ASHA and State Association Team Up to Overturn Harmful AAC Restrictions in Pennsylvania

October 1, 2026

In early April 2026, Jefferson Health Plans of Pennsylvania released a policy memo that required patients to complete at least six months of speech therapy without improvement and to demonstrate lack of benefit from alternative communication methods before it would consider covering a medically necessary speech-generating device (SGD). For patients with conditions that rapidly reduce their ability to communicate, such as ALS, waiting six months for such a device is not an option.

ASHA partnered with the Pennsylvania Speech-Language-Hearing Association (PSHA) and quickly mobilized to push back against these requirements-and succeeded.

On May 5, 2026, working with PSHA leadership, ASHA sent a letter [PDF] to the president of Jefferson Health Plans asking them to rescind their restrictive augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) policy. Shortly thereafter, PSHA sent its own letter to Jefferson Health Plans, along with 10 letters from families who had been directly affected by this new AAC policy.

Advocacy win! On July 15, 2026, Jefferson Health Plans released a revised policy memo [PDF] rescinding its new AAC policy. PSHA received news of this change on September 7, 2026.

PSHA and ASHA are grateful for this outcome. Thank you to PSHA for joining us in this advocacy!

For additional information, please contact [email protected].