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Hearing Aid National Discounters, do they work?

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Hello All,

New to the forum but have been reading some posts.

About a week ago i went to my and did the audiology test for my ears, bottom line, I need hearing aids in both ears. So I made an appt and went to see the woman who did the exam in her office. She immediately showed me top of the line Oticon hearing aids for $7,000. I knew they were not cheap but that blew me away, glad I was sitting down.

I called my health insurance co, Aetna, and found out they do not cover the cost of hearing aids but they referred me to a national discounter (Hearpo) who works with local audiologists and are supposed to give major discounts to people referred through Hearpo. So I called Hearpo, they gathered some info from me and got a local audiologist on the phone to set up an appointment. Does anyone have experience with the method of using Hearpo or other national organizations? Do they really save you money?

Secondly, I was searching on the internet and found a national discounter who also works with local audiologists, they emailed me the info, I set up an appt, but when I told him I was referred thru a national discounter, I could hear in his voice some disappointment. Does anyone have experience with this method? Thank you in advance.

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Hi Willy,

So I guess it depends on what “work” means to you. Will national discounters save you money? Absolutely. Is it the best course of action to take when getting hearing aids? Well, that’s up for debate- and there have been a few discussions on here about it. You may do a forum search for HearingPlanet, which is also a national discounter, and read the perspective of both professionals and consumers. I haven’t read those threads in a while, but if I remember correctly, the general consensus was, because the providers take such a big hit (discount wise), there is less financial motivation for them to provide the best service possible. I know personally I hate dealing with national discounters, because there is a lot of paperwork, you have to follow certain processes, and of course we take a big hit on profit margins. I would bet that if you told your provider you are thinking of going through a discounter, they would be open to providing significant discounts to dissuade you from doing so.

Good luck.

Dear Willy,

i concur. I bought my first aids at Costco 3 years ago, and will return there soon for new ones. Probably.

Costco fitters vary considerably, and you REALLY want to get a good one. You might post here, saying where you are located, for ideas.

It is very much worth your time to try to solve this vexing riddle.

? maybe a post on Craiglists, under Wish To Buy Hearing Aids?

for more complexities you may not need, send me a note. epliv@me.com

Good luck! Proceed with care, and resolve.

elijah

I was completely disappointed by the selection in Costco. I discovered Choice Hearing Aids on line. They were excellent (I am not related in any way). For top of the line Phonak Boleros, I paid less than $2,000 per aid, far less than the list price. They set me up with a local dispenser and I cannot be more pleased. I had to change them a few times, and there was no hassle. --Steve

My Aetna plan referred me to Hearing Care Solutions (HCS)
I decided to go with them because the were out of my price range at the .
Made an appt at Costco but they were so busy it took a long time for them to return my voice mail that I wanted an appt. Also they are a long drive with lots of time missed from work. I worried about all the time off for adjustments and travel. Really lucked out with a great audiologist. In the first 3 weeks she spent 3 hours with me. Going back again this week fo a little tweek to see if we can make good great. She said she’s been accused of coddling her patients to make sure they get adjusted at just the right rate they need. She’s also sensitive to the emotional aspect of first timers.

Her office is near a retirement community. She goes with HCS to make the HAs available to more people. Keeps a small office which i imagine keeps costs down. Said the paperwork is a pain but worth it if she can help people. The HCS literature listed Verso 7 as their premium but she called them and the upgraded to a 962 TS for an additional cost based on her recommendation that it was what I needed. I couldn’t be happier!

Finding the right match can be tricky. I called a local place nearby and felt like it was like used car sales. ( no offense to reputable car dealerships out there or great storefront HA dealers. It’s like anything else. There are dedicated people out there and those just working for the paycheck. There are skilled and non skilled.
If they build a Costco nearby I might give it a shot to save some bucks but most likely would travel the 70 min to see her.
I appreciate her attentive care and believe in supporting dedicated practitioners.

Suz

In reply to @StevenS

Yes, you will save thru HearPO. That is who my insurance goes through. I went to the closest Audi and the top of the line Siemens that I have now would have cost me $4500 through him. I am paying $5800 from my Audi. Why? Because this Audi normally doesn’t work with top of the line hearing aids and questions if they really work, vs. just looking good on paper. I have a friend who went to him and the Audi did buy the top of the lines for him, but doesn’t really know how to fit her well. Plus, after a year, she has to pay for every adjustment. So, for $1400 more, I am getting someone who works with these Siemens and is always excited about new technology and works extensively with me to get it right…plus life time free adjustments. Night and day. So…just like everything else, i think it depends on your Audiologist that works with HearPO. Set up an appt. and go talk to him/her to see if they are familiar with the technology.

@WillyA said:

Hello All,

New to the forum but have been reading some posts.

About a week ago i went to my ENT and did the audiology test for my ears, bottom line, I need hearing aids in both ears. So I made an appt and went to see the woman who did the exam in her office. She immediately showed me top of the line Oticon hearing aids for $7,000. I knew they were not cheap but that blew me away, glad I was sitting down.

I called my health insurance co, Aetna, and found out they do not cover the cost of hearing aids but they referred me to a national discounter (Hearpo) who works with local audiologists and are supposed to give major discounts to people referred through Hearpo. So I called Hearpo, they gathered some info from me and got a local audiologist on the phone to set up an appointment. Does anyone have experience with the method of using Hearpo or other national organizations? Do they really save you money?

