The deaf and hard of hearing desperately need Kansas to expand Medicaid now | Opinion

As Kansans get older, many will experience some form of hearing loss. By age 60, 30% of older adults will experience hearing loss, and by age 80, that statistic rises to 50%. Often, older Kansans will eventually move to long-term care facilities. Yet these facilities frequently do not have communication support for individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing — leaving a large percentage of seniors without the resources they need to thrive. The good news is we could start to address this issue immediately by expanding Medicaid.

As the executive director of the Kansas Commission for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, it’s our mission to identify what obstacles our community faces — and how we can assist, alleviate or mitigate those challenges. One major obstacle our community faces is the gap in communication access between health care providers and deaf and hard-of-hearing patients.

Our commission sees time and again how Medicaid-related issues plague the deaf and hard-of-hearing population. Most long-term care facilities are not equipped to accommodate deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. This leads to a huge gap in health care provider access. Simply put, if you cannot communicate with your health care provider, then you cannot receive the care and services you need.

For example, one Kansan who was deaf and in a long-term care facility was not getting his communications needs met. When an employee asked the staff to assist him, they responded, “We don’t know how to communicate with him.” This resident was living with dementia and would often roam the halls and try to escape the building. But no one could communicate with him, and he was put in harm’s way in one incident. Unfortunately, this story is not an isolated case. It’s far too common in many health care facilities in Kansas. It must change.

So why does this happen? Health care providers struggle to pay for essential communication, which, unfortunately, is either the first budget cut or not funded initially.

School for the Deaf in Olathe can’t do it all

There is another area of need I have not mentioned yet: children who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families. As special education funding hasn’t been fully funded in our state, many local schools are struggling to provide needed additional services or support to these deaf and hard-of-hearing children and their families, they depend on external resources and providers which may be covered by Medicaid, but it is currently limited. This has also affected many families whose deaf and hard of hearing children attend the Kansas School for the Deaf in Olathe. That institution can do only so much while trying to support other local schools that struggle.

How can we ensure more equitable services to everyone, especially in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community?

The first step: Expand Medicaid.

Expanding Medicaid would benefit all Kansans by lowering health care costs for everyone. It would bring in federal dollars that are already helping our neighboring states to shore up hospitals’ bottom lines, and that means funding for critical services — such as access to appropriate health care communications.

For those of us in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, just like for many other Kansans, employment options may have limited hours and often do not include benefits — such as health insurance. So, they’re not eligible for Medicaid currently because they already make a bit too much income to qualify. They are already paying up to $4,000 for new hearing aids or replacements, which would be a priority, rather than purchasing private health insurance, as private insurance and Medicare rarely cover the cost of hearing aids.

This is a disparity they must face, but we know that Medicaid expansion would help eliminate this obstacle. Expanding Medicaid can’t fix every issue that deaf and hard-of-hearing Kansans face in health care settings. We would still have a lot of work to do. However, it would be a giant step forward for our community. And, it’s the right thing to do.