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Senator Sheila Kuehl Chair, Senate Health Committee State Capitol, Room 5108 Sacramento, CA 95814 Dear Senator Kuehl, I OPPOSE AB 368 (Carter), as introduced, which mandates health plans offer coverage for hearing aids. Currently, this coverage is available only if agreed between the subscriber and plan, or policyholder and insurer. While well intentioned, I believe that this bill will further exacerbate the problem of rising health care costs and thus contribute to the increasing number of uninsured. While this bill may only minimally increase health care premiums, this increase cannot be viewed in isolation. The current health care system in California is already riddled with mandates requiring health plans to provide or offer certain benefits and services. These mandates have reduced health plans flexibility in benefit design thus reducing employers’ choice of benefit packages to offer their employees. These mandates have significantly increased health care costs and health plan premium rates, thus making insurance less affordable to employers, resulting in an increased number of uninsured.

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