Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

Was this a scam or just me not understanding

This topic is closed.

43 replies2.1k viewsLast reply

Jump
Link to this topic

My audio list tested me and suggested I’d be more comfortable with a hearing aid in.
With zero research and very little information I googled and found a hearing aid provider. (I know, very stupid of me) I ended up in a very nice suite of offices and pseudo- audiologist (for want of a better word!) !. He looked at audio report and recommended Oticon Intent 1. I asked about the Oticon Real and he told me they don’t carry that anymore.
I am now trying to get some reimbursement from my health insurance company. That requires an audiologist to name the LEVEL of the aid.
Stay tuned…
In trying to get the required info my audio guy ( who charged $2700 per ear) he states
“You all ready got a discount from us. The price was $7500 and we reduced it to $(around) $6000.
You canny get anymore discount.”
What does would the sellers actions have to do with getting some reimbursement from my insurance?
I am completely confused and also-I do believe I was - perhaps conned- into buying the Opticon without given any other choices. The trail period was only 30 days.
Thoughts?

21 people in this conversation13 min readJump to latest

I would say, assuming that you are still within the trial period, if it doesn’t feel right then return the aids, stop and have a think, get advice from this forum and shop around if you can. Good luck.

My understanding is that hearing aid insurance in America is totally wacky. Sounds like there was a misunderstanding somewhere, but hard to know where it was.

Intent 1 is a top level premium hearing aid.

I thought Oticon and insurance don’t work together in one sentence (in the US), since last year, if I do remember, can’t recall the details, or is it premium level only?

If you like the hearing aids and can afford them that’s not a horrible price. If you’re not satisfied with them or it really is too much money return them, although it sounds like you might already be beyond the trial period? The Oticons are very good hearing aids and most people are quite happy with them.

I think those might be different situations than typical “insurance.” I have Kaiser in NCAL and they sell Oticon but whether you get a reduced price depends on what coverage you have. Typical insurance often requires the provider to offer a very large discount, often making it a questionable business decision.

Edited

Of course , but what you said applies to all brands, not just Oticon. In fact, that applies to audiologist, dentists, doctors etc.
those who take insurance do because of volume sales.
And KP audiology sucks :-), I’m in NCAK too (SF)

I have hearing aids that cost $5,500 for the 2. I heard the same comment, “We gave you a large discount already”. Medicare did not pay anything on mine. That is an average price, except for the Phonak I tried from Costco. They have me $2000 and a trial period of 2 months. I would say you can figure out how well they work in a month. I do suggest trying several different brands because as another poster here mentioned the app is very different on each brand. The Phonak from Costco has a good app for several different environments.

In reply to @OcramSagev

Except that Oticon specifically chose to exempt their latest model from accepting insurance. I have read that they have had second thoughts about that decision.

Edited

In reply to @RobHooft

In the U.S. there’s no universal health insurance. Medicare, the closest thing to universal health insurance for people over, 65 doesn’t cover hearing aids nor dental care. We do have a lot of choices and a lot of opportunities to be ripped off. My private insurance, from my employer offers hearing aids. However, to get the benefits I would first have to satisfy my annual out of pocket cost of $1,500 of other medical expenses. Then, I would have to go to an audiologist that is on their approved list, and buy them from that provider. They only will pay the provider $3,000 USD. One of my colleagues used the insurance and it cost him $1,500 out of pocket for the middle level of whatever hearing aid they sold him. I just didn’t use the insurance, and I went to Costco and got the top of the line Jabra Enhanced Pro 30s, which are rebranded Resound Viva, for $1,599 USD.

In reply to @eliotb

BTW, Costco sells the top of the line rebranded hearing aids except for the Sennheiser brand which is last year’s top of the line hearing aids, I think from Oticon. I have the Jabra Enhanced Pro 30s which are the same as the Resound Viva.

Sorry, I got confused. Thanks for the correction. I couldn’t remember who makes the Phillips brand or the Rexton Reach.

That is strange as you are not trying to get a discount from them?

My health insurance (Aetna through work) pays $1000 per hearing aid (so $2000 for both) every 3 years but requires a certified audiologist, prescription and aids to be fitted to the prescription, which all sounds reasonable. No limit on which brand.

However the Oticon Intent 1’s were quoted by a local audiologist at $7000+ so insurance would only get me back to $5000. The audiologist looked at my insurance claim form and said she could provide all the needed info.

Your price was a lot lower but I agree something sounds very off if the hearing aid proider will not provide the information your insurance company needs. It doesn’t cost them anything so you wonder what there are trying to hide / avoid.

I ended up going with Costco Jabra Pro 30’s at $1700 which even without insurance were much cheaper than the Oticon Intent 1 (Jabra is same hardware as the premium Resound Vivias). My insurance will not cover Costco as they don’t have certified audiologists filling the precription but my experience was the Costco fitter seemed much more professional and competent than the audiologist quoting $7000 (Costco did a full hearing test and fitting included etc and as many follow up visits as we want for adjustments).

Related discussions