It was wonderful to open my NY Times this morning and see a very big article dedicated to the challenges and realities around buying hearing aids. The content was nothing new or groundbreaking but it was delivered to a massive audience and enforces the issues that we have been discussing on this blog and website for years. Here is a link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/health/25patient.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=hearing%20aids&st=Search
The first topic that they touch on is one of the most important, the fact that hearing aids are very expensive and are not fully covered by insurance. So many of us have faced the tough day when we finally admit that we actually may need a hearing aid and in turn do the research and go to purchase one only to find out that it may cost us well over $4,000 and is only lightly covered (if at all) by insurance.
The next strong point that the article dives into is the uniqueness of every hearing aid and the differing needs of every user. Buying a hearing aid over the counter or via the internet is very very diffucult dut to all the fittings and tunings that are required. For some people with very slight hearing loss who only require a bit of amplification, hearing aids can be bought directly. For anyone with moderate to severe heairng loss, it is basically mandatory to use on audiologist.
They are also smart to point out that when you are choosing a hearing aid dispenser, be sure they offer the full spectrum of hearing aids: behind the ear (open and molded) and inside (ear and canal). This will not ony insure you get the hearing aid that you need, it also proves as an additional way to vet the provider. If the dispenser only has one or two options, this is an indicator that this may not be the best place for you to get your heairng aid.
Kudos to the New York Times for helping shine a light on the difficulties one can face when buying a hearing aid. Knowledge is power and hopefully articles like this can both better educate the public and maybe influence laws and rules around insurance needing to provide better coverage for heairng aids.
