What kind of work do you do?

IT - I am over infrastructure in our Global Command Center. Any infrastructure issue during my shift is my responsibility to drive to resolution. Networking,mainframe and distributed systems.I have local teams and teams in Chennai, Singapore,costa rica and mexico during my shift.

are you in India ?

Wife-Your issue isn't hearing, it's listening.

Me-What?

Yes. I would pay extra for a "wife voice discriminator button".

When my Mom (who is on Medicare) needed hearing aids I ended up paying $3,800 for her units.

I heard that

Bluetooth and rechargeable. I have Phonak and love them but they are expensive. BlueCross paid for mine.

I have the Phonak over-the-ear type that I got about 4 years ago when I had private insurance. $4,500 for the pair with the bluetooth adapter for TV. They were 100% covered under the insurance. I wear glasses and the earpiece and the hearing aid don't play well together.


Next time I'll get the ones that are completely in the ear and most likely from Sam's club as I only have Medicare now.

P.S. the image linker thingy is no longer broke . . . . . Thanks J.P.

I hear ya loud and clear.

I have Phonak's and I like them...bluetooth, streaming etc. However....all hearing aids a way over priced...period. Audiologists mostly bundled their prices. That is they include visits, insurance, etc. Most of them refuse to unbundled their costs so you can see what you are really paying for. I have been told by people who have access to what some audiologists around here are paying for the hearing aids that they are doing a 300 percent markup. Now I don't have a problem being profitable but price gouging, especially senior citizens who on on limited incomes and insurance won't cover aids, are being taken advantage of. Unfortunately they have a captive market for the time being and fight tooth and nail against any legislation that would hold them accountable for their practices.

Being technically inclined, former IT, I got the hardware and software to program my own hearing aids. My audiologist threw a fit when they found out and said I'd void the warranty.....until I pointed out the warranty was for the hardware and NOT the software and if they wanted to change that they should put it in their purchase contracts next time...:) Needless to say I'm persona non grata around that office now...:)

Shop around, negotiate on price...you have nothing to lose. They won't negotiate...move on. It's your money.

Techfisher makes a good point that reminded me of something. Negotiate. On both sets of Phonaks that I purchased, I did find them online about $500 cheaper per hearing aid. I mentioned this to the Audiologist and she called her source and they did a "Price Match" so I did get a price break on them. However, you still need a good Audiogram baseline to know which frequencies need adjusting. Your hearing changes also, so as years go by, another audiogram is neccesary.

call bonham va and see if they will take ya, in and out like a flash (except for the hearing test, that is about 30 mins or so). they can do anything dallas can in audiology.

And a Vet can also file a Claim with the VA due to the loss of hearing and receive a Service Connected Disability of 30%

No , I work in Irving