AUGUSTA — A bill that would have required insurance companies to cover hearing aids for young adults is dead.

The bill, LD 523, sponsored by state Sen. Linda Valentino, D-Saco, would have required insurance companies to cover the cost of hearing aids for young adults, up to age 26. Maine law currently requires insurance companies to cover hearing aids for children up to age 18.

The Senate failed to secure the two-thirds vote needed Wednesday to override Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of the bill, according to a prepared statement from Valentino.

Approximately 180,000 people in Maine have some degree of hearing loss, according to the statement. Hearing aids can cost between $1,200 to $6,000, according to Valentino.

“Due to the cost and the lack of insurance coverage, a significant number of young adults do not have access to devices that would have a profoundly positive impact on the quality of their lives,” said Valentino in the statement.

“Most of us take our ability to hear for granted on a daily basis,” said Valentino. “This measure would have stopped insurance companies from denying care to the young people who need it.”

Jeanne Coltart, a deaf woman from Monmouth, said in written testimony to the Legislature, that only a quarter of the 35 million hard-of-hearing adults across the county can afford to buy hearing aids.

“For most hard-of-hearing adults, hearing aids make a huge difference between being isolated in the social, education and work environments, or being a viable part of those environments,” she said.

Sara Vanderwood, senior governmental affairs consultant for Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, said in written testimony to the Legislature that the proposed bill would have “directly lead to higher premiums for all consumers.”

The bill would have also required the state health insurance exchange to cover hearing aids as well, which would “substantially impact the state’s fiscal considerations.”

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.