First off, check your medical insurance. A lot of insurance carriers now cover hearing aids, or at least a portion of the cost.
You want to ensure that your audiologist is following best practices, REM. Costco does this, as well as many other audiologists. Yes, you can get a bad egg at one but most are good.
Once you get hearing aids, auditory training exercises can really boost what you get from the hearing aids. An app such as Hearos can make a big difference.