Aetna Medicare Advantage & NationsHearing

08/31/24 - My mom is 91 years old and would have never been able to navigate this process of contacting NationsHearing. Although the NationsHearing representatives were very kind, they have no idea which providers participate with them until they call the provider for confirmation. There are some providers that will contact NationsHearing on behalf of the member; however, it seems that less providers are participating with NationsHearing for whatever reason. Trying to search for providers on the NationsHearing website is impossible because it does not provide the provider’s name, only the address and the (800)-number. It took me a month of calling to finally get an appointment through NationsHearing coordinated with a provider I found by looking up through the Hearing Aid manufacturer. NationsHearing did not even have the most recent office addresses. The rep had to Google the address and then call the provider to enroll the new address. I requested this as expedited since my mom’s hearing aids were not working very well. NationsHearing has not replied to any of my email so calling is the best chance you have but make sure you have time to talk to the rep because it is never a quick call. Ask the rep the plan if they call the prescriber and there is no answer from the office. It is a horrible experience and I am glad that I handled this for my 90 year old mother. She would have just given up. Health care is so sad. No one seems to care. It is a difficult path to use one’s benefits. You can always try to find a provider through the hearing aid manufacturer, contact the provider and ask if they participate with NationsHearing and ask the provider if they can confirm the appointment with NationsHearing. Your appointment with the provider will not be covered unless NationsHearing approves/confirms it. This is a ridiculous process since NationsHearing does not seem to know who their providers are or where they are located. Once the appointment is confirmed with NationsHearing, the hearing aid benefits are pretty good tiers [per pair cost]: Entry [$0], Basic [$950], Standard [$1300], Mid-Level [$1790], Advanced [$2600] and Premium [$3400]. Good luck!

Hi, I’ve have Nation’s Hearing Benefit for three years. It has provided me with no end of administrative hassle and poor equipment access based on their poor management of their providers. Case in point. In order to take advantage of the benefit (mine was through Aetna) you have to contact Nation’s Hearing to get a listing of providers. They frequently do not know which providers do and do not honor their program, even if they SAY they do. Second, you must buy the unit through the dealer/audiologist who executes your audiogram, AND you must pay the inflated costs that Nation’s allows the audiologists to charge. Frequently this is full list price less your allowable. Full list price is a “non negotiated” rate which the audiologist sets. The only thing Nation’s Hearing does is steer you to the approved audiologist network. It was my experience that the audiologist quotes a full list price to you as the patient for whatever device you want or need. You then can take you per/ear benefit off that list price and end up with an out of pocket balance. Frequently the out of pocket balance is ridiculously high…because the audiologist started from an MSRP list price which no one actually pays in real life. As a result you will pay a high allowable well above you benefit max for most higher end hearing aids (those with programing capability, blue tooth connectivity, app supported self adjustments etc) I found that I could buy the EXACT unit being recommended to me by the audiologist on line for less than my out of pocket costs if I actually purchased using the benefit package. This is nuts. Add to this the fact that Nation’s Hearing administratively is a nightmare, mostly because they really don’t MANAGE the to-the-patient price that the audiologist offers. They just control the discount off list…which you can manipulate by inflating the list price. I will say, however, that they did send me a nice after-the-sale starter kit with a few nice trinkets in it. Nation’s Hearing has a value on the lower cost/starter end of the hearing aid spectrum. Once you get in to higher tier aids your sort of on your own.

Medicare Advantage pays more to insurers than base Medicare, so insurance companies spend a lot on lobbying legislators and regulators not to mess with it. If you buy Medicare Advantage through a broker or advisor, they get 17% commissions, at least 10% more than Medigap insurance pays. Thank Congress for this.

Giving a discount based on an inflated list price is not treated as scam (with rare exceptions), if at least some sales are made at the inflated price. It’s treated as a legit business tactic. Go figure.