A Burien man is suing Kaiser Permanente after the health system denied coverage of his hearing aids, which he alleges violates the Affordable Care Act's antidiscrimination law.

The complaint, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, is the first nationwide class-action lawsuit to challenge the hearing aid exclusion in Kaiser's health insurance plan, said attorney Eleanor Hamburger, of Sirianni Youtz Spoonemore Hamburger PLLC.

Hamburger is representing Jason Delessert, who has bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and who's spent much of the last year trying to figure out how to pay for devices he says are necessary for him to work, travel, socialize and "live a normal life."

"When I was a kid growing up, being socially isolated is hard. It's awful," Delessert, 35, said in an interview this week. "I don't want other people to have to go through that. Hearing aids should be covered, like any other medical equipment."