigate a complaint about a disability issue must submit their complaint in writing or via e-mail.
The Department announcement states: "In assisting individuals with disabilities who may have air travel complaints that require immediate intervention, the role of Department of Transportation employees would be one of facilitating compliance with DOT rules and suggesting possible customer-service
solutions to the airline involved. Since compliance with the Air Carrier Access Act and DOT's implementing regulations remain the obligation of the carrier, airline employees would continue to decide what action will be taken in any given situation."
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NEW WEBSITE ADDRESSES
For information on the Aviation Consumer Protection Division disability complaint: handling process: http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/airconsumer/ACAAcomplaint..htm
For the official form used to file an ACAA complaint alleging disability discrimination:
http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/airconsumer/forms/382form/pdf
For the DOT Fact Sheet on Protecting the Civil Rights of Air Travelers with Disabilities During Security Screening: http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/airconsumer/rules/20011029.htm
HOW TO COMPLAIN TO THE FCC
Joe Gordon, Chair of a.b.c.'s Telecommunications Committee and a member of the FCC Disability Advisory Committee, has provided the following information describing ways for consumers to submit complaints to the FCC.
There are two types of complaints: formal, involving litigation with the use of an attorney, and informal, the more usual type filed by consumers.
After a complaint is filed, the FCC will contact the entity against whom the complaint has been registered and require a reply from them within 30 days. The primary categories covered in this process are closed captioning on TV, telecommunications relay service, hearing aid compatible wireline phones with amplification, and captioning on TV during an emergency situation.
Complaints may be submitted by voice telephone 1-888-225-5322, fax 1-888-418-1414, TTY 1-888-835-5322, e-mail fccinfo@fcc.gov, or by mail to Federal Communications Commission, Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20554
CAPTIONING INFO HELP ON NEW NCI WEBSITE
The National Captioning Institute, NCI, has just opened up a new department, National Help Desk, a free service ready to answer your questions and help solve significant, recurring problems with captioning and described video. The new website is: www.ncihelpdesk.org
Contact them to find out:
And more!
You can contact NCI at (800) 950-0958/TTY, (703) 917- 7600/ Voice,
or email at mail@ncihelpdesk.org
HEARAGAIN NOW AVAILABLE IN BOOKSTORES, ONLINE SELLERS
The book, HEAR AGAIN – Back to Life with a Cochlear Implant, by Arlene Romoff, a chronicle of the author’s first year with a cochlear implant, continues to receive excellent reviews. Susan B. Waltzman, Ph.D., Professor and Co-Director at the NYU Cochlear Implant Center, called HEAR AGAIN “a valuable asset to the library of professionals, students, hearing-impaired individuals and all those who come in contact with hard-of-hearing people. The book provides essential information regarding the impact of severe hearing loss and subsequent cochlear implantation on the daily life, family and professional interactions of one cochlear implant recipient.”
Jane R. Madell, Ph.D., Director of the Hearing and Learning Center at Beth Israel Medical Center states, “This is a wonderful book for audiolgists, audiology students and for people interested in hearing loss and cochlear implants. Ms. Romoff is able to describe the issues related to not hearing and to learning to hear again. It is a wonderfully inspirational story that should be a must for every audiologist and physician working with families affected by hearing loss.”
HEAR AGAIN, available from the League for the Hard of Hearing (www.lhh.org), is now also available in mainstream bookstores and online booksellers.
COALITION FOR MOVIE CAPTIONING UPDATE
The Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC) is a coalition of major national organizations that is addressing, through captioning, the movie theatre access needs of people who are deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened and deaf-blind. The core member organizations are:
Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
American Society for Deaf Children
Association of Late-Deafened Adults
Cochlear Implant Association, Inc.
Consumer Action Network
Deaf Seniors of America
League for the Hard of Hearing
National Association of the Deaf
Self Help for Hard of Hearing People
Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc.
Much has been made of the increasing number of films that are being captioned. However, today only a small number of theaters showing first-run movies are equipped with Rear Window Captioning™. Also, only six to 20 prints of any movie that is open-captioned have been made available. On the big July 4, 2002 holiday weekend, only 24 screens across the U.S. featured captioned movies on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with 34 screens on Sunday. Using a conservative figure of 34,000 screens at neighborhood theaters across the U.S., this translates to a range of only .0001% to .0006% of the nation’s screens that feature captioned movies at any given moment.
Theaters have complained that although people say they want captioned movies, when captioned movies are made available, people don’t show up to watch them. This should come as no surprise. Theaters do little or nothing to advertise the captioned showings. There are no signs at the theater to let people know that a captioned movie is available. Open captioned films are largely shown at dates and times that are normally slow and draw fewer attendees. It is unrealistic to expect that deaf and hard of hearing people would eager to attend captioned showings during ‘off times’ that have proven to be unpopular for hearing audiences.
In many cases, captioned movies are shown when they are no longer popular at the box office. The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, encouraged but did not mandate the captioning of films. Twelve years of voluntary encouragement has netted very low gains, despite the fact that open captioned movies in theaters and numerous captioning technologies were not available when the original document was passed.
