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Costco or UHC hearing is best option?

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Just wondering if anyone used uhchearing to buy hearing aids. Do they provide good warranty and office visits etc?
I have UHC and I think they pay $2000 max for hearing aids. I was planning to go to Costco, but my insurance suggested I look into their hearing aid website (I didn’t even know they have one). Upon checking I see they have all the top of the line hearing aids for all the manufactures and the highest price is $2,699 for models such as Oticon More, own, real, Starkey Evolv , ReSound OMNIA, Phonak Slim L90-R, every most recent release for every manufacture is there. While all I see in Costco is Jebra and other two models.
I am willing to pay the extra out of pocket to get the top of the line premium hearing aid to enable me to hear better during conferences, online meetings and phone conversations.
I see a lot of people had great experience with Costco price/support wise.
I see a lot of local audiologists are listed as providers in UHC hearing website, but what confusing me is those providers sell these premium hearing aids for over $5000. So, if I go with one of these providers will they honer the prices that I see or there will be extra charges for office visits etc after initial setup? I heard you only get 1 year of free office visit then you have to pay.

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Edited

I’d go with Costco unless you learn a lot more about UHC. Costco carries Jabra, which is very similar to Resound’s latest, the Nexia. Their other aids are high end too–they just don’t go by names that are familiar to many. Costco offers better support (3 years) and a better return period (180 days in US)

Take your time in learning to wear ’s. Do not rush. It is not money! HA’s is an aids and not a replacement of your ears. If Costco is providing you with a 6 month trial, pls go and trailed it. Then you decide later. Many HA’s wearer has trial or bought a pair and then it was kept in drawer to getter dust.
Take your time.

@FrastNH said:

Just wondering if anyone used uhchearing to buy hearing aids. Do they provide good warranty and office visits etc?
I have UHC and I think they pay $2000 max for hearing aids.

I expect the coverage from UHC Hearing depends completely on the details of your medical care contract with UHC. You need to know exactly what is actually covered - in my case the providers I was referred to also knew the details of my coverage so there were no surprises.

I have coverage for hearing aids through a state provided (through a state university) medical plan that is administered by UHC. The contract I’m under allows for much higher annual limits than you apparently have for hearing aids. I was given a referral by UHC to a local medical provider (neurology and audiology) for evaluation and fitting for my last two pairs of aids. Earlier this month I was fitted with two Oticon Real 1 miniRTE rechargeable aids including a SmartCharger (the one with an internal battery that can charge the aids up to 3 times without external power). I was also given a TV Adapter 3. The audiologist did to optimize the fitting and I go back for adjustments early next year. This was fully covered by the hearing coverage in the UHC contract that is stated as up to $5000 per year for two instruments. The aids are covered by insurance for 3 years. I must say I’m very happy that my medical coverage for hearing aids is so good. Previously I’ve had Siemens Pure, Oticon OPN (1), OPN S 1, and More 1 aids with this coverage (originally there was a $1000 co-pay per instrument but that was gone by the time I got the OPN aids). For the Pure and OPN and OPN S I was referred to a different provider by EPIC Hearing who administered the UHC hearing coverage back then.

In my case, UHC Hearing was appropriate given my medical insurance and I have received good care. If I didn’t have this coverage, I would probably have tried to apply for coverage (ex military helicopter pilot who left the service in 1984 with hearing loss). I have not used Costco so can’t comment.

I do think that finding a “good” audiologist (or hearing provider) is important as you and they need to cooperate to get a fitting that works well for you. I was sent to particular practices but my providers, at least so far, have been more than willing to work with me and I probably am a bit of a nuisance patient due to my science background and numerous questions :wink:

I had a great experience with Costco on a secondary Oticon brand, and similarly have had extraordinary experience with an outfit called ZipHearing.com23, one of many online sellers. The arrangement is a tad different with an online operation, as you get one, not three, years of audiology appointments. The price differential between buying from the audiologist and the online folks makes an online choice a no-brainer.

I would double-check that what UHC is pointing you toward is, in fact, the top of the line. I think both Oticon and Starkey have upgraded versions of what you listed. Interestingly, when I went either to the website of my insurer (BCBS) or maybe it was GEHA, I can’t recall, the prices cited were pretty much the same as the online folks, and clicking on a particular hearing aid took me to ZipHearing!

Best of luck on your journey, and with a six month trial at Costco, maybe that’s the best way to jump into this pool. You can always jump out and move to an audiologist if you don’t like what you’re getting from Costco.

Is that $2,699 for one or a pair, before or after the hearing benefit is applied? If it’s for one after the benefit is applied, it looks to me like you’d do better with something like Ziphearing or Costco.

I think Costco is tops if you want ReSound (Jabra at Costco) or Signia (Rexton). At $2699 a pair, Phonak and Oticon seem pretty attractive to me.

I like my Jabra Pro 10s (superseded by Pro 20s). I like the sound of Philips 9040s better, but I like and use one of the ReSound accessories that the Philips doesn’t have. On this forum, though, Phonak and Oticon partisans either have better HAs than Costco’s or are just more vocal. AT $1,000/pair more than the Jabras, I think I might check them out. At $3,000/pair (through Ziphearing), not so much… Your calculus may vary.

