Hearing Aid Cost
Many people with hearing loss believe that hearing aids
are far too expensive, and that audiologists and dealers get a huge
markup on them. One potential salvation is the growing trend for health
insurance to cover hearing aids.
Another idea with growing support is that of a tax
credit for hearing aid purchases.
Here's an eloquent expression of the opinion that
hearing
aid markups are too high.
Not everyone is in agreement with that opinion, of
course. Here's an audiologist with the opinion that hearing aids have
normal
markups.
October 2001 - There has been a flurry of
activity recently regarding requiring health insurance companies to
cover hearing aids. Talk about an idea whose time has come! Here's an article
on a bill in the U.S. House to require Medicare to cover hearing aids.
February
2004 - The Lions Clubs have long served people with hearing loss by
providing financial assistance to who can't afford hearing aids. Now
they're taking that concept one step farther by developing their own
low-cost hearing aid.
May 2004 -
Here's
an excellent article on hearing aid costs by Cheryl Heppner of NVRC.
December
2004 - Here's an update on the Lions low-cost hearing
aid project.
May 2005 - Here's Dr. Mark Ross'
objective and dispassionate look at the hot issue of over-the-counter
hearing aids.
June 2005 - And here's
what some of our readers thought about Dr. Ross' article on OTC hearing
aids.
August 2005 - North
Carolina has just announced a program that uses excess relay money to
provide hearing aids, ALDS, and alerting devices to state residents!
October 2005 - Here's
an article on an organization that provides reduced-cost hearing aids to
people with modest means.
February 2006 - Think
hearing aids cost too much? Think they should be covered by insurance?
How about tax credits? Then you should read
Charlea Baker's article on this important topic.
April 2006 - Hearing aids to be paid for by Medicaid under
budget agreement
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
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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
