Was this a scam or just me not understanding

I have Aetna Medicare advantage plan and last year it was 1500 for one hearing aid per year or 3000 for a pair.
This year it’s 1000 per ear or 2k for a pair.
The local audiologist charges 5k a pair so it would cost me 3k out of pocket. No thks. Have to use NationHearing to get the benefits. I can get the new premium Phonak aids for 2k a pair and l program the aids myself.
Plus the cost of new ear molds.

Fortunately, the audiologists and assistants KP Audiology at the location my wife and I go to for our hearing aids are wonderful. Well qualified and very pleasant and friendly.

I’m sorry you’ve had a different experience!

If there’s a Costco nearby, you can get hearing aids, which are top of the line, for even less than 2k a pair. Plus the $65 per year membership. Just a thought.

Yeah l know about it. I haven’t tried Costco yet.

Oh, mine are friendly, well qualified. The problem @ the office I went is that they are extremely overloaded and they don;t have the time to spend more than 15 min. My setup was terrible. When I complained, the next appt was beyond my trial period. There is so much you can do in a 15 min setup appointment, that included REM, explaining the hearing aid, try different models , etc.
On the good side, because the setup was so bad, I searched and found this forum. With the help of folks here, I downloaded the software, I learned a lot and I found what the audiologist did wrong (which was very wrong). If they had done a good setup, I probably wouldnt be here.

Well, my HMO through Blue Cross pays $2500 per ear with a $50 co-pay. But they tell you that they have an initial $100 consultation charge that they will waive if you buy aids. It has to be an in network audiologist referred by primary physician. Then you ask how much a pair of Spheres cost and they will not tell you. Fishy…wiating for primary referral and will go through questions before I commit to "consultation - they are reputable or look to be as they have hospital affiliation. Will advise. Cannot use Costco and I have Phonak Lumity Life l90 in my ears now - 3 years old.

Many audiologists work on commission when they sell you a pair of hearing aids. They receive a portion of that commission when you walk out the door. Many have a thirty day return policy. When the 30 days is over they get the remainder of the commission. If you return them, then they have to return the first portion of the commission. Therefore, charging you $100 fee up front guarantees that the audiologist receives something for their time if you don’t purchase hearing aids.

You are right, the country-by-country variation in HA prices is just astronomical, and totally opaque (could not find any surveys at all).

But note that places where they are cheap (France, Cyprus) also make nice holiday destinations. If you combine an acquisition with self-programming and worldwide manufacturer warranties, trips like these quickly pay for themselves.

Good story of your experience. Your English is not bad; I’ve known native English speakers who write far worse than you.

For prescription hearing aids in the U.S. is a huge money saver. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Costco is the largest purveyor of hearing aids in the country other than the VA, (Veteran’s Administration). This is due to their discount pricing. Medicare doesn’t offer any hearing aid benefit. Thankfully, the Biden administration decided to allow over the counter hearing aids.

Before deciding to go to Costco, I bought a pair of Apple AirPods and tried them as hearing aids. The hearing test from my iPhone was very similar to the one done by a Costco hearing aid specialist a year earlier. I didn’t like them for a couple of reasons. They were uncomfortable to wear more than a couple of hours and they gave me a very occluded effect which I didn’t like. I returned them for a refund to Amazon.

I have private health insurance from my employer which includes a hearing aid benefit. However to use it required paying your entire out of pocket annual expenses. Then I would have to use their listed audiologist. One of my colleagues did use the insurance. The Audiologist sold him the middle of their line hearing aids for $1,500 USD. I bought the Jabra Enhanced Pro 20s for $1,599. Also Costco has a 180 day refund period. When the Jabra Enhanced Pro 30s came out I traded them for the 30s.

I am going to be a new HA wearer soon and had my first visit with an Audiologist last week. I left very discouraged. My insurance says they pay for hearing aids (“100% of allowable expenses”) but the audiologist said that I would have to pay 100% up front and then they would reimburse me with what Insurance pays them. So, $5600 for the HAAs, $1500 for “lifetime services”, and sales tax $465. (Yes, Oklahoma charges sales tax on hearing aids!) So, if I had $7605.30, I could have help with hearing my daughters voices.

I’m not going to lie, I was really disappointed and felt a little like I had been at a used car lot.

After reading here, I am going to get a Costco membership and check out their hearing aids. The Jabra Enhance Pro 30 looks really good and the Rexton Reach looks just like the Signia Charge and Go. They won’t be the Phonak Infinio Sphere that I tried on, but they are good, right?

Are these really as good as they look?

Thanks!

Any of the hearing aids that Costco sells should help you understand your daughters voices. Your hearing loss isn’t severe so improvements will be subtle in most situations.

You might benefit from Airpods2 Pro, configured as HAs.

The AirPod Pro 2, has a few drawbacks, but for a couple of hundred dollars they may be worth a try. I personally tried them before going to Costco and my results were mixed. First they are designed as headphones and after a couple of hours wearing them continuously, they became quite uncomfortable. Also, they block out all the sound and therefore feel weird because your ears are completely clogged, and all the sounds come through the AirPods. Additionally, the battery only lasted a few hours, so if you wanted all day hearing, you would need two different pairs. The other issue is that when wearing them, it makes other people think you are either on your phone, or you are listening to music. I tried them last September and my colleagues at work all thought I wasn’t listening to them. The other aspect is that wearing hearing aids requires a long period of adjustment including tweaking from your hearing care provider. Although, the Jabra hearing aids from Costco are MFi, (Made for iPhone), compatible, They don’t have all of the features that the AirPods have. For example, when answering the phone by tapping on your ear, it takes a couple of seconds for the hearing aids to connect. Also, the AirPods would automatically recognize my iPad and switch from the iPhone to the iPad seamlessly. With the Jabra hearing aids. I have to first turn off Bluetooth on the phone, then turn it on on the iPad. Sometimes it works and sometimes I have to reboot the phone or the iPad. I assume that Apple didn’t give the hearing aid manufacturers all of the features of the AirPods when they tell you that their hearing aids are MFi compatible. If you are an Android user, the MFi compatibility will connect to a phone using MFi hearing aids I think through a third party app.