In Oregon, a lawsuit was filed to require a number of theater chains to show captioned movies. This case was dismissed in mid-2002.
In the District of Columbia, a second lawsuit against AMC Entertainment, Inc. and Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp. was filed in the U.S. district court.
The Coalition for Movie Captioning submitted amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs for the Oregon and District of Columbia lawsuits.
A third lawsuit against numerous movie studios was filed in the U.S. district court for the southeast district of Texas.
Digital cinema will make captioning easy to do, but the question remains whether it will be done right. Not one representative of the Coalition for Movie Captioning is being included in deliberations of the Digital Consortium set up by studios, theaters and manufacturers. The Coalition for Movie Captioning feels strongly that coalition representatives should be involved in developing the captioning standards that they will have to live with in the future, including their family and friends.
CMC believes that individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing and late-deafened should be able to attend any showing of any movie in any theater at any time, with equal access through high quality captioning. They welcome new organization and individual members, especially frustrated movie buffs. The coalition's mission statement, position paper and statement of expectations can be viewed at the following websites:
http://www.shhh.org/news/cmcpp.cfm
http://www.nad.org/infocenter/newsroom/othernews/CMCpositionpaper.html
CAPTIONED MOVIES – HOW TO ADVOCATE IN YOUR AREA
Rear-Window captioned movies are becoming available in more areas. First, check to see if they are being shown in a movie theatre near you by checking the MoPix website at http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/nowshowing.html. You can now search by state and find just the information you're looking for. There may be a slight delay in the site being freshened each week. Famous Players continues to have the information about films and showtimes at http://www.famousplayers.com/Static/AV_Enhancements.asp.
What can you do to get captioned films closer to your home? The phone numbers and addresses of the headquarters of major theater chains are at the following website, http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/chains.html. Let them know you're eager to see accessible films, eat their popcorn and be a regular customer.
What can you do to get a particular movie released with captions? Find out which studio is distributing the film/s you want to attend (info is available online at sites such as movies.com). Write to the studio and let them know you're out there, and you're anxious to see their film/s. And if a studio has already released a film that you're disappointed is not accessible to you, let them know that as well. And while you're writing, send a word of thanks to the studios that do release accessible films. The link to the list of movie studios is http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/studios.html
CAPTIONED ENTERTAINMENT RESOURCES
There are an ever-growing number of cultural facilities that now offer captioning, in addition to assistive listening systems. The following resources will help you locate captioned entertainment.
Theatre Development Fund/Theatre Access Project (NYC)
Arranges open captioned performances of Broadway shows.
Request to be put on captioned mailing list; provide mailing address and you will receive order forms by mail. TDF/TAP, 1501 Broadway, NY, NY 10036
Website: www.tdf.org, Email to: tap@tdf.org
All captioned performances are in theatres with assistive listening systems (ALS).
Paper Mill Playhouse
Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ 07041
Offers open captioned performances. Ask to be put on their mailing list.
973-376-4343(V), 973-376-2181(TTY), 973-376-2359
http://www.papermill.org/
Theatre has excellent infrared system and supplies all types of receivers.
George Street Playhouse
9 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Box Office: 732-246-7717
Offers open captioned performances. Ask for captioned seating area when ordering.
Theatre is equipped with an FM system and provides all types of receivers.
http://www.georgestplayhouse.org/
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028
Offers captioned lectures, given in halls equipped with infrared systems.
Contact Rebecca Mcginnis (Rebecca.McGinnis@metmuseum.org) to be placed on mailing list. www.metmuseum.org
Museum of Modern Art
Captioned lectures offered at alternate site during construction:
Arts Consortium Auditorium, 1 East 53rd St., NYC
Ask to be put on their mailing list. FM system available.
212-708-9781(V), 212-247-1230(TTY), http://www.moma.org/momalearning
Rear Window Captioned Movies
Captioned are viewed with a reflective panel available in the theatre. To receive schedules of captioned movies directly from the Media Access Group at WGBH, subscribe (free) at http://ncam.wgbh.org/mailinglist.html
Local theatres: AMC Clifton Commons, Route 3, Clifton, NJ 973-614-0966
AMC Coop City, Bronx, NY
Coming soon: AMC 42nd Street, NYC
All theatres have ALS.
Open Captioned Movies
Information at www.insightcinema.org
For more information, contact is Nancy Linke-Ellis at: nanci.linkeellis@insightcinema.org
Schedules are listed on the HandsOn calendar (see below).
League for the Hard of Hearing
The website http://www.lhh.org/movies has captioned movie listings for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as a wealth of other information related to hearing loss.
HandsOn
Website contains excellent calendar of accessible events - http://www.handson.org/. Print out their calendar - it's in color and lists captioned and interpreted programming in the NYC metro area.
