Nancydrew - I don’t know if you’re still interested in info about Naitons Hearing.
I posted a question today about HAs purchased through Nations Hearing (https://forum.hearingtracker.com/t/do-phonak-aids-bought-thru-nations-hearing-have-code-protection/73286). My question may not be relevant for you unless you’re interested in DIY programming like me. Even if you’re not, maybe the following information can be helpful:
The closest city where I live (pop. about 175K) has only one Nations Hearing provider who is an audiologist; the other Nations Hearing providers have only hearing specialists. So Nations Hearing can be limiting if you want to see an audiologist.
My Medicare Advantage plan through Aetna a $1250 annual benefit per HA through Nations Hearing. If you go to a Nations Hearing provider, you’ll get 3 free fittings. You can choose to go to a provider out-of-network, but in that case that provider must purchase your HAs through Nations Hearing, and you may have to pay for fitting appointments with that provider.
The price structure of HAs through Nations Hearing is far from transparent: They offer no online catalog so you can’t see what price level a given HA is going to cost. You can call Nations Hearing and ask and they’ll tell you. From several calls, it looks like the $1250 benefit per ear applies pretty much dollar-for-dollar for entry-level hearing aids, but not for more advanced aids. For example, a pair of Phonak Lumity L-70s are tagged with a price of $6,000. When you apply your two-ear Nations Hearing benefit to this, you’d end up paying (at this time) $3,500, which is only about $1000 less than you may be able to find L-70s elsewhere (so you’re not receiving a full $2500 benefit).
Hope this helps.