A cellphone that can record video costs less than $200 these
days. A state-of-the-art digital camera might run $500 with
fancy options.
So why do hearing aids generally cost at least $1,500 and
often a lot more?
It's one of the great frustrations for people who have hearing
disabilities.
Manufacturers say prices are high because research and development
on new hearing-aid technology is expensive but only 7 million
hearing aids are sold worldwide each year. Officials at Starkey
Labs, the largest U.S. hearing-aid manufacturer, say the company
spent $40 million over the past three years to develop its latest
line.
"We don't get the scale you normally see in consumer electronics,"
says Starkey Labs president Jerry Ruzicka. "The hearing-aid
industry is high-tech and low-volume."
Another factor is the requirement in most places that a licensed
audiologist or hearing aid specialist fits patients, and some
experts worry that customers are sometimes fitted with more
complex and expensive hearing aids than are necessary.
But complaints are directed more at insurance policies, very
few of which cover hearing aids. Medicare also does not cover
them, an exemption that would require an act of Congress to
change. Rather than attempt that, supporters have lined up behind
a bill pending in both houses to provide a tax credit of $500
per ear every five years for people under 18 and over 55 who
buy hearing aids.
The House sponsor, Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Kan., has significant
hearing loss himself and wears two hearing aids.
Ryun says the bill has more than 100 co-sponsors but is not
now scheduled to come to the floor for a vote.
