United Health Care hearing aids

I need to enroll in a new health plan for 2012 and recently saw that United Health Care claims to pay the entire HA bill. How can that be possible when the max the others are paying (BCBS, Compass Rose, etc) are $1250 per ear?

What’s the catch? Do I have to buy a certain kind of brand?

thanks

I doubt very much that it’s the entire amount. It’s usually 100% up to some arbitrarily selected maximum amount that they won’t disclose and never equals the full amount of the hearing aid.

@Hi_HealthInnovations said:

Hi, we noticed your conversation about our recent launch, and wanted to point you to our FAQ on the Hi HealthInnovation’s website. This should answer your questions about our products, technologies and offerings. Unfortunatley we are unable to post a live link in this reply, but you can access the FAQ from the lower left-hand corner of Hi HealthInnovation’s homepage. If you need additional information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-855-523-9355.

Ha. I called last week upon discovering about this company. The rep could not answer any but the most basic of questions (bless her heart). I’m still waiting to be called back by someone higher up. Good thing I’m not holding my breath…

There was another discussion here some time ago. United Health Care is apparently setting up their own hearing business.

See this link4. I will try & look for our other thread.

EDIT: See the thread here4.

The consesnus was, this is not a very good option.

I received 2 HA’s from hiHealth Innovatations last week…mini BTE’s…2 HA’s for $660. I am insured by a member company owned by United Healthcare. I can have one new set every year if needed.

These are my first ever HA’s. I have been to HA presentations… Lyric and Siemens. I’ve also been tested about 3X by different dispensers while I was investigating HA’s. I was told each time that I have moderate bordering on severe hearing loss. I really only have issues when I am in a noisy environment with a lot of background noise. One dispenser…I think Beltone…allowed me to wear a set while in the office…their $6k ha’s.

I do not claim to be an expert, nor am I an experienced user yet. So far I have about 20+ hours of wearing time.

I decided to go with hiHealth Innovations because paying $6k for something “new” for me seemed like a lot of $$$ for a first time buyer. hiHealth gives a 45 days free trial. I decided that I had nothing too loose. I could try them, see if they worked satisfactorily, return them, or keep them for 6 months to a year and then move on to something else if necessary.

Initial observations and experiences:

1. The HA’s are about the same size at the $6k Beltones. No problem there.
2. They come with 5 volume levels and 3 programs.
3. The mid volume level seems to work fine for me. Have not really determined if one program is better for me than another. According to hiHealth I should experiment with each program in different environments and different volume levels.
4. I wore the HA’s in a moderately noisy restaurant 2 days ago. With out the aids I know that the background noise would have created a problem. With HA’s I could easily over hear a conversation from a booth about 10 feet from me. Quite a surprise to me. I could also hear the waitress talking to various people at other tables that were 15 to 20 feet from me.
5. My TV experience thus far is very positive. I can turn the volume on the tv down several levels and still easily hear all the words spoken by the speakers. Normally I would expect to miss some of the words.
6. So far so good. Still adjusting to the tubes in my ear canal. After about 6 hours I experience some soreness. But I’m sure that will pass.
7. Very happy with my decision to go with these HA’s. Easy on the check book and they do the job. Voices sound natural and music sounds just fine. I am not sensing any distortion. I regularly listen to music with an mp3 player while at the gym using using ear buds that I place fairly deep in the ear canal. I can compare these musical sounds with the sounds I hear with the HA’s. Other than a thumping base that I get with the mp3 player, the mids and hi freq. sound the same.
8. Obviously it would be interesting to again wear a $6k set (ideally from several different mfgs) and then compare. Perhaps the $6k sets are superior…but I am sure not $5k+ better!!

Just my experiences and observations…

Thanks Painter for posting your experience. Please continue to add updates. Seems like an interesting alternative that is more accessible from a financial point of view.

Sure…I am happy to post updates. If I forget in the future, feel free to ask for an update. I get notifications of new posts to this thread.

I am now starting my 3rd week with about 30 days remaining with the trial. I plan to keep the HA’s. I’ve now dialed down the volume levels a bit to about the 1/3rd of max level. I periodically have experienced some “feedback” with the right aid that has now been reduced considerably since reducing the volume. However, I think part of the issue may be the length of the plastic tubes. I suspect my ear anatomy requires a slightly longer tube which would allow me to keep the ha tucked further behind the ear. I spoke with hiHealth about this issue. They are sending a longer set to me. Will see if this resolves the issue.

I am still experimenting with the ha’s. I often dial down the tv volume lower and lower to see where I cross the minimum hearing volume threshold. Without the ha’s I would never be able to hear clearly at these lower levels.

In noisy environments such as restaurants I am still trying to figure out what volume level is best and which program is best. I suspect this is a variable based on the noise level of a particular restaurant.

Overall…I am happy so far. They work. The price was great. I plan to be out of the country for 2 months starting sometime in April. During the trip I will be in some very different environments. Should be a good test.

In the future…who knows? I plan to stay informed of any new developments in the industry. It would be very interesting to test other ha’s and do a comparison.

Regards…Michael

@Mick_Shu said:

sounds like an excellent sales pitch…

Mike,

Scepticism or paranoia?

:eek:

neither really as I have no interest… but to show up out of the blue to sing the praises of a web site selling absolutely wonderful HAs for the grand total of $650 seems a little strange of course everyone one knows that ADs are only out to screw the working guy. not to mention those evil corporations that design cheapo HAs to keep their mind-washed ADs pumping up sells volume.

What the hell are you talking about? Show up “out of the blue.” ADs??? I’m a new user…period!! I bought the HA’s from hiHealth, I like them, they work, and the price was great. I posted my experience! Nothing more. Crawl back in your little hole.

Michael

UHC is trying to screw everybody including the doctor who would examine the patient. Why risk the doctor finding a problem that might require further testing and treatment. That all would cost UHC money. Even a trained professional can look in the ear and evaluate the test and refer to a doctor. Before you rip the Aud’s or HIS remember, you sit in their offices, you get to know them, they get to know you, and when you ask them a question they are not going to put you on hold and hope you hang up.

Sounds like they are going to a quick fix, one size fits all solution to save money. I had to go back to my audiologist several times to get my hearing aids programmed right for me. Sounds like I’d be out of luck with this. And I had been considering UHC for insurance too. Silly me!

It sounds kind of like what the VA is doing with HA buy in quantity, but they have their audiologist program and do adjustments to save money. The insurance co. is also buying in quantity but then they are sending the person the HA and having them do their own adjustments. Sounds like one way to cut cost for the vast majority of wearers, but I could see problems for people with severe or tricky losses that even the audi has problems getting dialed in.

I am about to get one hearing aid for my left ear.