Medicare
and most health insurance don't cover hearing aids, but alternatives including
over-the-counter devices can be less expensive.
By Mary Kane,
Associate Editor March 3, 2018 From Kiplinger's Retirement Report
Stephen Moore began to
realize he had hearing problems more than a decade ago, when people seemed to
mumble in conversations. He asked his wife to repeat lines at the movies.
"It drove her crazy," he says. He turned the TV volume up so high
that family members complained.
Finally, when he felt he
was missing out on hearing important details during meetings at work, he got
his hearing tested and was then fitted for hearing aids.
"Hearing loss is so
gradual you don't really recognize it until your hearing is impaired, and it gets
really bad," says Moore, 57, an economist for the Heritage Foundation, a
conservative think tank, who also works as a TV analyst. "And there's
still a little bit of a stigma about wearing hearing aids."
As people age, they often
don't immediately recognize hearing decline or seek treatment for it, says
Barbara Kelley, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America.
It takes an average of seven to 10 years from the time someone recognizes he or
she has a hearing loss until getting help for it, she says. And about 80% of
adults who could benefit from a hearing aid don't get one, according to a
report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
Does
Medicare Cover Hearing Aids?
Baby boomers are sometimes
reluctant to take even the first step of getting a hearing test, seeing it as a
sign of aging and fearing having to wear "that brown plastic thing behind
your ear," Kelley says. Not to mention that hearing aids can be expensive,
as much as $3,000 per ear, and aren't covered by Medicare and only sometimes by
other insurance.
So it was good news for
people with hearing loss when Congress last August authorized the Food and Drug
Administration to create a new class of hearing devices, which will be
available over the counter and expected to cost far less than what you pay for
a device from the audiologist's office. The over-the-counter hearing aids are
for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss and will be FDA-regulated. The
only way now to purchase a hearing aid is through an audiologist or hearing
instrument specialist. In the future, certain hearing aids and other hearing
wearable devices will be available in pharmacies and electronics retailers.
What's often confusing,
though, is that some over-the-counter alternatives, sometimes called personal
sound amplification products, are available in stores now. Moore, for example,
once grabbed a cheap pair when he lost his regular hearing aids on a trip.
Quality and prices for the devices vary widely; some disposables sell for $20
to $30 per pair while high-tech sound amplifiers cost several hundred dollars.
But these devices aren't
considered medical devices or regulated by the FDA, and they can't be marketed
as hearing aids or as a product to improve hearing loss, even with the new law.
The FDA has up to three years to write regulations and set safety and labeling
standards for the authorized OTC devices. An FDA spokesperson said the agency
won't speculate on a time frame for the process. Once regulations are in place,
expect lower prices for FDA-approved aids and more choices.
Getting
Your Hearing Tested
Don't wait to address your
hearing health as the guidance is sorted out. Get tested by an audiologist,
take an online screening test, or visit a hearing center that has licensed
hearing health providers. Find a hearing aids guide at hearingloss.org.
Take advantage of hearing
aid discounts. Costco offers its own brand of hearing aids and other hearing
services. Drugstore chain CVS has opened 32 hearing centers in seven states,
with plans to expand this year, a company spokesperson says. Single device
costs range from about $400 to $2,500. Try a high-tech device that's not a
hearing aid. Hearing technology company Nuheara sells
wireless earbuds that work with a smartphone app for about $300 a pair. Wearers
can tune out background noise at restaurants, offices or outside and
"control how they hear the world around them,' says company co-founder
David Cannington.
Do
You Need a Hearing Aid?
The following are some
signs of when to consider having your hearing tested, according to the Food
& Drug Administration:
§ You hear better out of one
ear than the other.
§ People say you are
shouting when you talk.
§ You often ask people to
repeat themselves.
§ You can’t hear a dripping
faucet or high-pitched musical notes.
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