{"id":11425,"date":"2020-10-31T10:48:07","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T17:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mayosis.com\/zipold\/?p=11425"},"modified":"2024-09-18T17:10:05","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T17:10:05","slug":"save-money-on-hearing-aids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/save-money-on-hearing-aids\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Save Money on Hearing Aids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>They&#8217;re one of the most expensive personal items you&#8217;ll ever buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the U.S, the average price for a pair of hearing aids is a staggering <a href=\"https:\/\/obamawhitehouse.archives.gov\/blog\/2015\/10\/26\/%E2%80%8Bpcast-recommends-changes-promote-innovation-hearing-technologies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$4600<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With prices like that, it&#8217;s only natural to wonder how you might save money on hearing aids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, look no further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this post I&#8217;ll provide the top 5 ways you can save money on hearing aids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-zip-gutenberg-zip-youtube zip-post-inside-video\"><div class=\"plyr__video-embed zip-youtube-player\" id=\"playerghzip\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l92HZspINM8\"><\/iframe><\/div><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"5-tips-for-saving-money-on-hearing-aids\">5 tips for saving money on hearing aids<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ins\">1. Check with your health insurance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>More and more health insurance plans are providing hearing aid coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before you pick up the phone and call a hearing aid company, call your insurance company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some questions you should ask them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>&#8220;Do I have any benefits for hearing aids?&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>&#8220;Do I have a different benefit amount if I go with an in-network provider, vs. an out-of-network provider?&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>&#8220;What sort of preauthorization (if any), is required, to take advantage of my hearing aid benefits?&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>And since we&#8217;re talking about saving money on hearing aids, you should know that even if you have a hearing aid benefit from your insurance, that doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean that utlizing that benefit is going to be your most affordable option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, a lot of insurance plans will refer you to their \u201cin-network\u201d or &#8220;preferred&#8221; provider, where they&#8217;ll promise a certain % of savings, or a flat amount off your purchase price, like $1,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The catch? Those savings are taken off an inflated manufacturer&#8217;s suggested retail price (MSRP), and your final price may not be very competitive when all is said and done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, don&#8217;t assume that if your <em>out<\/em>-of-network benefit is less than your <em>in<\/em>-network benefit, that that means it&#8217;s going to be cheaper for you to stay in-network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It all depends on the starting price of the hearing aids you&#8217;re considering buying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the in-network provider&#8217;s starting price is drastically higher than an out-of-network provider&#8217;s starting price, it could totally negate the extra benefit amount you would&#8217;ve received by staying in-network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bottom line, is don&#8217;t assume that just because you have a hearing aid benefit through your insurance, that that&#8217;s going to be your most affordable option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take a close look at your real out-of-pocket costs and evaluate accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"costco\">2. Consider Costco<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have a Costco nearby, you could be in for some serious savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/costco-hearing-aids\/\">Costco hearing aids<\/a> are very similar to the hearing aids that are sold at independent hearing aid offices, and the savings can be tremendous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, most independent hearing aid offices will sell a set of premium hearing aids for around $6,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Costco&#8217;s price? Around $2,000- sometimes a little more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some downsides to buying through Costco- there&#8217;s a limited selection of products, sometimes defeatured products, and long appointment wait times, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Buying hearing aids from Costco isn&#8217;t for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"zip\">3. Buy through a discount network<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Discount networks, like <a href=\"\/\">ZipHearing<\/a>, negotiate discount pricing with hearing aid manufacturers, and pass the savings on to their customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are probably a dozen discount networks in the industry, and this is an easy way to save up to 35% off retail prices, while still getting local hearing care and access to all the major brands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Call one of the discount networks and ask to be referred to their local affiliate provider in your community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll get discount pricing below what you can typically negotiate on your own, while still getting access to local care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ht\">4. Check \u201cLocal Deals\u201d on the HearingTracker website<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Founded by an audiologist, HearingTracker.com is one of the most well known resources for consumers in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One neat feature of the site is their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hearingtracker.com\/hearing-aids\/discounts?utm_source=zip&amp;utm_medium=blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">local deals<\/a> section, where local hearing providers create and advertise special \u201cdeals\u201d on hearing aids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s not uncommon to find deals that are up to 50% off retail prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through HearingTracker&#8217;s deal program, you get access to discount pricing and you also still get local care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"unbund\">5. Ask about \u201cunbundling\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>At most hearing aid offices, the price you&#8217;re quoted is what&#8217;s called a \u201cbundled\u201d price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is- a price that includes both the cost of the hearing aids, but also a lengthy service plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So the devices and service are \u201cbundled\u201d together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, if you separate the price of the devices and service, there&#8217;s room for savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is called \u201cunbundling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can save you thousands of dollars, and it&#8217;ll make you look like the informed buyer you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ask your hearing provider for their unbundled price, or in other words, their price for the devices, plus a few appointments to get them setup properly for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-zip-gutenberg-zip-youtube zip-post-inside-video\"><div class=\"plyr__video-embed zip-youtube-player\" id=\"playerghzip\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rcuGM8QCfb0\"><\/iframe><\/div><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, get on a pay-as-you-go type arrangement for future service appointments (which you definitely will need).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This could easily net you a thousand dollars or more in immediate (at least short term) savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heads up though- this is a more &#8220;advanced&#8221; way to save money on hearing aids, and it doesn&#8217;t come without risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your pay-as-you-go rate is high, buying hearing aids unbundled could end up being more expensive in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re an experienced hearing aid wearer and you know roughly how many appointments you require over the lifespan of a hearing aid, it should be easy enough for you to calculate whether or not you&#8217;ll come out ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They&#8217;re one of the most expensive personal items you&#8217;ll ever buy. In the U.S, the average price for a pair of hearing aids is a staggering $4600. With prices like that, it&#8217;s only natural to wonder how you might save money on hearing aids. Well, look no further. In this post I&#8217;ll provide the top [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Save-money.jpg?fit=1125%2C750&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11425"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14031,"href":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11425\/revisions\/14031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ziphearing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}