August
2006 - Why the high price for such a little device?
August
2006 - High cost of hearing
July 2007
- What? Hearing aids cost how much?
January 2008 - Lions Clubs International
Foundation/Rexton Program for Low-Cost Digital Hearing Aids
July
2008 - $200 hunter aid better than $1500 hearing aid
August 2008 - "Healthy Hearing" Claims Hearing
Aids are a Bargain!
August 2008 - Several factors contribute to cost
of hearing aids
October 2009 - Senator calls for adding hearing
aids to Medicare
November 2009 -
Health Care Plan Includes Hearing Care for
Minors
November 2009 -
NIDCD Working Group on Accessible and Affordable
Hearing Health Care for Adults with Mild to Moderate Hearing Loss
January 2010 - Need help paying for that hearing aid?
March 2010 - Doctor creates
affordable hearing aids costing less than $200
July
2010 - HLAA
Convention: How to Pay for Hearing Aids
September 2010 - VA Contract for Hearing Aids - Minutes
from VA Meeting in Washington, DC
February
2011 - Hearing Healthcare Reform: Making Hearing Aids
Affordable
March 2011 -
Cell phone inspires ear
specialist to design affordable hearing aid
March 2011 -
MDHearingAid Offers
Affordable Hearing Aids
April 2011 - NIDCD Works to Make Hearing Health Care
More Affordable and Accessible
May
2011 -
Does Hearing Aid Cost Influence Buying Decision?
May
2011 - HLAA Tries To Make Hearing Aids More Affordable
May
2011 - Survey Highlights Gaps In Consumer Knowledge of
Hearing Loss
May
2011 -
Factors Influencing Individuals' Decisions
to Access Hearing Care Services
July 2011 -
HLAA Encourages Transparency of Hearing Aid
Pricing
August 2011 -
Encouraging Transparency in Hearing Aid Pricing
September 2011 - UW-Madison program provides
reconditioned hearing aids
October 2011 -
Health Insurer to Provide Reduced Cost Hearing Aids
October 2011-
Cost-effective Pricing for Hearing Aids and
Related Audiological Services
November 2011 -
Hearing Loss Association of America Speaks Out
on the Latest UnitedHealthcareR Initiative
January 2012 - TruHearing to Provide Discount
Hearing Services to 56 Million VSP Vision Care Members
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April 2006
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The state will pay for hearing aids for poor people
under the Medicaid program with an agreement reached by legislative budget
writers as lawmakers try to close out their differences on how to spend
state money in the coming year. The House and Senate continued budget
negotiations Monday after a week of offers and counter offers, trying to
work out differences between the spending plans that each chamber has
passed. The House agreed to a Senate proposal to spend about $900,000 in
state money to cover hearing aids, something the Legislature cut spending
for a few years ago when times were tight.
Full Story
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August
2006
A
cellphone that can record video costs less than $200 these days. A
state-of-the-art digital camera might run $500 with fancy options. So why
do hearing aids generally cost at least $1,500 and often a lot more? It's
one of the great frustrations for people who have hearing disabilities.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August
2006
Go to a
cellphone store and you can walk out with a handheld device that's a
telephone, music player, digital camera and Global Positioning System
mapper, all for a couple of hundred bucks. But go to buy a hearing aid
that has one job -- making things louder and clearer -- and you'll be set
back $1,500 or more, and that's not counting the cost of the audiologist
who fits it. In the age of $30 DVD players, why does a good hearing aid
still cost as much as a half-decent used car? And why, to add insult to
injury, will Medicare and insurance companies pay for eyeglasses, contact
lenses, wheelchairs and electric scooters, but not hearing aids?
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
July 2007
The baby boom generation is finding that their
parents were right: Rock 'n' roll was bad for them. . . . All of that is
music to the ears of those who sell hearing aids. Sales now total about $4
billion annually, according to the Better Hearing Institute, a nonprofit
educational group. Fitters are rushing to open new offices to keep up with
demand. And manufacturers are scrambling to make products more appealing
in style (snakeskin) and size (too small to be seen) and with better
technology. But the high-style look comes with high prices. Retailers --
audiologists and licensed fitters -- routinely add 100 percent markups to
manufacturers' prices, said Don Schum, vice president for audiology of
Oticon, a Danish company that is the world's second-largest hearing aid
manufacturer. Many of the devices retail for $2,000 to $3,000 each.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2008
Prices have gone up. Oh, you hadn't noticed? Of
course you've noticed. It hurts to fill up the SUV! Grocery bills are
through the roof; forget holding the line on health insurance, home
cooling/heating, electricity, taxes. The average American can NOT catch a
break on rising costs. Everything costs more today than it did just a few
months ago. Remember when oil hit $70 a barrel? Analysts were apoplexic.
Now, we may never see $70 a barrel again. But there is one bright spot in
the economy, especially for people who experience hearing loss, from mild
to severe. The annual Hearing Journal/AudiologyOnline survey of hearing
aid dispensers, conducted in January, 2008, revealed
"inflation-appropriate" increases in the price of hearing aids over the
past three years. Check to see how much your heating bill has increased in
three years. Yikes!
