Insurance

Hearing aids were first manufactured with the intent of helping our brothers who are either deaf or hard of hearing but currently they are complaining of the high cost of these hearing aids prices and their complaints are not being heard and the immediate problem they normally face is that hearing aids are not usually covered by the regular health insurance plans while cochlear implants are. Even Medicare, the government's own health insurance provider does not include hearing aids on their many benefits, even including a statement on non-coverage of routine hearing exams and aids in hearing.

One of the reasons why there are few insurance companies who have coverage of hearing tools is that the numbers as they say do not justify coverage since there are more hard of hearing patients than deaf people who can get more out of cochlear implants and there are improvements on the said technology that may allow hard of hearing patients to use the implants as well.

Now the dilemma that faces those who need hearing devices is that the hearing aids prices has suddenly become skyrocketing and even if there are a good number of hearing aid models lately, the better ones that allow the patients better detailed hearing opportunity are the most expensive for obvious reasons. A survey shows that fifty five percent of our senior citizens who do not have hearing tools blamed the burgeoning cost as the culprit in their inability to afford one for themselves. The basic analog hearing devices are more affordable but as the hearing loss progresses, there would be a need for a more advanced type of hearing device and those are the ones that are prohibitively-priced. Some have resorted to the internet to buy used hearing tools at their own risk since these hearing devices were not properly tested and may be already worn out or just recently repaired which greatly compromises its quality.

There are sad stories of people just giving up on the high cost of hearing devices including the story of this citizen who recounts: "I have struggled with the high cost of hearing tools. When my insurance did not cover hearing tools, I wondered if was worth it to spend thousands of dollars to upgrade. Due to a progressive loss, I had to keep buying more powerful aids. After the last hearing aid purchase, I told the audiologist, "That's it. I can't afford to keep doing this every five or six years. If I lose more hearing, I'm not buying another set of aids." After I lost more hearing, I did stop. This was my personal choice."

Yes, manufacturers also need to recover the cost of their research and earn some profit in the process but hearing equipment, which contains the word "aid", should also aid not only the rich but the poor as well.