Why is it hearing aids cost so much?

I wonder if one can buy a pair of HAs on ebay?

In Aust, HAs goes for around $3500 to $10,000. To have a pair of ear molds made costs about $75 here, I think.

It sucks that insurance won't cough up a good coverage on HAs. If a person born deaf ask their insurance provider to pay; they'd be willing to pay like $800 for one pair and they'll pay after several months. However, if you were a hearie who went deaf and they ask their insurance provider to pay for the HAs; the provider would be more than happy to give their good coverage and doesn't need pushing to cough the money up.
 
Purlee said:
Right now an Ipod costs $100. You can turn the volume up on your phone so it's essentially not much different than a hearing aid except it functions more like an FM unit. I don't know how much blue tooths cost but I know it isn't over 200....

meanwhile a hearing aid costs up to 6 grand and doesn't have HALF the shit that the iphone has.

Develop a hearing aid with texting, a built in clock and calendar, recordable videos, recordable voice notes AND internet access THEN maybe you can consider a $500 price tag but it still wouldn't be worth 6 grand. Once again it's exploiting people who never did anything wrong other than be hard of hearing.

Let's riot!
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What's the most polite way for me to put this? If you don't like how something is made, or if you don't like how much it costs, don't buy it.

If hearing aids had half as utterly poor audio quality as a cell phone does, nobody would be buying them.

Your iphone, with it's piss-poor mic and audio output, isn't cheap because it's actually a cheap device. It's cheap because way more people buy it than people buy hearing aids, and because the real profit comes from you spending a minimum of 2000-3000$ per contract term on phone service.

Your iphone, unlike a high end hearing aid, doesn't have 16 channels of audio that can be programmed to your very specific hearing loss, or the very high gain found in hearing aids for people with severe or profound losses, or the directional mics, or the teeny-tiny size, or the specialty market.

You're attempting to compare apples and oranges, and I suspect you're not going to get very much support in your attempts. The devices are expensive because the people who make them need to be making a profit in order to be able to, say, keep running their business, pay their hard working employees, and feed their families. But, eh, who cares about details: you want everything to be -cheap- just for you.
 
That is the problem we have.. Just about all medical needy items are expensive... But some do consider it as a cosmetic item....

Outrageous I say!!!
 
One of you stated because of a small market.

That was the closest to the truth. Those of us that wear a HA (I used to and now have a CI) are a captive market. Heck, CIs are even more expensive and just thinking about upgrading in the future is enough to give me pause. Anyway, I meant to say they got the HA folks where they want them as there are not enough of them to bring real competition in the market. Even with more people needing HAs down the road due to aging, it still wouldn't be enough to change the dynamics of the market.

It will require some legislative mandate to force some insurance help for people who need a HA. It should be a no-brainer but then again we are talking politicians here. :roll:
 
I used to work in manufacturering and DO understand why the cost varies. It is all about the supply and demand, PLUS the cost to develop, engineering, tooling and die which overall can cost millions, and sometimes Billions of dollars to start with, they want ROI (Return On Investment). You can't compare with Ipod because market demand is much much much greater than hearing aids, which makes it easier to get ROI than hearing aids.

Tooling and die is NOT cheap! They are extremely expensive, and they can produce millions of product.

Plus liablity insurance, not many HA would be sold, so they have to pay higher premium because of chance of getting sued and no enough ROI to cover their investment.

Ok here is an example:

Cost to engineer, develop testing, beta testing prototype building, create tool and die, liablity insurance, government approval, (Safety), patent, etc would cost 1 billion dollars on Ipod and hearing aids.

market was able to sell 10,000,000 Ipods

Market was able to sell only 2,000 hearing aids,

So which one is profitable? Do the math.

Same concept with TTY, they were overpriced for same reason.

Often you notice that you would get cheaper if you buy wholesale instead of small quantities that is because it spread out with cost of manufacturing.

You can't compare oranges and apples and back to why... The law of Supply and demand.
 
Diehardbiker, I agree with you. I already knew about that. :)
 
One thing you didn't make clear. The cost for FDA approval. An iPod doesn't need FDA approval.
 
