Will tariffs affect hearing aid prices?

That’s the Unitron facility in Kitchener Ontario.

I will add that this forum is the greatest in learning about what everyone has gone through in order to hear better thanks to Abram, there is a lot of opinions that are hard not to voice, as natural it may be, here in Quebec there are no deals from the likes of Costco, so we pay, but the Audi’s are certified, so we seem to get better programing results. 20 years for me and the results are always for my best benefit.

Economists on both sides of the political aisle agree that tariffs hurt consumers. Here we are.

On tariffs and hearing aids: I think we need to wait until further detail in the US Customs and Border Protection Notice of Implementation, which is expected to be published in the next week.

One thing is clear: Lobbying groups like AdvaMed and the American Hospital Association had lobbied (unsuccessfully) for medical devices and critical health supplies to be excluded alongside pharmaceuticals​. Lobbyists did win exceptions for some pharmaceuticals, medical-grade raw materials like copper and certain critical minerals, semiconductors, lumber, and energy products. Hearing aids aren’t on the list.

The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States is still serves as the official list of tariff classifications, but the 0% baseline for hearing aids will now be at least 10% unless they are explicitly exempt. There will likely be add ons to that. I strongly suspect that hearing aids go up in price (at least here in the U.S.) one way or another.

Companies like Cochlear in Australia aren’t clear if the Harmonized Tariff schedule exemption still applies and are waiting to find out more. I’m sure they have access to the smartest experts on that matter. They are waiting to find out more.

Here in the US, the talk about hearing aid pricing is a red herring and a distraction from the larger issue of a broken health care system. Eyes, Ears, and Teeth are optional (and expensive) add ons for health insurance companies. Nevermind the growing evidence that hearing loss and gingivitis are directly implicated in disease like Alzheimers.

@Dave_Morgan said:

Nevermind the growing evidence that hearing loss and gingivitis are directly

It’s called getting rid of the old (dying early) to cut costs, same here in Quebec, total disaster in healthcare.

@RobHooft said:

Very strange that pharmaceuticals are exempt (as I learned today is the case for Swiss Pharma) but not HAs.

I am not surprised. Probably it is because huge profits are made on drugs in the USA.

I had read earlier that considerations are in the works to apply tariffs to medical imports.(may have seen that in the New York Times) … The big brains are working on the best approach…it is said by…uh, not sure.

Actually, Clinton (who I did not vote for) not only cut wasteful spending, he balanced the budget, and left with a surplus, which the next president squandered. And he tried to pass a balanced budget amendment, but the GOP had enough votes to block it.

I’m a middle-of-the-road guy, independent registered, and I lean slightly left on social issues and slightly right on fiscal ones. I think both extremes are too extreme.

But I know Trump’s policies have already affected my two businesses in the negative. Prices are going up, tourists are leaving, and the musicians who buy my music products are all losing money,

Trump cost the taxpayers 20 million in the first 3 months playing golf. If the governors are not going to be the first to trim, they have no right to ask anyone else.

And my next pair of hearing aids, which are already more than I can afford, might be unaffordable.

Especially if he nukes social security and medicare.

btw, the GOP has been trying to get rid of social security since Reagan. When he tried to nuke it, his cronies told him it’s the “third rail” so he devised the “Starve The Beast” plan. He put the cap on, didn’t tie it to inflation, and the GOP has been doing everything they can since to underfund it, essentially starving the beast.

Now I agree we need to trim the fat in the government, but the governors should set the first example, or else they are just stealing. And the fat should be trimmed carefully and gradually, like the way Clintion did.

Contributed by @SusL:

I would add to the last comment that I don’t think the non-US hearing aid manufacturers have enough volume to make it worthwhile to build new manufacturing facilities in the US. It’s not like TV manufacturers or phones where the volumes are huge. Clearly the latest change to 10% across the board except China tariff is not enough to make the change. (Note that TV’s, phone, computers have just been excluded from tariffs yesterday, so perhaps lobbying by medical groups will get medical devices including HA’s excluded. It does not appear there is much hope for pharmaceuticals right now though.)

I’m also not convinced that TV, computer and phone manufacturers can afford to bring manufacturing back to the US given our cost of labor to build and run plants, and the tariffs on the raw materials needed to build them.

Starkey is the US manufacturer. Clearly they do assembly here; does anyone know how much of their components are outsourced from outside the US? They may not have a huge advantage.

Reply to @SusL from @Um_bongo:

Starkey shifted a chunk of production to Mexico, so I’m betting the RIC lines get made there. US domestic ITE product might still get made around Salt Lake. The Euro ITE product gets made in Cheshire so they have feet inside and outside the US.
What they might not be able to do (or provide the resources for) is switch the RIC build line back into the US very easily.

From @raylock1:

keep in mind that tariffs will only affect the wholesale part of the price. I,e. It does’t affect the part of the price which is the mark up and related services.

From @KermitTFrog:

My gut says no, they will not affect hearing aid prices at the end purchaser level.

In the near-term and/or for currently available products.

From what I understand, the economics of dispensing and sale of Rx hearing aides is complicated by many steps from manufacturer to patient.

Some of these steps are:

• R & D - intellectual effort to develop prototypes.
• Manufacture and movements of components.
• Marketing and identifying demand
• Insurance company negotiations
• Various mark-up amounts and middle-people depending on what one gets and how one gets it.
• How all of this affects corporate valuation
• And so many more variables.

The tariffs in the USA make this more complicated, but for current models, I don’t see major changes.

In terms of development and production of newer products, I don’t know.

Much of this will be dependent on how international consumer decisions change, but those consumers might not be the retail recipient.

I suspect, those consumers will be audiology practices, insurance companies and large retailers.

And a lot depends on what the world looks like in 3 months or so.

At least, that’s my take.

Thanks for trying to have this discussion.

Sorry it devolved into political rants.