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Why Hearing Aids Are More Expensive Than Smartphones

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One thing that’s missing here is the audiologist labor. When you buy a phone, you buy and move on. With hearing aids, you are going to seek professional help from someone who went to school and will help you choose and configure you hearing aids. Might need several visits. This ends up costing a lot more money.

@thequebecerinfranc said:

One thing that’s missing here is the audiologist labor.

No it’s not been missed, I forgot what’s that hourly rate again, let’s say the are 6k and you get 2 or 3 visits for say 30mim each, so I think most of us are aware that the clinic’s mark up is…

In reply to @RobHooft

I just found this 3 yr old post on YouTube.
Comments? This is pretty much what I expected. I’d be upset to be charged the same price as a bundling clinic and then have to pay a la carte for services.

Hm. Long video, very little info (you can summarize this in 2-3 sentences). We still don’t get to see the breakdown in costs for the US, still have no clue at what price manufacturers sell there. Still don’t see many places where well-informed, lifelong “patients” can just pick up their for the price of the hardware (“electronics”), get some basic fitting done (one or two sessions) and work things out for themselves on a PC.

Exactly I found it more entertaining then informative.
The thing is it’s a moot point now with Costco wholesale selling direct to the public.

In reply to @Dusty

@Dusty said:

That sucks and it’s another reason the provider should contract with Costco as an option to the current system

Here in Quebec Costco is not allowed to sell Ha’s, only Audie’s, when I was working the gov. supplied both Ha’s and were pretty good, then they cut back on costs, provided cheaper models, then I retired, no more gov. support, my hearing got worse (go figure) so with all that I opted to pay for them, but my Audi is great and fine tuned them to my very demanding specs, many times in the first year of fitting and then some, can’t complain regardless, even if I paid close to 7K including tv link. I hear with them on, take them out and stone silence, hearing is everything, cost is nothing.

@kgmgpm said:

Here in Quebec Costco is not allowed to sell Ha’s, only Audie’s

“Costco’s non-commissioned audiologist or hearing instrument practitioner” https://www.costco.ca/hearing-aid-faqs.html3

And I read the rule differently based on this. Not Selling Hearing Aids and Its Effect on the Audiology Profession: A Comparison between Québec and Ontario | Canadian Audiologist6

Regardless, if I lived in QC I’d make this argument: the clinics ideally want the government to pay $7k for full service, and the government only wants to pay about $3k for as much as the clinics are willing to provide for that price. But I’d settle for $2k instead if I could spend it at Costco. Seems like a simple decision for the government.

Guessing there’s a percentage of clients who are happy enough with what they get now. Plus an additional percentage who are willing to pay extra to get everything they want. Which perhaps doesn’t leave a sufficiently large lobby for change.

Or they reject the ‘commoditisation’ of the industry and believe the client is better served in terms of their health by a system which prioritises client needs over ‘fittings’.

Anyone can ‘fit’ a hearing aid, knowing when not to do so, or when you send someone into A+E as an emergency should never be a commercially based decision.

Not anyone can fit a hearing aid. They are very complicated to setup. I look at m’y audioprothesist when she setup my Phonak or my Oticon with the in ear adjustment and it’s complicated.

I think that might have got lost in translation: perhaps “Anyone can place a hearing aid in your ear: whether they can tune it appropriately and know what to do if it’s not right is another matter.”

In reply to @thequebecerinfranc

@thequebecerinfranc said:

Not anyone can fit a hearing aid. They are very complicated to setup. I look at m’y audioprothesist when she setup my Phonak or my Oticon with the in ear adjustment and it’s complicated.

Yes, but it will look equally complicated to you at Costco, or even on my home computer. By itself, paying more is about zero guarantee that you’re getting the best service. In fact, this forum has very many examples of people who received poor service despite paying the highest price. I suspect that a sizeable percentage of clinicians have somehow concluded that they’re entitled to about $8k from every client no matter what. Whatever the service, it’s tough for a customer to judge the skill of the provider when the customer doesn’t know how to do the job themselves. Same thing with general contractors who don’t know how to personally accomplish a sub trade, and therefore unwittingly but commonly hire crappy tradesmen, a pitfall that the homeowner is supposedly paying the GC to avoid. So the clients best defense in all cases are unbiased reviews and common sense, and avoid relying on “feelings”. Governments handing out taxpayer funds should be equally responsible and not swayed by overly simplistic homilies or pressure from self interested lobbyists.

Agreed. I don’t think it takes a PhD to fit . Also, there may indeed be “customers from hell” going through five HA models and three dozen sessions before making a purchase, but they must be rare exceptions. Those flat fees seem exorbitant.

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