Now hear this: The UFT Welfare Fund has improved an important benefit for members who have experienced hearing loss.

The reimbursement for hearing aids, previously $1,500 every three years for UFT Welfare Fund members and their families, has been substantially increased. Effective March 1, members will be reimbursed up to $4,000 every three years.

Hearing aids have become increasingly expensive, given the cutting-edge technology they incorporate.

“The UFT Welfare Fund has a larger hearing aid benefit for its members than most other city unions, but we realized that the benefit was not keeping pace with the rising cost,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew in a Feb. 14 email to in-service and retired members enrolled in the Welfare Fund.

The hearing aid benefit includes a comprehensive audiological evaluation, ear impression and required visits necessary for the proper fitting and training for how to use the hearing aids.

Before using the hearing aid benefit, members need to first verify their eligibility. Eligible members need to pay the full cost for the hearing aids out of pocket, but then submit the original paid receipt to the UFT Welfare Fund for reimbursement.

The UFT Welfare Fund will also process Supplemental Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) benefits for UFT retirees who participate in that program if the total cost of new hearing aids exceeds $4,000.

Members can call the Welfare Fund’s forms hotline at 212-539-0539 to request a new hearing aid certificate for the enhanced benefit.

Mulgrew assured members in his email that the union would “continue to seek out every opportunity to strengthen our Welfare Fund benefits to support the health and well-being of you and your family.”