In a very hard hitting and often accurate article, Wired magazine lets out a load of frustration on the world of hearing aids. In a nutshell they ask – why do glasses work so well to improve vision, cost less than $200, have unchanged technology and are covered by insurance usually WHEN none of that is true for hearing aids?
Hearing aid sticker shock is not uncommon as Wired magazine points out, they can often fun over $3,000. Additionally, hearing aid technology does not improve the situation and is very rarely covered by insurance.
Why are hearing aids so expensive? Wired points out in this article that most all parts of the hearing aid are created from scratch eliminating any benefits from the economy of scale. Additionally, microphones used by hearing aids need to be unidirectional to be good. This adds to the cost as well.
Final shot are the ‘air-triggered’ batteries that begin giving off power once the tab is removed. This is brutal on cost to the users.
All the while, insurance companies are not helping because the problem and need for hearing aids is so massive. Over 30 million Americans could use a hearing aid.
Hearing aids are wonderful but could use a great deal of improvement in many areas.
