Yeah tis always a challenge when finances are limited, especially if you are in the severe/profound threshold… Sadly work wise, it is a documented fact, in studies over the years, you are more likely to be paid less than others, and highly likely to be overlooked when promotions come around your workplace! For some obscure reasoning, most folks tend to regard you as stupid, just because you have a severe /profound hearing loss… Although, I tended to buck that trend, by showing bosses over the last 30 odd years of hearing loss, I was as good if not better than my fellow workers, in nearly every job, I was promoted, perhaps I was just fortunate to be employed by fair-minded employer’s? Here in the UK, we are most fortunate, we have unfair competition from the NHS, probably the largest dispensers of hearing aids worldwide, these are free at, “point of service”, but in truth we pay for these via our, “National Insurance Contributions”… But, this drives down the price of aids from the private sector, if you shop around, you can get some good deals, I paid £2.4K UK pounds for the pair (Interest Free, payable over 2 years) for my Naida P90’s fully fitted, with custom moulds, by a fully qualified A.uD, tis probably less than half price in the states? NHS do dispense some excellent aids, but the actual waiting time is horrendous!!! Good luck in obtaining new aids @nidjo, cheers Kev