I looked into ReSound’s documentation pretty carefully. The Jabra Pro 10s look identical to Omnia 9s, ReSound’s top model at the time.

I have the UHC benefit. The hearing aids offered for the copay are Oticon second level technology vs Costco’s equivalent Phillips top of the line technology. The price is $2700 vs $1500 at COSTCO. The fitting and follow up services are $500 additional vs free at Costco. The money back period is 30 days vs 6 months at Costco.

I purchased from Costco.

In reply to @biggar

@biggar said:

5000

You’re right. Even though I saw $2000 max for hearing aid. The audiologist told me they cover up to $5000, but there is 20% co-pay. I can choose any premium hearing aid that fits my needs.
Accessories won’t be covered by the insurance, but my employer will cover anything that is necessary for connectivity etc.

In reply to @MDB

That was what I was planning. But I have Signia nx and it is the best hearing aid that I ever had. So I want to try the Signia ix to see if it even does better for me.
Oticon also worked for me in the past so I just want to have more options to try.

In reply to @lapflede

I see. Mine also said $2700 to premium 2023 hearing aids such Oticon ix. But the audiologist told me they are $5000 and I pay 20% co-pay. I am just thinking to get one of those and then maybe I will get a Costco hearing aid on my own just for backup if my current hearing aid stops.
Fitting and followup office visits for 1 year are free in addition to the 3 yrs manufacture warranty.

In reply to @philbob57

Actually, the audiologist didn’t even mention the prices that were on the website. I think that was some general random price. Basically, they cover up $5000 with a co-pay of 20%.

I have United Healthcare thru AARP as a Medicare Supplement. I checked them out and registered with their hearing program a few years ago but never followed thru since I was not covered at that time. That seems to have changed. I had an appointment with a Local Hearing Group ( I was going thru online TruHearing Choice) and when I spoke with the Hearing Specialist he called UHC and I was covered for Premium Hearing Aids. Things have changed apparently. I am interested in the Resound Nexia and the Phonak Audio Lumity and I was quoted about $4500 for the pair of either thru both UHC and TruHearing. I was planning to start another post about my decision when I read your post. I will do that later as I have other questions about those two .

I did read the info on UHC and they offer a 4 yr warranty for Premium Aids. You also get 3 follow up visits for fitting and adjustments during the first year. TruHearing offers unlimited visits for fitting and adjustments during the first year…but only a 3 year warranty. I think there is a lost/theft clause in the warranty but not sure. Costco is about an hours drive from me and I’m on the fence with their 3 HAs. I currently wear Widex Unique Fusion for 6 years. Need much more help with speech recognition now.

Mine is $5000 max, but in that case I will have to pay $1000 out of pocket as co-payment of 20% according to the audiologist.

A couple years ago I had UHC & met all out-of-pocket & deductibles - so hearing aids would cost me nothing and my said I could benefit from them so I went for it. UHC’s hearing program connected me to a local Hearing Life center. After a couple trials, ended up with Phonak premium aids. The program included 3 free follow up visits, 3 year warranty, and 5 years of batteries. I ended up switching to a more qualified audiologist shortly after getting them and once a year I go in for a hearing test and fine tuning - I quickly learned how to adjust them myself. Costco wasn’t covered at all so not an option for me. The main advice I can give is to find a qualified audiologist you like regardless of where you buy the ’s & if you use UHC be prepared to pay out of pocket for seeing the audiologist after.

I looked the UHC website. It looks like the $2699 price is for1 hearing aid? Is that right?

Maybe a better benefit if you have United Healthcare insurance.

I am a long time Costco client, and also have UHC. I think UHC benefits vary pretty widely between different plans, so you need to check carefully for how your coverage works.

In my case, I can get a $500 allowance if I use a provider from the UHC network. More interesting, when I reviewed with UHC provider (Connect Hearing) they offered different pricing from list price for UHC clients that was more attractive. So, from a total cost perspective, seems like you’ll need to find providers you might like and then get out-the-door quotes to really see cost status.

Also like others have said you need to look at other factors like trial period and warranty, etc. Connect Hearing offered me a 60 day trial, Costco is 6mos. Connect warranty is 2yrs, I think Costco is 3yrs?

60 day trial can work just fine for experienced HA users who have good idea of what they are looking for, but I think new users can find huge value from the extended trial at Costco to see how aids are working out for them.

Trial periods also let you check out providers, as a most important factor is how well you ‘click’ with specialist to get fitted - IMHO just as important as HA choice. With Costco, if you’re not happy with fitter than easy to switch to another at same location or even try different Costco location - your records follow you.

Good Luck … let us know how it works out for you!

I used a similar company. My insurance uses Hearing Care Solutions. The insurance company kicks iin $500 and Hearing Care Solutions (HCS) sells the hearing aids and arranges the local fitting and followup. So i got a pair of Phonak Lumity L90 for $3700 out of pocket.

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