Dear Tweeterdom,

Monday I was surprised, delighted, elated, to learn that my health
insurance's coverage for hearing aids, as of this year, increased from
$800 to $9000!  Meaning the hearing aids that I was planning on paying
over $5000 dollars out of pocket are now going to be free. (I'm even
getting an upgraded version.)  If you are covered by Regence plans with
the ID code beginning in UDW, you qualify for this increased coverage. 
So if you, like me, have been holding back on purchasing hearing aids
because of the expense and are covered by the UDW Regence plans, wait no
longer.  The audiologist I talked to suggested that this may be a one
shot deal once Regence figures out how expensive this increased coverage
will be so it would probably be best to take advantage of the coverage
before the year is out.

Here are some resources for hearing aids for birders:
https://blog.aba.org/2015/11/im-losing-my-hearing-part-1-bummer-dude.html,
https://blog.aba.org/2015/11/im-losing-my-hearing-part-2-keep-calm-and-get-help-2.html,
https://blog.aba.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/599244-OCT-2015_selected-pages.pdf.
Also see the "Hearing Birds Again" article in the August 2020 issue of
Birding Magazine if your are an ABA member.

Good birding all!  Hoping to hear my first Pac-slope Flycatcher in the
wild in a couple of weeks.

Chazz Hesselein
Port Orchard, WA