Finding Financial Assistance for Your Hearing Aids

The saying “you get what you pay for” is especially true of hearing aids, and although the latest hearing aids are designed to be more effective than ever, they’re not exactly cheap, either.

Luckily, modern digital hearing aids, while not cheap, ARE becoming more budget friendly, in the same way that the majority of consumer electronics are becoming more affordable (A 20-inch flat screen TV cost $1,200 in 1999; it costs just $84 today). And when you stop to think about it, we tend to spend much more money on things that simply do not enrich our quality of life to the degree that a pair of hearing aids can.

Let’s say, for instance, that a pair of hearing aids costs $5,000. Assuming the hearing aids last 5 years, that equates to a monthly cost of only $83.33 per month. Many people shell out more money on their cable television bill, and that’s why the majority of our patients readily confess that while the initial expense seems large, the monthly expense, relative to the benefit they receive from better hearing, is more than worth it.

So you have to ask yourself, would you be willing to devote less than $100 per month to have better conversations and relationships with your close friends and family? Most people would, and that’s why millions of people decide to purchase hearing aids.

But once you decide to purchase hearing aids, what are your options for paying for them? Despite common beliefs, you have a range of possible options.

Financing options for hearing aids

The first mistake people make is assuming that no financial support is available. While obtaining assistance can be frustrating at times, there are in fact quite a few resources that you should inquire about before deciding to hand over a full cash payment. The following are some of the steps we recommend taking:

• Begin by consulting your private insurance provider. While private insurance differs by company and by state, many people find that their private insurance includes some type of assistance with hearing aids.
• Consider utilizing a medical flexible spending account. This is a specialized type of account you can use to put aside money (pre-tax) to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses.
• Check out your Medicare and Medicaid benefits. This is not the most common way to help pay for hearing aids, but Medicare and Medicaid do offer benefits in specific limited instances.
• Contact your local VA office if you’re a veteran. Veterans may receive benefits that can help partly or completely pay for hearing aids. Check with your local VA office for more information.
• Search for charitable organizations that offer hearing aids or financial support. If you meet the financial conditions, there are various charitable organizations that provide hearing aids or financial assistance for hearing aids. We’ll share some resources for you in the next section.
• Check your state’s vocational rehabilitation program. If hearing aids are necessary for employment, your state may help you pay for them through its vocational rehabilitation program.
• Consider financing your hearing aids. Numerous programs exist, including CareCredit, which functions like a credit card but is exclusive to healthcare services.

Additional resources

There are far too many options and resources to name, and many programs are specific to the state you live in or to the specific organizations you’re associated with. So, in place of reading through a long list of resources, it’s best to search for programs specific to your state or situation. For example, carrying out a Google search for “hearing aid funding in ” or “hearing aid assistance for veterans” will most likely provide some worthwhile results.

You may also want to take a look at the listing of financial resources from the
Better Hearing Institute and the , both of which list programs by state and include lists of numerous charitable organizations.