I lost fifty percent of my hearing in my left ear because of childhood measles. But I can hear pretty well with my right ear, although I sometime have to make accommodations, such as listening to the phone with my right ear and turning my head when someone is speaking to the left of me. I’m glad I don’t have to shell out $4,700 for hearing aids, which is the typical cost for a pair. Medicare covers testing but not the devices. Even with a Medicare Advantage plan, you’ll still pay 79 percent of the cost out of pocket.
Only state-licensed providers have been allowed to prescribe
and sell the devices. To make matters worse, providers and manufacturers have
kept prices high by combining testing, fitting and sales into one costly
package. To ameliorate this problem, in 2017 Congress passed legislation
allowing the devices to be sold directly to consumers without a prescription
from an audiologist. The next step was for the FDA to establish safety and
effectiveness benchmarks for over-the-counter devices. The deadline for the
guidelines was August 2020, but the FDA hasn’t yet delivered. I guess they’re
busy with other matters. Perhaps by this summer you’ll be able to go to CVS or
Best Buy to buy FDA-approved hearing aids.
When given the go-ahead, companies such as Bose, Samsung,
and Apple are ready to sell you hearing aids that cost hundreds, not thousands,
of dollars. A year or so ago, I saw a big selection of these devices on
television. They seemed pretty nifty. The show indicated that the devices would
soon be available. I told friends who were looking for hearing aids to wait
until they could go try and purchase them at various stores. Bad advice.
Eventually, though…
For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.
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