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
August 2008
Q: Why are hearing aids so expensive compared to
other electronic devices, which are often more sophisticated?
A: Apple recently released its new iPhone, an
8-gigabyte powerhouse of a communication tool. Retail cost: $199. If you
need a good hearing aid, however, you can expect to pay between $1000 and
$5,000 - each. Only about 22 percent of the more than 31-million people
who suffer hearing loss are wearing hearing aids, according to the most
recent MarkeTrak report, the largest national consumer survey on hearing
loss in America. Of the rest, 30 percent cited their financial situation
as a reason for not buying them. Experts say there are a number of reasons
hearing aids are so costly. Sales volume plays into the equation. In
2007, members of Hearing Industries Association, a hearing aid
manufacturer trade group, sold about 2.4-million hearing aids nationwide.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 2009
It might be too late in the game and too expensive
to add to the health-care legislation that Democrats hope to pass this
year. But Sen. Sherrod Brown says it's time to make hearing aids a covered
benefit under the Medicare health-care program for seniors. The Ohio
Democrat introduced a bill last week seeking to add hearing aids to
Medicare's basic coverage. Brown's office says that 30 percent of people
65 or older and 47 percent 75 or older have a hearing impairment but must
buy separate coverage or pay out of pocket for devices that cost $500 to
$5,000. Medicare's bulk-buying power could hold costs to about $1,000 per
device on average. Given that there would be millions of potential users
of this benefit, that could add up to a hefty cost for taxpayers.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2009
AG Bell is reporting that the Senate Finance
Committee recently released an accompanying report to its version of
health care insurance reform legislation, America's Healthy Future Act of
2009 (S 1796), defining habilitative and hearing services, equipment, and
supplies for children under the age of 21 as components of an essential
benefit package that must be provided by insurance companies under health
care insurance reform.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2009
The National Institute on Deafness and Other
Communication Disorders/National Institutes of Health (NIDCD/NIH)
sponsored a working group on Accessible and Affordable Hearing Health Care
for Adults with Mild to Moderate Hearing Loss on August 25-27, 2009. The
working group was held in Bethesda, Maryland. The purpose of the working
group was to develop a research agenda to increase accessibility and
affordability of hearing health care for adults with mild to moderate
hearing loss, including accessible and low cost hearing aids.
Full Story
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May 2011
It is not unreasonable to assume that cost may be
a prohibitive factor in accessing care; financial reasons are cited as a
definite factor in non-adoption of hearing aids for 46% of the hearing
loss population.2However, the extent that cost contributes to non-adoption
of hearing aids is unclear. In the same survey, 79% and 62% of those
sampled reported "hearing loss" and "need," respectively, as definite
reasons for non-adoption of hearing aids. Furthermore, MarkeTrak surveys
suggest that those from the most affluent households are least likely to
obtain hearing aid amplification. Clearly, cost is not the only factor
involved in hearing aid acquisition.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 2011
Why do people who fail a hearing screening at a
health fair or open house choose not to go on for a comprehensive hearing
assessment when one is clearly recommended? Similarly, why do people who
fail a comprehensive hearing assessment choose not to follow
recommendations for improving their ability to hear? Here are some
answers.
Full Story
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July 2011
HLAA's "Campaign to Make Hearing Aids Affordable"
is an attempt to find ways to encourage and make it possible for more
people to get treatment for their hearing loss and do it much earlier.
These days there is no reason to put up with not hearing well. There are
more and better options-both in technology and services-than ever.
However, while 95 percent of people with hearing loss could successfully
be treated with hearing aids, only 22 percent currently use them according
to MarkeTrak report. And, 68 percent of people with hearing loss cite
financial constraints as a core reason they do not use hearing aids. This
campaign has several components because HLAA believes there is no "one
way" to get more people to seek treatment for their hearing loss.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2011
Hearing aid pricing has long been a subject of
discussion in audiological literature and among hearing aid users. While
hearing aid pricing has never been rated as the primary impediment to
obtaining appropriate hearing aids, it has repeatedly been noted as an
important factor. Thus, marketing plans should address hearing aid pricing
in order to have face validity. This article examines marketing models
that offer hearing aids at around $800 or less. All of these plans assume
that the nationally established customary fees for diagnostic testing,
hearing aid performance validation, and aural rehabilitation will be, in
part, foregone by the provider.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2011
But let's take a step back and ask ourselves if
this traditional approach is reaching most people who could benefit from
hearing aids? We all know the answer is no. With 75 percent of people who
could benefit from hearing aids not taking steps to treat their hearing
loss we are failing a large percentage of people who could improve their
quality of life, remain independent into old age and stay on the job
without retiring early. The hi HealthInnovations approach is new and
untried. A lot hinges on the accuracy of the test they plan to use to
triage the best candidates for open-fit amplification, how easily people
adjust to using the devices and whether or not first-time users can be
successful hearing aid users without face-to-face care. Is it going to
work? Only time will tell. But let's give it a chance and not sabotage it
from the outset so that consumers can be the ultimate judges.
Full Story