Yeah, there is much more than I have listed. There are several hidden costs that we are not aware of which does jack up the cost of manufacturing products. Other cost is 6 sigma certification (For manufacturers and services), ISO 9001-xxx certifications, etc isn't cheap. Medical products tend to require 6 sigma, ISO 9001-xxxx because they are quality control related. ISO is cheaper than 6 sigma. Again it is all about quality control.

oldbob said:
One thing you didn't make clear. The cost for FDA approval. An iPod doesn't need FDA approval.
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Anytime there is a "Need" or "strong desire" for an item then it'll cost more.

If the same technology and time was spent on Hearing aids but no one needed them. The price would be very low. But because there are people who "need" them. They'll pay what ever price they have to to get them. So of course they'll charge more for them.

Another issue is insurance companies. They know people with insurance won't have to pay for them out of their own pockets. So the milk the insurance companies for all they can. No wonder insurance companies are putting so many restrictions up. They don't even cover hearing aids in my state anymore.

It's like if you go to a ball game. You're not allowed to bring your own drinks or food into the parks (Not suppose to anyway. :) ). So with in the park there is a "Strong desire" for beer, soda and food. So they can charge more (Dog and a beer would be about $3 outside the park, but in the park the beer alone is $4).

One things I'm trying to figure out. Go to a grocery store and look at the price of soda. Why is a small bottle more expensive then a 2 liter? :)

I know this isn't right but it's the way it is here in the states. If you want it or need it they'll charge more for it. No matter what the cost of production.

Ron
 
Insurance have never covered hearing aids, at least until recently. Hearing aids have always been expensive like this.
 
Maybe this will help

sallylou said:
A small market, lack of competition and using audiologists to sell/dispense HAs all keep prices high. I can't even buy domes for my HAs online. I have to pay $1 for each dome to my audiologist (a tiny piece of plastic that probably costs $.05). I hope that the internet eventually helps bring prices down.
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Check out this site they seem a little cheaper than most out there. I've noticed lately the internet beginning to make things a little cheaper.

http://www.hearingaiddocs.com
 
Lighthouse77 said:
Insurance have never covered hearing aids, at least until recently. Hearing aids have always been expensive like this.
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When I was growing up I'd get a new upgraded hearing aid about every 3 to 5 years and insurance always covered it. My parents never had to pay for them once. But now they don't cover them at all here in Michigan.
 
There are some more affordable options appearing here and there. I agree that the internet is contributing to a greater degree of transparency in HA pricing. In the past, our only option was audiologists and they get to set their own prices unlike, say, buying a car where you would more easily be able to shop around for the best deal. My own (former) audi wanted 5-7K for the identical 2 HAs that I found elsewhere for 3-5K. Identical. It is an unregulated and service oriented industry that lets the providers charge what their market will bear. High prices have commonly scared insurance companies off because there are so many people who could actually benefit from HAs. That, and the fact that many first time users would get them and not use them so the money was essentially wasted.
My personal choice most recently was America Hears and the cost was WAY lower than comparable technology through my audi. They also provided me with the means to do my own programming. Not everyone's preference, but personally I have found it to be the best addition to helping me in the past 30 years of HA use. Unfortunately, the HAs they provide are not as powerful as many people on this forum require, but if your loss is within range, their products, for me, have thus far been excellent - and I don't describe many contemporary products that highly. IMHO, YMMV, yadayadayada, etc.
 
Miss-Delectable said:
In Aust, HAs goes for around $3500 to $10,000. To have a pair of ear molds made costs about $75 here, I think.

It sucks that insurance won't cough up a good coverage on HAs. If a person born deaf ask their insurance provider to pay; they'd be willing to pay like $800 for one pair and they'll pay after several months. However, if you were a hearie who went deaf and they ask their insurance provider to pay for the HAs; the provider would be more than happy to give their good coverage and doesn't need pushing to cough the money up.
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Here in New York, no insurance that I know of covers HAs for adults. Born deaf, late deaf, doesn't matter, they're not covered. For kids, I'm not sure.

Many insurance plans here will cover the cost of a CI, but not HAs.

That bothers me a lot more than the price itself.
 
I am really sorry this is a case for you guys. I believe that insurance should cover medical things (HA or CI alike) since deafness are not self inflicted and not our fault. "cosmestic" my ass!
 
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