For nearly a year now, senior political science major Jason Looney has been working with the organization HEARD.

HEARD campaigns for insurance companies to provide coverage for children’s hearing aids.

Looney said the group has traveled to Springfield to lobby for bill HB5600 and also to raise awareness on the issue. His inspiration for HEARD came when both his niece and nephew were born with significant hearing loss.

“The bill for my niece was $5,000 and $2,500 for my nephew,” Looney said. “I was just really surprised to find out that the insurance companies don’t cover any of it at all.”

Recently, HEARD held a town hall meeting to rally and organize. Looney said they have come in contact with a few groups over the Internet and have formed a coalition called Hearing Aids 2008.

Along with HEARD, Looney is also a Student Association Senator and an active member in Students for Obama.

“I went down to Iowa for the caucuses and I traveled to Indiana on my own,” Looney said. “Basically volunteering for the Obama campaign.”

After Looney finishes his degree in political science-public administration, he plans on finding a job as a community organizer.

“If that doesn’t work out, I’ll just get a plain old government bureaucracy job,” he said.

Looney also plans on returning for his masters in public administration.