Child advocates and lawmakers are furious with Gov. Gavin Newsom as California’s pediatric hearing aid program has spent tens of millions of dollars on administrative fees while delivering only a few hundred hearing aids.
Nearly five years after Newsom pushed lawmakers toward a state-run alternative instead of requiring private insurers to cover pediatric hearing aids, California’s Hearing Aid Coverage for Children Program had around 300 active enrolled members despite spending almost $23 million, according to a report delivered last month to a state Senate budget committee.
Michelle Marciniak, founder of Let California Kids Hear, told The Post that the governor’s office has dropped the ball.
“The governor has a budget proposal on his desk that would help more children, reduce taxpayer exposure, and finally reflect years of bipartisan legislative intent,” Marciniak said, noting that Newsom still has time to address the issue in his revised budget coming out Thursday.
“A child’s development doesn’t wait. It is time to solve this.”
Newsom’s refusal to take greater action to help kids with hearing loss stands in contrast to his action last week to provide free diapers, as well as his swift reversal earlier this year to expand menopause care for women in the budget after criticism from actress Halle Berry.
The state program has received roughly $30 million in taxpayer funding over multiple budget years while serving only a fraction of the children advocates say lack adequate hearing aid coverage statewide.
State Sen. Suzette Valladares (R-Santa Clarita) ripped Newsom by noting that “nearly 20,000 kids are still sitting in classrooms struggling to hear clearly.”
“These are real children whose learning, confidence, and futures are being impacted every single day,” Valladares told The Post.
“At some point we have to stop funding bureaucracy and start fixing the actual coverage gaps so families can get their kids the help they need.”
Lawmakers unanimously approved a proposal to require private insurance companies to cover hearing aids for children and young adults in 2019, but Newsom instead pushed for what became the Hearing Aid Coverage for Children Program, a state-administered system.
Newsom then vetoed another insurance mandate bill in 2023, arguing again that the state should instead improve the existing government-run program.
The governor’s office did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
Newsom’s office called out the Trump administration in April for blocking California’s plan to expand essential health benefits, including IVF fertility treatment, wheelchairs and hearing aids.
However, advocates for children who are deaf and hard of hearing note that Newsom has had eight years to take stronger action and 35 other states already require some level of pediatric hearing aid coverage through private insurance plans.
The low enrollment figures in California have intensified criticism from lawmakers and advocates who argue Newsom’s alternative has become mired in bureaucracy while leaving thousands of children without adequate coverage.
In April, following a Senate budget subcommittee that included testimony from Marciniak’s daughter, Senate Republicans issued a scathing statement directed at the governor.
“Since Gov. Newsom took office in 2019, multiple bipartisan legislative efforts to help these children have been blocked, vetoed, or greatly scaled back,” officials said.
“Instead of providing the hearing aid coverage to these children, the governor currently relies on a highly inefficient workaround.”
A 2023 CalMatters report documented families describing the Department of Health Care Services’ plan as a “nightmare,” citing long delays, repeated paperwork requests and difficulty finding participating providers.
The same report found the program initially received $16 million and distributed hearing aids to only 39 children during its first year.
Medical experts have warned delays in treatment can permanently affect speech, language development and learning for children with hearing loss.
“If you have a child that’s born with hearing loss and doesn’t get hearing aids until the age of 3 or 4, this kid is going to be delayed for the rest of their life,” Dr. Daniela Carvalho of Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego told CalMatters.
The Department of Health Care Services has said it has worked to improve the program by moving applications online, translating materials into 19 languages and expanding outreach efforts.
Department officials did not have any updated numbers on how many children have been given hearing aids when contacted this week.