Dear Governor Newsom,
I’ve been boarding Southwest flights to Sacramento since I was little.
Many of my fellow advocates first came here as babies—held by their moms during public comment or rolled into hearing rooms in strollers.
Year after year, we have asked for the same thing: equal access to sound.
Research shows that when children have access to sound by 3 to 6 months, they can develop at the same rate as their hearing peers.
California was one of the first states in the nation to pass newborn hearing screening in 1998. Yet today, only 14 percent of health plans cover medically necessary hearing aids in the large group market.
As Dr. Daniela Carvalho of Rady Children’s Hospital has testified over the years, we do a beautiful job screening—but fail miserably at treatment.
While we all choose different ways to communicate, the choice of whether a child has access to sound should not be dictated by their family’s health plan.
Thirty-five states now provide some form of pediatric hearing-aid coverage. I have never understood why it remains so complicated in California.
Pediatric hearing loss is low-incidence—but without early access, the cost can reach ~$1.9 million per child.
One of the first pictures my mom took of me in Sacramento was in front of the “California for All” sign, right next to the Governor’s Office. I was carrying an oversized turquoise backpack. I am now a sophomore in high school.
California invests in programs like Talk. Read. Sing. But those benefits are not accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing infants and toddlers without access to sound.
We want to hear our moms and dads say, “I love you,” and go to school with our brothers and sisters.
As Dr. Dylan Chan of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital testified in 2019:
“This is a developmental emergency that has been unfolding for years in California. It is not only devastating for families, but it is costly to society.”
Governor, our bill received every vote in the legislature for the third time and is on your desk. By signing SB331 (Menjivar), you will begin to rewrite California’s history for 8,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing children.
Sincerely,
Marie E.
Southern California