The Price You Pay For Hearing Aids — Is It Justified?
In a recent study, hearing aid manufacturers were asked to justify the prices that they typically charge for their products. As you can imagine, this created a great deal of consternation within the industry given the fact that many companies oftentimes charge prices that many consumer advocates believe are unnecessarily high. However, some interesting data was derived from this particular study.
For example, whereas many products are typically made in Third World sweatshops, hearing aids are handcrafted in first world countries by skilled technicians. When you really stop and think about it, most people would feel much better knowing that a product they are inserting into the ear is not potentially laced with toxic chemicals or foreign materials that can oftentimes be found in crowded sweatshop conditions. Given the fact that a great deal of time and effort is invested to create these hearing aids, the price gets passed on to customers. Truthfully, most customers are very happy with the product they are receiving, so the study’s data indicates that hearing aid manufacturers are doing the right thing in so far as how they are choosing to manufacture their products.
Something else that stood out in this particular study was the most Canadian hearing aid manufacturers need to spend some extra money ensuring that the products they produce live up to very strict guidelines developed by Health Canada. Given the fact that the hearing aid industry is very competitive, many other companies — including many in the United States and around the world — have had to meet these higher standards in an effort to remain competitive.
One aspect of why hearing aids cost so much money stems largely from the fact that there are a variety of different things that need to be done to ensure that a particular hearing aid will fit within a customer’s ear. Needless to say, the process of getting a hearing aid into somebody’s ear so that it fits both comfortably while at the same time resting in a way that allows the hearing aid to do its job can be both time consuming and require a great deal of skill on the part of the technician who’s doing the fitting. This cost gets passed along to customers as well.
Here’s the bottom line: hearing aids cost a lot of money because they do something that is straight out of biblical times — they enabled people who otherwise could not hear to hear. That being said, many hearing aid manufacturers have taken steps to develop a broad product line that involves different price points. This is great news given the fact that it enables customers to make an intelligent decision as to which particular device makes the most sense for them to use.
One final thing to keep in mind is that more and more hearing aid manufacturers are beginning to offer lifetime support for the hearing aids that they sell you. Therefore, you can actually purchase a hearing aid without ever having to worry about spending money on getting it fixed or updated in the future. This naturally gets priced into how much you pay.
I have purchased four oticon in the ear aids and have been very pleased with them.Unfortunatly,I have a dog who seems to enjoy eating hearing aids,so to date I have lost all four and now rely on a very cheap Japonese aid which doesnt do what they promised.The parts of the old aids seem to me to be salvagable,but my specialist says no.Is there a way of telling you if something can be saved.
Posted by gordon courtney | 16. Jun, 2011, 8:09 amThe hearing aids industry is one of the most obscenely priced niches of the healthcare space…
Quality hearing aids nowadays are comprised mostly of digital signal processors that in its aggregate cost in the range of $20-$100. Most major manufacturers (e.g. Phonak) mass-produce these devices in low-cost China. Nevertheless, the patient foots a $3000-$7000 bill for a pair of hearing aids, with prices nearly doubling in the last decade. How come modern cellphones that are substantially more complex than hearing aids cost up to 5 times less? Here’s my stab at the 3 most important reasons:
1. Mark-ups: audiologists mark up a device on the order of 3-5x the wholesale price. They claim that it’s due to the heavy service component (more relevant for 1st time users than for replacement customers), which is partly true. The other element is that audiologist clinics in the US are highly fragmented and do not generate enough sales volume to offset the high overhead costs of their clinic… and thus need the price levels.
2. Bundling: audiologists do not provide transparency on the final bill, but often bundle service, device cost, equipment rental, warranty, repairs, etc. into one number. Some users, such as experienced users looking for their next hearing aid, might only require a fraction of these services… however are billed for the full package.
3. Over-engineering: for the majority of users (mild/moderate hearing loss), devices nowadays do not provide substantial improvements in alleviating hearing loss, compared with devices from 2-3 years ago. Instead, manufacturers pack these devices with myriads of features (wireless functions, remote controls, 20+ channels,…) that allow them to pass on price increases.
Quite frankly though, a patient who can’t buy a hearing aid because it’s grotesquely priced doesn’t care about having a bluetooth-enabled device; he/she just wants to hear better. It seems that when it comes to hearing aids, patients are often only offered the “Rolls Royce”… but don’t have the choice of opting for the “Honda”.
This market is due a shake up, where ultimately more choice and transparency needs to be given to patients.
Posted by Audicus | 09. Sep, 2011, 2:38 pmI totally agree with Audicus. My audiologist thinks I should get a new hearing aid as my old one is four years old; she said the new technology is significantly better than the old. I tried out the new Starkey yesterday, and I agree that the sound is better: it’s crisper and cleaner. However, it’s $5600 for the pair! (That’s for the S Series iQ9.) I’ve always thought that it’s wrong that insurance companies won’t pay for hearing aids.
Any suggestions for shaking up the market?! Maybe it’s time to start a campaign to lobby our representatives in Congress.
Posted by CAThompson | 08. Oct, 2011, 12:09 pm