Insurance On New Hearing Aids

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Mayguy

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I am kinda bummed out that insurance company won't cover for new hearing aids.. I mean, come on..... They pay for glasses... other needs.

My two Dananvox hearing aids are 10+ years old, and I work at Home Depot and there are a lot of noise going on all day.. It can be hard for me at times when I am working with customer who is soft spoken, and got a forklift going by, or the fan/air noise above from the A/C.

I am wondering if anyone got any tips or suggestions on how I can work my way around this? I know I can't get much since I make too much money, but not enough to buy them right away..
 
Welcome to the "club" Only about 20 % of private insurance includes coverage for hearing aids. Here are some of my thoughts:

First of all, there is probably a good chance that Home Depot is actually your insurer, and the "insurance company" is merely a third party administrator for Home Depot's self insured plan. You really need to get to the bottom of that question before you know what legal options are available to you.

Secondly, check Vocational Rehabilitation for your state. If you need the HAs to work, they might have a program to help.

Third, you will probably laugh at this, but look on EBay. I bough my daughter's first Oticon Syncro there, used for about $240, about 90 % off retail. If you know what HA you want, and have someone you can pay to program them, that is a pretty good option. New digital technology is still rare and expensive, older digital technology (like Phonak Claros, say 3-4 years old) can be had for a song.

Fourth, find an audiologist who participates in CareCredit -- you could potentially finance the HAs for 18 months at a reasonably low interest rate.

Good luck.

Sheri

Mayguy said:
I am kinda bummed out that insurance company won't cover for new hearing aids.. I mean, come on..... They pay for glasses... other needs.

My two Dananvox hearing aids are 10+ years old, and I work at Home Depot and there are a lot of noise going on all day.. It can be hard for me at times when I am working with customer who is soft spoken, and got a forklift going by, or the fan/air noise above from the A/C.

I am wondering if anyone got any tips or suggestions on how I can work my way around this? I know I can't get much since I make too much money, but not enough to buy them right away..
Click to expand...
 
Mayguy said:
You can??? I just may have to make a call!
Click to expand...

I think there is a bit of confusion here.
It's true that your hearing aid can be covered (in case of damage like fire) by your home owner's or renter's insurance. but that doesn't do anything to help you pay for a new one.

If you need help paying for new hearing aids try VocRehab. They payed for most of the cost for a hearing aid that helped me keep my job.
 
Yea..I agree with other AD members..go to VR and see what they can do. I dont understand why most ins companies dont cover HAs..doesnt make sense.
 
I had the same problem in the past. 6 yrs ago I had Insurance buy me a new hearing aid, then a mth later we find out my other hearing aid also needs to be replaced but insurance is only willing to pay for one hearing aid every 3 year. Assholes. :/ So I missed out several months on not being able to hear from my favorite side then that turned into 6 yrs and 'cause I have not been able to wear hearing aid on my R ear like I used to. So I said fuck that and am now happy with my CI.

I'm not sure how you can go around it, I guess if you need it now, buy one of the aid yourself like I did and work out a payment plan or save up? I dunno. :/

Good luck!
 
Ooh and I now need call my HA dealer & ask them to look up my records & tell me when the last time Insurance paid for my L HA 'cause I want the insurance co to go ahead and pay for a new one but this time from the hospital I got my CI at. I don't want to go back to my HA dealer anymore. While my specific guy was great, I am just sooo frustrated with the HA. This sucks! So, I know exactly where you're coming from on this. :/
 
FYI....in some states it is illegal to purchase a hearing aid online, let alone ebay. Secondly, if the manufacturer finds out you did purchase it on ebay, they might not repair warranty the hearing aid. Meaning you will have to pay every single time the thing breaks. Once a hearing aid is older than 5 yrs the repair charges increase. Likewise, if the manufacturer pulled that hearing aid from their line (they can do it anytime they want), you may be faced with whoever sent it out calling you for approval for a circuit upgrade (old one no longer available) for a substantial cost. So be VERY careful purchasing hearing aids online. Just an FYI
 
I recently purchased my digital hearing aids at Costco about two years ago because it was cheaper. One of my digital hearing aids was having problems. I was noticing I couldn't hear computers humming and phones ringing. I had to take it to my audiologist at Costco and explained it to her. She had tried to repair it, but it didn't work. While She had sent it to the company, she lent me a temporary hearing aid. I have had been wearing it for several weeks while I was waiting for the company to repair it. When it had arrived, I was hoping it was repaired, but it wasn't. My audiologist had to ask the company to send another brand-new hearing aid. I didn't have to pay for another because the original hearing aid was malfunctioned. Again, she lend me a temporary hearing aid. I had to wait for a month and my brand-new hearing aid finally had arrived. Yes, it works. I also pay about $70 for my ear molds at Costco every year.
 
I think we're stuck with that. My health insurance under my benefits with my work don't cover them. I called my insurance company and they told me they can cover it but the problem is my work don't have the coverage for it. So, I can't do anything about it. My hearing aids broke last year and I'm without them for a long time.
 
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