Albany County senator secures statewide hearing aid program

The program will provide hearing aids to certain adults with profound hearing loss, free of charge. Right-wing lawmakers attacked the bill, saying it was not ‘the role of government’ to help the Deaf.

Albany County Sen. Dan Furphy (SD-10) is pictured in the Wyoming Senate during the 2024 Budget Session of the Wyoming Legislature. //Photo: Ashton Hacke

Wyoming residents with profound hearing loss could soon find it easier to acquire hearing aids, thanks to a new program signed into law last week.

Albany County’s Sen. Dan Furphy (SD-10) pitched the “Wyoming adult hearing aid program” in a self-sponsored bill that, despite inspiring debate among lawmakers, survived the 2024 Budget Session of the Wyoming Legislature and earned a signature from Gov. Mark Gordon.

House Enrolled Act 42 establishes a program under which eligible individuals can acquire a pair of hearing aids and have them fitted for free.

Eligibility is tightly restricted and depends on an individual’s annual salary, current insurance options and age. Those under 18 are excluded from eligibility due to the availability of coverage for minors under the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program. As the bill moved through the legislature, lawmakers in the Senate further restricted the program to only those with a physician diagnosis of a “profound” hearing impairment.

Furphy said the idea for the program grew out of conversations with the local Deaf community. He told the Senate Labor Committees he was invited to visit the Deaf community in Laramie and Cheyenne two years ago. Surprised by the number of Deaf and hearing-impaired people in the state of Wyoming, Furphy invited the community to meet with Gov. Gordon, who, according to Furphy, was moved by the community’s stories. 

“The governor was very sympathetic towards these individuals … and assigned one of his senior advisors to develop a whole study on the hearing impaired,” Furphy told the committee. “As part of a plan we put together, the first step to help these people was to get them hearing aids that they can afford, and that’s the purpose of the bill.” 

Furphy attempted to pass a similar bill during last year’s general session, hoping to enact the first step in the longer-term goal of creating a state commission and residential school for the Deaf. According to the bill's sponsor, Wyoming is the only state without these services.

Members of the Senate Labor Committee raised concerns about the cost (up to $99,000), the number of people the program would fund, the number of providers available in the state to perform the fittings, the classification of hearing loss, and the possibility of alternative cheaper technology, while some worried that the subsidization of these medical devices could drive up cost in the long run and would “amplify a broken healthcare system.”

“Yes, we have a broken healthcare system,” Scott Foor, founder of Wyoming Deaf Intervention Service, said during testimony before the Senate Labor Committee. “However, right now, this is the only suggestion Sen. Furphy and Gov. Gordon have come up with to push this issue further in terms of finding a solution to help support a very disadvantaged people group.”

Foor admitted that while the measure might be a band-aid to a larger problem, it was still necessary to take action and is in the state’s best interest in the long run.

“Because if we don’t support them then the reality is we don’t support them to be gainfully employed in our workforce,” Foor said. “They will become dependent on the system even further and not just our healthcare system. They become more dependent on our unemployment system, our federal systems, our state systems, and so in the long run, this is an investment in the workforce, not just an investment in healthcare.”

Sen. Lynn Hutchings (SD-5) said it would be more effective for the Deaf community to form a nonprofit and seek funding that way than advocate for this government program.

“I’d rather see money coming from the citizens to help, than the government,” she said.

Other right-wing lawmakers pushed back against the program with similar arguments.

“I do feel great sympathy for these folks and this population,” Rep. Jeanette Ward (HD-57) said when the bill came before the House Labor Committee, on which she sits. “But I just don’t think this is the role of government, so I’m going to be voting no.” 

But Foor said providing this public good is exactly the purpose of government.

“I do believe that the government dollars are the people’s dollars and government exists to provide services — whether that be to pave the roads for everyone to use, or provide hearing aids for Deaf people who can't get a job because they can’t get the tools and resources that they need,” Foor told the Laramie Reporter.

Foor recalled feelings of disappointment as he watched the bill travel through the legislature. The voice of opposition grew, and he said it was particularly frustrating when lawmakers in opposition offered their sympathy for the Deaf community.

“You see the problem, but you’re choosing to do nothing about it,” Foor said, referring to those like Hutchings and Ward who said they empathized with the Deaf but still voted against the program. “That was an important moment for me to recognize, ‘Wow, this person was not looking out for the best interests of a disadvantaged people group here within the state of Wyoming, who also pay tax dollars.’”

The bill earned a 3-2 vote from the Senate Labor Committee, followed by a 19-12 vote on the Senate floor. As the bill moved through the Senate, Furphy added an amendment to his own bill clarifying that only those with “profound” hearing loss would be eligible for the program.

The bill received a 5-4 vote in the House Labor Committee and a 38-24 vote on the House floor. The governor signed it into law on March 20.

Rep. Ocean Andrew (HD-46) was the only Albany County legislator to vote against the creation of Wyoming’s adult hearing aid program.