Longitudinal Trends in Medicaid Hearing Aid Coverage for Adults in the United States: 2003-2023.

Publication Title

American Journal of Audiology

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-3-2026

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to create a database of Medicaid fee-for-service hearing aid coverage policies for adults over 20 years old from 2003 to 2023 and quantify yearly averages of the share of beneficiaries living with hearing aid coverage benefits.

METHOD: Policy surveillance and data triangulation were used to retrieve and code Medicaid fee-for-service coverage policies. Policy data were combined with a subset of individual-level data from the American Community Survey to estimate the annual share of adult Medicaid beneficiaries over 20 years old residing in states with hearing aid coverage.

SURVEY POPULATION: Policy data were combined with sociodemographic variables from the American Community Survey to estimate the share of adult Medicaid beneficiaries covered by a Medicaid hearing aid coverage policy from 2003 to 2023.

RESULTS: States (

CONCLUSION: Given the known impacts of untreated hearing loss on quality of life and health, a lack of Medicaid hearing aid coverage for adults may undermine states' health equity goals and public health efforts to promote health over the life course.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.32270619.

Recommended Citation

Michelle L. Arnold, Lauren Tonti, Serena Phillips, Stacie P. Kershner, Brandy Lipton, Brianna Heslin, Benjamin Ukert, Reginald Hebert & Michael F. Pesko, Longitudinal Trends in Medicaid Hearing Aid Coverage for Adults in the United States: 2003-2023, 35 Am. J. Audiology 883 (2026).

DOI

10.1044/2026_AJA-25-00204

Volume

35

Issue

3

First Page

883

Last Page

892

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS