Current Initiatives

ACI Alliance Staff to Meet with Congressional offices on Maintaining IDEA

October 28, 2025

ACI Alliance is meeting with members of the U.S. Congress to discuss the importance of retaining a robust IDEA program and ensure continued support for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees that all children with disabilities, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), have access to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE).

The IDEA provides a continuous system of support that enables children with hearing differences to develop critical language, communication, and learning skills from infancy through high school graduation. IDEA Part B focuses on school-aged services from ages 3 to 21.  Part C focuses on Early Intervention, from birth to age 3.

In our meetings with Congressional offices, our key discussion points will include:

• How IDEA impacts early identification and intervention on child hearing and language development
• How IDEA enables children to access life changing advanced hearing technology at an early age
• The impact IDEA has brought to children with cochlear implants
• The importance of maintaining National IDEA and OSEP staff to provide essential oversight and support of IDEA programs in each state
• The overall importance of retaining the IDEA as an essential program benefiting children with disabilities

ACI Alliance Thank You Letter to Senate Appropriators for EHDI Funding

American Cochlear Implant Alliance actively advocated for inclusion of funding for the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program (EHDI) in the Federal FY2026 budget We were grateful for inclusion for EHDI funding in the Senate budget and expressed our appreciation to the Senate Appropriators. Read More Here

United HealthCare CI Coverage Expansions

In 2024, United Healthcare announced it would begin covering bilateral implants for children as young as six months. This is across all United healthcare plans and follows best practice standards. It follows upon other changes such as coverage for SSD. ACI Alliance has worked with United Healthcare, and other public and private policies, on expanding access to CIs. Read More Here

SSD NC

The Board appointed a panel of experts to work on a Medicare National Coverage Determination (NCD) requesting coverage for Single Sided Deafness (SSD). The experts and ACI Alliance met with CMS staff to discuss edits and next steps. Read More Here

cCMV Screening

The official ACI Alliance position statement regarding universal screening for all infants for cCMV was published in December 2024 in AAO Journal. A broad group of experts drafted the statement and supports our advocacy efforts at both the state and federal level.  ACI Alliance supported the federal legislation, Stop CMV Act of 2024, and state screening efforts. In March, the Colorado Board of Health unanimously approved a proposal for targeted screening, Florida passed a bill to include screening of premature babies in addition to those who fail the newborn screening test, and Washington State a bill passed for the Health Board to consider if it should add screening. 

Medicaid Expansion for Adults

In 2024, Washington State and South Caroline began providing coverage for CI surgery and parts, etc. for adults. Missouri came very close to finalizing coverage but failed at the last minute. Work has begun in Missouri in 2025 and there is strong bipartisan support. Efforts are also underway in West Virginia and Arizona. 

Barriers to Early Intervention

ACI Alliance staff undertook a new project exploring the barriers that slow down or prevent early treatment and intervention for children with hearing loss, particularly Medicaid. Staff has meet with key CMS staff and interviewed clinicians and early intervention staff regarding experiences with various Medicaid barriers and how to best address them. 

ACI Alliance’s Supported Bill – Ally’s Act – Reintroduced in Congress

4/15/2023

ACI Alliance is pleased to share that Ally’s Act has been reintroduced in Congress. Ally’s Act would require group insurance companies to provide coverage for cochlear implants and osseointergrated devices. 

Read more here:

118th one page
118th Update
Ally's Act Endorsement
Endorsement Letter

2022 Fiscal Year Omnibus Bill Includes Support for ACI Alliance Key Issues

3/24/2022

The recently passed FY2022 Omnibus Bill included key provisions that align with ACI Alliance policy issues. CDC is encouraged to continue its activities to prevent Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, and directs CDC to provide an update on efforts to develop, implement, and evaluate CMV prevention strategies in the fiscal year 2023 Congressional Justification. CMV is responsible for hearing loss in 1 in 5 children who have no other known risk factor or cause. Hearing loss related to CMV may not be present at birth, but rather delayed in onset and hence would be missed by newborn hearing screening and may fluctuate or progress during childhood.

The Omnibus bill also directs NIH to include updates on hearing health screening for older adults in fiscal year 2023 Congressional Justification. Incorporating hearing health screening for older adults has been an issue ACI Alliance has worked on for a number of years with other hearing health organizations and by educating family and general practitioners on the importance of screening.

Congressman Joe Neguse Reintroduces “Ally’s Act” His Bipartisan Bill Inspired By 11-Year-Old Broomfield Constituent, to Increase Access to Specialized Hearing Devices

1/27/2021

Congressman Joe Neguse, announced the reintroduction of “Ally’s Act,” his bicameral, bipartisan legislation to require private insurance companies to cover osseointegrated hearing devices (“OIDs”), including bone anchored hearing aids (“BAHA”) and cochlear implants. The bill was inspired by Ally, an 11-year-old from Broomfield, Colorado, who was born without a right ear or hearing canal and therefore requires the use of a BAHA. After Ally’s insurance company denied coverage of her hearing device, her mother Melissa formed the organization Ear Community to help advocate for insurance coverage of these devices to ensure no person is left unable to hear because of private insurance companies’ refusal to provide coverage. Read more here. 

https://ujoin.co/campaigns/1128/actions/public

Consideration of Face Shields as a Return to School Option

6/12/2020

As children with hearing loss return to school, we all wonder how they will manage with teachers and classmates wearing masks in the classroom. ACI Alliance has published a paper exploring shields as a return to school option. 

Read the full paper here. 

Click here to read more on Children & Educational Needs.

Open Caption Act of 2018 before the District of Columbia’s City Council of the Whole

12/12/2018

The ACI Alliance has submitted comments in support of the Open Caption Act of 2018 before the District of Columbia’s City Council of the Whole. If enacted, the bill would require movie theaters to provide open captioning for movies during peak times up to four times a week. To read our comments, please click here.

10/30/2018

As part of our ongoing advocacy and education efforts on Medicaid, the ACI Alliance visited with staff at Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as well as with the Majority and Minority staff for the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senate Finance Committee.  We shared information on cochlear implants and the life-changing benefits that they provide for children and adults.  In addition, we discussed ongoing access issues Medicaid patients and providers face including reimbursement, replacement policies for sound processors and other equipment, caps on rehabilitative therapies, and MCOs.  We encourage our members to contact Nichole Westin (nwestin@acialliance.org) or Donna Sorkin (dsorkin@acialliance.org) to add to our collective knowledge on how Medicaid is serving children and adults who have or need cochlear implants.