Secondly, I was searching on the internet and found a national discounter who also works with local audiologists, they emailed me the info, I set up an appt, but when I told him I was referred thru a national discounter, I could hear in his voice some disappointment. Does anyone have experience with this method? Thank you in advance.

As a provider, I don’t mind working with HearPO at all and the discount they give patients is considerable. In my experience HearPO has the best selection of aids to choose from (Phonak, Resound, Rexton, Siemens, Sonic, Starkey, Unitron and Widex) and offers the patient 3 year warranties, 60 day trial period (with no restocking fee) and a year of batteries. I would at least see one of the HearPO audiologists and see what you think!

@AuD1234 said:

As a provider, I don’t mind working with HearPO at all and the discount they give patients is considerable. In my experience HearPO has the best selection of aids to choose from (Phonak, Resound, Rexton, Siemens, Sonic, Starkey, Unitron and Widex) and offers the patient 3 year warranties, 60 day trial period (with no restocking fee) and a year of batteries. I would at least see one of the HearPO audiologists and see what you think!

I visited a HearPO audiologist and the prices were considerably better. For example the Phonak Nano Q90 were about $700 less per hearing aid thru her than normal off the street charge. That’s alot of money. I am going tomorrow to another audiologist who also deals with a national discounter local to me to checkout the Oticon comparable model. I believe the prices will be the same. My final stop next week is to Costco and then I feel I will be properly educated and researched to make a decision where I want to trial these things.

Does anyone have experience with TruHearing, Inc.? They have an agreement with Humana Advantage provided by Ohio PERS to provide hearing services through a local audiologist. The local audi indicated they provide the at a much better price than he can give. He also indicated he has worked with them & will continue to do so. Thanks for comments.

Edited

Try HearPO, they are a national discounter who put me in touch with local audiologists who offer big savings.
I ended up going with Costco, can’t beat their prices.

In reply to @Barbarrosa1

@Barbarrosa1 said:

Does anyone have experience with TruHearing, Inc.? They have an agreement with Humana Advantage provided by Ohio PERS to provide hearing services through a local audiologist. The local audi indicated they provide the HAs at a much better price than he can give. He also indicated he has worked with them & will continue to do so. Thanks for comments.

I just got done with a visit to local audiologist that was arranged by TruHearing. The prices that she quoted for the Phonak Audeo Q line were straight from TruHearing, and they were the same (the MembersPlus price) that TruHearing has on their website Hearing Aids & Hearing Devices | TruHearing11

While the prices are substantially off list, she wouldn’t tell what she’d charge for the aids had I been someone walking in off the street that didn’t have TruHearing. My guess is that the quote would have been less than list, but I don’t know how close it would have been to the TruHearing price.

In reply to @Barbarrosa1

@Barbarrosa1 said:

Does anyone have experience with TruHearing, Inc.? They have an agreement with Humana Advantage provided by Ohio PERS to provide hearing services through a local audiologist. The local audi indicated they provide the HAs at a much better price than he can give. He also indicated he has worked with them & will continue to do so. Thanks for comments.

I think it will make a big difference to go with TruHearing, especially if your health insurance pays a portion of the discounted TruHearing price. Some insurance plans provide a benefit in addition to the discount provided by TruHearing. Other insurance plans just refer you to TruHearing, and perhaps pay your membership fee, but provide no benefit to further reduce your out-of-pocket cost.
The only downside I can see to using TruHearing is that their program will only guarantee three follow-up visits after your initial fitting. After that, the audi could theoretically charge whatever he/she wanted for additional follow-up visits. I would check with the audi to see how much, if anything, they would charge for additional follow-up visits after TruHearing’s guaranteed three visits. I still doubt that charges for additional follow-up visits would come close to wiping out your savings by going through TruHearing vs. retail.
I would think that the main decision for you would be TruHearing vs. Costco. In my case Costco HA’s would be zero out-of-pocket vs. almost $2000 out-of-pocket for top-of-the-line HA’s through TruHearing. But TruHearing offers a better selection. Is it worth the extra money for TruHearing’s better selection? For me it might be. It’s frustrating not to be able to do a simple side-by-side comparison between HA’s when so much money is at stake.

@ziploc said:

It’s frustrating not to be able to do a simple side-by-side comparison between HA’s when so much money is at stake.

Bingo. As I told the audiologist today, I’ve read a ton of differing opinions on the merits of various brands and models of , and it’s a bit frustrating not to be able to “try several on” before making a decision to order aids. Even with the 45 day trial, I don’t want to waste the time and energy returning a device that we can’t make work for my situation.

And by the way, I asked specifically about the TruHearing three-visit limit, and she said that she’d give the same free adjustments for someone buying through TruHearing that she would for someone buying outside of the program.

The original question was national discounters - do they work? The answer is yes. National discounters typically have a much larger scale than your independent operations. They get huge discounts from the manufacturers and are able to offer lower prices than smaller operations. They are increasingly becoming a larger part of the hearing aid industry, as consumers are doing more research online and trying to reduce the cost of their hearing aid purchase.

disclaimer I work for one of these national discounters, so yes, I am biased :slight_smile:

Chris
http://www.discounthearingconnection.com3
http://www.discounthearingconnection.com/hearing-aid-prices/5

Good luck with your hearing aid purchase!

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