NJ ARTS ACCESSIBILITY GUIDE NOW AVAILABLE
The New Jersey Arts Access Task Force has compiled an Accessibility Guide for cultural arts facilities in New Jersey. This booklet lists the accommodations that facilities such as theatres and museums offer for people with disabilities. For people with hearing loss, this includes information about assistive listening systems, captioning and sign language interpreters. You can request this booklet by email to:
info@njtheatrealliance.org or by mail to:
The New Jersey Arts Access Task Force
c/o New Jersey Theatre Alliance
17 Cook Avenue
Madison, NJ 07940
NEW COMMUNICATIONS ACCESS GUIDE HELPS COURTS COMPLY WITH ADA
To assist courts with continuity in providing access services for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, the National Court Reporters Foundation and the American Judges Foundation have developed model guidelines for the use of Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) captioning in the courtroom. CART in the Courtroom Model Guidelines offers a structure that courts can draw upon to meet their individual circumstances and help them comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). A free copy of the guidelines is available at http://www.ncraonline.org/foundation/research/CARTguidelines.shtml.
The CART in the Courtroom Model Guidelines:
Define CART and explain the duties of the CART provider;
Set forth standards of ethics and professional responsibility;
Explain how citizens can request the services of a CART provider;
Establish procedures and protocol for the interaction of the CART provider with the hard-of-hearing or deaf citizen and court personnel; and,
Describe the appropriate procedure for providing CART service not only in the courtroom during the trial, but also in the jury assembly room, the jury deliberation room, witness interviews and other judicial environments where communication access is necessary.
CART, also known as realtime captioning, is a service offered by a court reporter who, using highly developed skills and special training, provides a word-for-word speech-to-text interpreting service for people who need communication access. CART providers accompany people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and, using a stenotype machine and a laptop, instantly transcribe the spoken words into text that a person with hearing loss can read on a laptop computer or other screen. Using the new Model Guidelines, courts will be able to manage the accessibility of CART services for people with hearing loss in a uniform and effective manner, benefiting both the court and the CART consumers. The Model Guidelines for CART in the courtroom resulted from a joint task force formed by the American Judges Foundation (AJF) and the National Court Reporters Foundation (NCRF). The Guidelines reflect recommended procedures regarding the provision of CART in the nation’s courts. The information and guidance offered is not mandatory but rather a suggested best practice. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) specifically recognizes CART as an assistive technology that affords effective communication. Although the federal courts are exempt from the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, in 1996 the Judicial Conference of the United States “adopted a policy that all federal courts provide reasonable accommodations to persons with communications disabilities. Each federal court shall provide, at judiciary expense, sign language interpreters or other appropriate auxiliary aids and services to participants in federal court proceedings who are deaf, hearing-impaired, or have other communications disabilities.” For further information, please call 800-272-6272 or visit http://www.ncraonline.org/foundation/index.shtml
A new service for people who use TTY’s is now available from AT&T and Sprint. Both companies are now offering Relay services directly from a personal computer. Relay Service allows people who use TTY’s to place calls to people who do not have a TTY. Now it’s as simple as logging on to the Internet from your computer, and going to one of the following websites:
For AT&T, the website is: relay.att.com
For Sprint, the website is www.sprintrelayonline.com
For those people who prefer to use their own voices, using Voice Carryover (VCO), it is still possible to do this with the online Relay services. By using what is called “2-line VCO”, it is possible to hear the party you are calling, and have the relay operator caption what they are saying and have it appear on your computer screen. For people who still have partial hearing but need the assistance of captions, this is an ideal solution!
Here’s a brief explanation on how to set this up, using Sprint’s Online Relay Service:
In order to complete a 2 Line VCO on www.sprintrelayonline.com:
There are two set up scenarios:
A) If you are not using a phone line to access the Internet (Usually if you are using high speed internet access such as DSL, Cable Modem, etc.)
* You need a telephone with 3 way or conferencing capabilities sitting next to your computer.
B) If you rely on a regular phone line (56k modem) to access the Internet (Dial in):
* You will need a 2nd phone line and a telephone handset with 3 way or conferencing capabilities sitting next to your computer.
In the Number To Dial box: Type in your 10 digit number of the telephone* next to your computer.
Type in the Dialing Instructions box: "I am using 2 Line VCO, the number you will dial will reach my telephone. Then I will need to conference in both the desired party and the agent, please stand by." Then click on "Connect to Relay Operator".
When agent reaches your telephone*, place agent on hold while you dial out to your intended party on with your telephone*. After rings begin, conference the agent back in.
When your desired party answers, begin 2-Line VCO call.
* Note: The telephone must have 3 way call or conference capabilities.
HEARING AID BILLS
Medical insurance rarely covers the cost of hearing aids even though hearing aids are as essential as other medical devices to allow people to function optimally. In both New York State and New Jersey, legislation is pending that would require insurance companies to cover at least some of the cost of hearing aids.
In New York, the number of the Assembly bill is: A0. 1479. The Senate bill has not been submitted yet.
In New Jersey, there are two bills pending:
Assembly Bill #A2447, which would cover hearing aids to age 18, and
Assembly Bill #A2276, which provides general coverage of hearing aids.
And the corresponding version:
Senate Bill #S1664
Please write to your state legislators asking them to support legislation covering hearing aids. Your personal experiences are usually most persuasive, so let them know that it’s about time that hearing aids were covered by health insurance!