HEAR Act of 2025

The HEAR Act of 2025 (HR6218) was introduced on November 20, 2025, by Rep. Mullin (D-CA) and referred to two committees: Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means. As of April 30, 2026 — over five months later — it has received no hearings, no markup, and no companion Senate bill. The bill proposes amending Medicare to cover hearing aids and aural rehabilitation services, which would be a major structural shift: currently, Medicare does not cover hearing aids unless provided as part of a bundled post-surgical benefit (e.g., cochlear implant activation). The Congressional Budget Office would need to score this as a new entitlement with significant costs, yet no funding mechanism is included in the bill text. The bill is an authorization-only measure — it sets policy but does not appropriate any dollars. Without a funding stream (e.g., premium increases, federal budget outlays, or offsetting cuts), it cannot become operational. Six cosponsors, all Democrats or independents, suggests limited bipartisan momentum in a divided 119th Congress with a Republican-controlled House. The provided tickers — Sonos ($SONO), Generac ($GNRC), WesBanco ($WSBC), OraSure ($OSUR), Align ($ALGN), Nova ($NVMI), Zimmer Biomet ($ZBH), Stryker ($SYK), Boston Scientific ($BSX), Medtronic ($MDT) — have no material hearing aid exposure. The major hearing aid pure-plays (Sonova, Demant, WS Audiology, GN Hearing) are not US-listed. The medtech majors listed derive negligible revenue from hearing aids; their hearing businesses, if any, are small divisions of diversified device portfolios. Therefore, no actionable causal chain can be constructed. The competitive landscape for hearing aids in the US is dominated by the 'Big Five' private European manufacturers (Sonova, Demant, WS Audiology, GN Hearing, Starkey) and the recent FDA OTC hearing aid rule (2022) has opened the market to $WSB and $BBWI-adjacent consumer electronics entrants, but none of these are supported by the ticker set. Legislative steps remaining: committee markups in both Energy & Commerce and Ways & Means, House floor vote, Senate introduction and passage (no companion exists), conference, and a funded appropriations vehicle. Given zero movement in five months, this bill is effectively stalled and will not affect 2026 earnings for any listed company.