PAN Foundation submits letter in support of the Medicare Dental, Hearing, and Vision Expansion Act
The PAN Foundation submitted a letter on behalf of the patients and families we assist to Senator Bernie Sanders in support of S.939, the Medicare Dental, Hearing, and Vision Expansion Act.
Since its implementation in 1965, Medicare has excluded coverage for routine dental care, hearing aids and related audiology services, and routine eye exams and eyeglasses, despite the large numbers of older Americans who need such items and services. Older adults who do not get the dental, hearing, and vision services they need, or who have to delay needed treatment because of cost, are at greater risk for avoidable emergency department visits, hospitalizations, skilled nursing facility visits, falls, isolation, depression, dementia, and greater dependence on family caregivers.
The need for dental, hearing, and vision coverage is great. Almost half of Medicare beneficiaries, or nearly 24 million people, do not have dental coverage and many forego dental visits due to cost. Nearly half of people older than age 75 and one-third of those ages 65 to 74 have hearing loss, but only one in four Americans diagnosed with hearing issues uses a hearing aid, with cost being the major barrier to obtaining them. And 92% of Medicare beneficiaries use eyeglasses but those on Medicare Fee-for-Service are without coverage for eyecare.