The Real Cost of Hearing Aids?

Thank you Stephen for that information… I stand corrected, again It’s not often I’m right, but I am wrong again

I’ve been a Costco customer since 2010. I bought KS somethings in '10, rebuilt 'em in 2014, Phonak Brios in 2015, Philips 9010s in 2020, and Jabras 2 days ago.

I was open to new HAs in 2014, but the fitter (not the same as 2010) told me I wouldn’t get much benefit thereby, though my KS?s needed rebuilding. In 2015, a 3rd fitter thought I could get still more from my KS?s, but I had good insurance, so I bought the Brios. In 2020, I wanted better sounding music and still had good insurance; the 4th fitter thought the Brios would still work well for me (and they have done so, because I needed my backup pair when I lost one of my 9010s), but suggested the 9010s might be better for me.

When I went for new aids a few weeks ago, the fitter (and audiologist) suggested getting my 9010s rebuilt first and gave me 9030s as loaners. She said the rebuilt 9010s might sound as good to me as the 9030s.

They didn’t, and the Jabras sounded better for recorded music than the 9030s, so I bought the Jabras, This time I also bought the TV adapter and multi-mic for the 1st time. Insurance made the new aids and accessories cheaper than just adding the accessories to my 9010s, so new aids are essentially an easy choice.

IOW, at no time did a Costco person push me to new aids. I can believe they have high quotas, but at least in the branches I use, they make quota without pressuring everybody.

The 2014 rebuild cost $270 for aids that cost about $2,500. That makes me think that even Costco gets a good markup to cover services. I expect their business model is based at least in part on lower markups and much higher volume than sole/small practitioners can live on. It’s not just lower cost of labor and rent/utilities.

I suspect that sole/small practitioners might dramatically increase volume by lowering their prices. I’d be interested in hearing if that’s been tried, but it’s not a topic for this forum.

BTW, I lost an aid when some unspeakable so-and-so put her bike into a u-turn without looking back and without warning. When she did see me, she kept going and caused me to crash on a bike path. (Yes, I called out before she made her turn.) It wasn’t until I was half a mile away that I realized I had lost my aid, and I was too shaken to find the crash site. I totally forgot about the ‘Find my hearing aid’ function in the app.

The insurance part of the Costco fee was well worthwhile to me. I’d even pay extra for it.

“reasonable price…”. Amazon lost money every year for decades (even with a special tax exemption from the government). Decades. They didn’t have “reasonable pricing”, although customers loved the bargains. As a particular instance illustrating a larger point, Amazon LOST MONEY selling Harry Potter books as they were issued. Harry Potter releases were the biggest selling event in bookselling history. They were a bonanza for independents, like the shop I worked for (three stores). ANY ONE of those small stores made more money on every new Harry Potter release than all of Amazon.

My point? “reasonable pricing”. Amazon wants market share rather than profits. Independent shops can’t play that game. And indeed neither can Amazon in the long haul.

The same with Costco, and their hearing aids, I suppose. If you assume that Costco and Amazon are charging “honest, reasonable prices” because they’re so low, and then go on to assume all others are gouging…I’ll suggest the picture is more nuanced than that. If one should want all the independents to go away and yield the market to Costco and Amazon alone, and assume these last named corporations will continue with a below real cost model for pricing…one would be naive.

Sure, if one goes in with the conviction that HA industry is a cartel and a racket charging an ungodly mark up every which way, and audiologists too…you’ll believe that Costco is the honest good guy looking out for the poor consumer, with the blessings of their shareholders and owners.

That is not reasonable.

It’s similar to drug companies. I doubt that Audis are gouging, it’s the HA companies that are. The Audis have no control over prices from those companies. Given the number of companies that gouge, particularly in the US.

That is at Duke University and includes they’re fitting. They already performed and billed for the hearing test.

Most visits would be $40. I could have purchased one year of service for $1200 or lifetime for $2500. They are returnable within 60 days for a refund minus a $499 fee. I think their normal fitting fee is $385.

Actually since I am in a different state they will not do remote services due to state licensing concerns.

@prodigyplace said:

I could have purchased one year of service for $1200 or lifetime for $2500. They are returnable within 60 days for a refund minus a $499 fee.

The prices seem a little steep, but I’d guess you’ll want to use them as much as possible if you were paying prices like that.

@tenkan said:

The prices seem a little steep

I was told that nobody does that but usually pay $40 or possibly $120 for a visit, depending on what needs to be done.

Adding together tge lifetime service plus the hearing aid cost is really not that much higher than what some providers charge for their bundled aids and service.

EDIT. This site lists the price as $3709 each. That will be $7418 for a pair.

You’ll be fine with 6 months, even 12 months, but yeah once they get older then that, they start on the sales pitch to get another.

@jeffrey said:

If I lived three hours away from my shop, or if I could only book an appointment a month out, I might take another option.

One previous hearing provider I used was a one man shop who, I think, wanted to be retired. Although they were close by, there were times where I could not get in contact with them. Driving 2 or 3 hours to an appointment is better than that.

The whole hearing aid sales process seems very opaque to me. I bought my first HA (just one) from a Dr of audiology at an ENT. The 2nd and 3rd pairs were from Costco where a pair cost less than the first one from ENT. I did not find a lot of difference in service between Costco and ENT except in price.

The true cost of cars and many other consumer products can easily be found out, but apparently not with HAs.

As a data point, I go to a mid size audi office (three audis on staff plus a resident). I’m doing a one week trial of Oticon Real 1s and the trial paperwork puts me on the hook for I think $580 if I lose both aids or fail to turn them back in after the trial.

Their bundled pricing has tended to be on the higher end in the past (e.g. $6800 for a pair of Phonak P90Rs in 2020 with 1 year of followup visits included, along with 2 years of free tips/wax guards/etc), so I’m interested to see what they price the Reals at when I get the price quote.

Regarding those P90Rs, I bought them using Amplifon and that took the price down to $4922 from $6800 for the pair.

If the audi is paying in the vicinity of $600 for Reals/P90s/etc, they’re making an absolute killing on the bundled price.

@habu987 said:

If the audi is paying in the vicinity of $600 for Reals/P90s/etc,

They are not. They are likely paying much more, but it can vary a lot given what sort of relationship they have with the manufacturer. But if they are a small private clinic doing only low volumes of a particular manufacturer with no access to any sort of sale pricing, one premium device could be $3500 (so, $7000 for the set). That’s CND.

@habu987 said:

If the audi is paying in the vicinity of $600 for Reals/P90s/etc, they’re making an absolute killing on the bundled price.

Ain’t happening… That’s down in the range the V.A. pays.

I agree wholeheartedly so i struggle with whether or not or how much credibility to give purveyors of hearing devices. It offend leaves me feeling i should not take my eyes off the huckster who, if he isnt totally upfront can feel like a carnival shell game, not to say there arent some quite ethical its just deciding who is honest and who a player