Medicare and Hearing Aids
Written by Dr. Karon Lynn on February 20, 2014 ·
If you are a Medicare recipient and are in the market for hearing aids, you need to do your homework. You may want a professional to sit down with you and go over the various options. Medicare basically has three plans: hospital coverage, medical coverage and a combination of hospital and medical. Coverage of certain medications is an option that may be added to one of the plans.
Here is a partial list of services that Medicare will not cover any part of: long-term care, routine dental care, routine eye care, dentures, cosmetic surgery, acupuncture, routine foot care, and finally, hearing aids and exams for fitting hearing aids.
In addition to paying for Medicare insurance, you may choose to purchase Medicare supplemental insurance, sold by private companies, which is designed to help pay some of the health care costs that Medicare doesn’t cover, such as copayments, coinsurance and deductibles. The more the plan covers, the more your monthly payment will be. Most insurance plans will state (in fine print) that they cover a certain percent of the allowable amount or they may state a dollar amount toward the total charge.
Hearing aids are not covered by Medicare, per say. However, you can choose a supplemental insurance through which you will receive discounted hearing aids. It is important that you research what type of services they are offering. Do they say $400 per pair of hearing aids or each hearing aid? If so, where can you get them? What type of quality, power and warranty are they offering? You can always call an audiologist and ask which supplemental Medicare insurances seem to cover hearing aids the best.
Direct Mail Hearing Aids
Be wary of hearing aids being sold directly to you by insurance companies. With this type of program, you pay for the product up front. The difficulty is that they know that you are far away, so that it is difficult for you to have minor adjustments or even repairs completed. They realize that many of their consumers will simply give up and put the hearing aids in the drawer rather than send the hearing aid back to them repeatedly. This saves them a tremendous amount of money, but may cost you more money in the long run.
Discounted Price
Some of the contracts say that you will receive a percent discount off of the hearing aids purchased through their company. That discount may be taken off of the suggested retail price that the manufacturer sets for that hearing aid. Many times their discounted price still is more than what a local audiologist will charge you! Call your audiologist and ask about the level of technology described and what that really means to you as a consumer.
Flat Payment toward Hearing Aids
There are programs that offer a set amount of money toward the purchase of hearing aids. The consumer locates a local audiologist who is a provider for that insurance plan and schedules the hearing evaluation and hearing aid selection and fitting. During the selection process the benefits of the various technology options are discussed. Each technology has a different price point. The hearing aids are used for a trial period. During that time, the aids are fine tuned to increase clarity and reduce background noise. After the trial period, the insurance plan is billed by the audiologist for the pre-determined amount of money and the balance is paid to the audiologist by the consumer. This process makes much more sense. The consumer receives personalized service and a better price on the hearing aids. The average number of office visits the first year for hearing aid adjustment, cleaning and ear canal cleaning is six. After the first year, two visits for cleaning are common. This up close and personal need for attention is why hearing aids that are mailed are rarely successful.
In closing, the news that some of the supplemental insurance companies for Medicare are offering benefits that include either discounted hearing aids or a flat payment toward the purchase of hearing aids is exciting. Your insurance representative will be able to explain the specific details available to you. Take advantage of your local audiologist to learn about the level of technology available and see what he or she can tell you about the various programs, before you sign on the dotted line.
Dr. Karon Lynn, Au.D
Written by Dr. Karon Lynn on February 20, 2014 ·
If you are a Medicare recipient and are in the market for hearing aids, you need to do your homework. You may want a professional to sit down with you and go over the various options. Medicare basically has three plans: hospital coverage, medical coverage and a combination of hospital and medical. Coverage of certain medications is an option that may be added to one of the plans.
Here is a partial list of services that Medicare will not cover any part of: long-term care, routine dental care, routine eye care, dentures, cosmetic surgery, acupuncture, routine foot care, and finally, hearing aids and exams for fitting hearing aids.
In addition to paying for Medicare insurance, you may choose to purchase Medicare supplemental insurance, sold by private companies, which is designed to help pay some of the health care costs that Medicare doesn’t cover, such as copayments, coinsurance and deductibles. The more the plan covers, the more your monthly payment will be. Most insurance plans will state (in fine print) that they cover a certain percent of the allowable amount or they may state a dollar amount toward the total charge.
Hearing aids are not covered by Medicare, per say. However, you can choose a supplemental insurance through which you will receive discounted hearing aids. It is important that you research what type of services they are offering. Do they say $400 per pair of hearing aids or each hearing aid? If so, where can you get them? What type of quality, power and warranty are they offering? You can always call an audiologist and ask which supplemental Medicare insurances seem to cover hearing aids the best.
Direct Mail Hearing Aids
Be wary of hearing aids being sold directly to you by insurance companies. With this type of program, you pay for the product up front. The difficulty is that they know that you are far away, so that it is difficult for you to have minor adjustments or even repairs completed. They realize that many of their consumers will simply give up and put the hearing aids in the drawer rather than send the hearing aid back to them repeatedly. This saves them a tremendous amount of money, but may cost you more money in the long run.
Discounted Price
Some of the contracts say that you will receive a percent discount off of the hearing aids purchased through their company. That discount may be taken off of the suggested retail price that the manufacturer sets for that hearing aid. Many times their discounted price still is more than what a local audiologist will charge you! Call your audiologist and ask about the level of technology described and what that really means to you as a consumer.
Flat Payment toward Hearing Aids
There are programs that offer a set amount of money toward the purchase of hearing aids. The consumer locates a local audiologist who is a provider for that insurance plan and schedules the hearing evaluation and hearing aid selection and fitting. During the selection process the benefits of the various technology options are discussed. Each technology has a different price point. The hearing aids are used for a trial period. During that time, the aids are fine tuned to increase clarity and reduce background noise. After the trial period, the insurance plan is billed by the audiologist for the pre-determined amount of money and the balance is paid to the audiologist by the consumer. This process makes much more sense. The consumer receives personalized service and a better price on the hearing aids. The average number of office visits the first year for hearing aid adjustment, cleaning and ear canal cleaning is six. After the first year, two visits for cleaning are common. This up close and personal need for attention is why hearing aids that are mailed are rarely successful.
In closing, the news that some of the supplemental insurance companies for Medicare are offering benefits that include either discounted hearing aids or a flat payment toward the purchase of hearing aids is exciting. Your insurance representative will be able to explain the specific details available to you. Take advantage of your local audiologist to learn about the level of technology available and see what he or she can tell you about the various programs, before you sign on the dotted line.
Dr. Karon Lynn, Au.D