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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
