I think I’ve read that hearing aids are not covered in Canada, or perhaps it varies by province?
My concern if we make hearing aids “free” for everybody who wants them that a lot of people will get them because they’re free and never wear them(happens often enough even when people pay). Also, if we give everybody the most advanced tier of hearing aids, it will be a very expensive program. If we try to control who gets what level of hearing aid, it is likely to get very bureaucratic. I think I would prefer a system where the government negotiates prices with the hearing aid companies (like it does with VA) and makes them available to all who sell hearing aids for the same price. I think this would make hearing aids available to all who want them at an affordable price and reduce waste and bureaucracy.
so, you’re defining “the industry” ( has anyone else?) as “health care”, and include doctors, nurses, pharmacists and hospitals as all part…of the hearing aid cartel? (NO, of course you mean, the hearing aid industry is just part of the giant cartel of your imagination.) So, yes, you are defining the terms your own way and have expanded the 11 big lies to apply to all of this, and more.
I think you need to understand the concept of what’s being discussed! and also, the concept of how to reply to a counter argument. Crying “soap bubbles” and “no not at all” and changing the subject doesn’t actually count as a response.
Earlier I wrote that you wanted health care workers to all take a pay cut, but not you. You’re claiming they’re all part of the profiteering that’s going on on behalf of Big Hearing. You said, “no, I don’t expect them all to work for peanuts”. And then you dodged my question about your own culpability in “the Cartel” that is capitalism. So again, how much of a cut should they all take, in the middle of a Covid epidemic and labor shortages? How much of a cut should audis all take, to satisfy your notion of fairness? Or do you really think that cutting executive pay will solve the issue?: Or are you asking for a mass restructuring of Capitalism as a whole?
By the way, I’m not angry! I take it that Tenkan is just playing around like me–and isn’t mad at me either. Merry Christmas Tenkan, and I mean it! Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum!
So we can agree to disagree then, of course no anger here mate.
Merry Xmas
absolutely! truth be told. Signia just tried to hold me up for over $300.00 for a dryer/charger/uv device. I already have the charger and Hal-Hen. That’s a bit much! No alternative, if I want to disinfect, they claim.
Assuming rechargeable aids, correct?
Otherwise you have less expensive dryer/UV choices.
Peripheral devices are easy to find on eBay for a lot less.
All adjustments are obvious and available on Connexx software. There are no “back programs” Learning to self-program can be accomplished within an afternoon.
Not new to HAs but after a small fire with one I lived without HAs for a long time but have never stopped “researching” them. My experiences fit with the original authors 11. No they aren’t fact but experience. This is not a professional site where all are measured to the 14th decimal. I believe all 11 should be in your mind when shopping for HAs.
then there is a clear lack of regulation andr oversee …
need a better regulatory controls
Less controls results in free market.
Fewer controls allow the major manufacturers to collaborate to keep prices and profits high and to raise the barrier for new competitors to break into the market.
But with the revolving door between various industries and the government bodies that (supposedly) regulate them, it is not too difficult for the regulators to favor their former employers for whom they might want to work again in the future.
I’d like to know this: who makes the profit from the higher tiers? The audi or the hearing aid company?
How has that been working out for prescription drug prices? Drugs are highly “controlled” yet the same issues you mention, “few controls”, seem to be still be prevalent
The prices are not controlled. The FDA regulates drugs for safety and (maybe) efficacy, but I’m not sure that they even do their own testing: don’t they mostly just accept the results of the manufacturers’ own trials?
Update: A few years back one of Martin Shkreli’s companies raised the price of one particular drug by more than 5,000%, but that was not what landed him in prison: it was securities fraud.
The official answer to the question “What kind of economy does the United States have?” (or words to that effect) in the citizenship test is not “Free Market” but “Capitalist” – and all over the Internet you can find discussions of the differences.
Hearing aid prices also are not controlled but the industry is regulated. Hmm, sounds just like prescription drugs 
I’m sorry if this has been mentioned in earlier posts; the biggest lie is that the latest hearing aids will help you hear speech in noisy environments. They are not clever enough to hone into the speech you want to hear. Only the human brain with unimpaired hearing can decipher speech through the noise.
Bingo, absolutely! I always get a good laugh when reading the manufacturer’s marketing hype/blurb.
Truth 1: You need a different audiologist.
Yep, I agree!
I find that I’m happier after accepting the fact that hearing aids will not restore my hearing to some imagined pristine state where everything works the way I want.
I can’t recall what normal hearing was like. That’s one thing. And two: everyone, including normal hearing people, struggle with speech in noise. No hearing aid will make your hearing better than optimal.
I’m profoundly grateful for the aids that I have! Maybe we’re all a bit spoiled. Throughout all of history, hearing loss was permanent and not capable of being aided until very recently. The advances over the last 20 years are remarkable.