Increases insurance coverage for hearing aids from one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) to one thousand seven hundred fifty dollars ($1,750), per ear, for all people regardless of age effective January 1, 2026.
H5218 amends Rhode Island’s insurance laws to increase the required hearing-aid benefit in several categories of health coverage. For individual and group health insurance policies, hospital or medical expense policies, nonprofit hospital service corporations, nonprofit medical service corporations, and health maintenance organizations, the bill raises the mandated coverage amount from $1,500 to $1,750 per hearing aid, per ear, every three years for individuals under age 19. It also retains the existing $700 per hearing aid, per ear, every three years benefit for adults age 19 and older, and continues to allow optional rider coverage for additional hearing-aid benefits in group policies where applicable.
The bill updates four separate chapters of the General Laws governing accident and sickness insurance, nonprofit hospital service corporations, nonprofit medical service corporations, and health maintenance organizations. Its practical effect is to require insurers and health plans subject to these provisions to pay a higher maximum benefit for pediatric hearing aids beginning January 1, 2026, while leaving adult coverage unchanged. The bill also preserves existing insurer discretion over provider contracting, reimbursement policies, managed care, medical necessity, and utilization review, and it does not apply to certain limited-benefit policies or other excluded coverage types.
The available voting history shows strong, unanimous support for the measure in both chambers, with passage by 67-0 in the House and 35-0 in the Senate. No committee transcript or recorded floor debate was provided, but the lack of opposition in the votes suggests broad agreement that the hearing-aid benefit increase is a modest and noncontroversial adjustment to existing insurance mandates.
No explicit opposition or substantive controversy appears in the provided record. The main policy choice in the bill is limited to increasing the pediatric hearing-aid reimbursement cap, while leaving adult benefits and insurer administrative discretion intact. Any potential concern would likely come from insurers or employers affected by mandated benefit costs, but the unanimous votes indicate that no such concern rose to a recorded point of contention in the legislative process.