Wake up and smell America! I recently referred a patient to her doctor to have her ear wax removed. A very simple procedure that can be carried out by a nurse with a syringe full of warm water, in less than 5 minutes. This patient ended up sitting in front of an Ear Nose and Throat specialist nurse, who charged $300 to remove the ear wax from her ear (one ear BTW).
If you want to talk about health care rip offs in America, go right ahead. Watch the movie Sicko, if you want to get really annoyed.
America spends somewhere in the order of $5,800 per capita on health care, yet has a system that leaves millions of Americans out in the cold. In many European countries they spend half that amount and cover everyone. These same countries have a longer life span and far lower infant mortality than America.
So let’s not try to pretend that the hearing aid industry is some great rip off merchant here. Frankly they are far less predatory than much of the medical profession.
At least my patients know the EXACT cost of treatment up front, with no hidden extras later. Next time you go to the Emergency Room try getting a quote for treatment up front, and see if they stick with it. Good luck with that.
As for what you posted about ReSound, they are basically just describing a rewards program that provides an incentive to remain loyal to the brand. Have you been to a doctor’s office lately? Who do you think supplies them with those fancy plasma TVs and other nice toys? Drug companies send in drug reps that bribe the doctors to push certain drugs over others. Doctors are not giving you the best medicine to cure you, they are giving you drugs based on a combination of bribes from the drug companies, and threats from the insurance companies.
Just because your experience with hearing aids is less than stellar hardly gives you reasonable grounds to try and uncover the industry as a complete scam, and liken it to a pyramid marketing scheme.
