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Dear Editor:
Let’s play a game of word association. What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word dealer? Car dealer? Phone dealer? Drug dealer? What about hearing aid dealers? YES! They exist.
There are people whose JOB is to sell you hearing aids and willingly get you to pay the most expensive price for them. Not only does this show how they only view helping people with hearing losses hear better as a simple transaction, but ALSO their lack of regard for the seriousness of the impact hearing loss can have on a person! This is why you should care about reducing the cost of hearing aids for those who are hard of hearing and deaf.
When getting hearing aids, they present the newer ones as if it is a new iPhone. They tell you all the great things it does and try to persuade you that you absolutely need to get the most expensive hearing aids with the best features. However, not everyone can afford them.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 70 percent of people who need hearing aids live in low-income countries, and low-income families are more likely to have children who suffer from hearing loss. In addition, 17 percent of people who need a hearing aid actually have one. This is not surprising considering that the cheapest ones will still cost up to $1,000 per ear, or $2,000. It doesn’t help that not all insurance covers them and the majority of it has to be paid out of pocket, upfront.
The people who are most affected by hearing loss are the most vulnerable to this exploitation – the elderly and children – yet hearing aid companies and audiologists still choose to make a profit off them. I’ve had hearing loss all my life and I am just now being able to get hearing aids because my insurance started covering it.
There’s literally no reason for hearing aids to be so expensive. It costs more to produce an iPad, yet they are cheaper than the most basic hearing aids. What if your ability to live a functional life was dependent on if you had the most updated, expensive phone? Well, people with hearing loss who can’t afford hearing aids have to deal with a similar challenge every day.
This is why we need to work to stop treating it as an industry and more like the life-changing medical technology it is.
Khayla Williams
Fishers