There’s a new law in Washington state, For those of you in Australia, the UK, and other places, that’s in the Pacific Northwest of the US. The new law requires many health insurance companies to pay for hearing aids. Check out this blog post on HLAA website:
New Insurance Benefits for Hearing Aids in Washington State
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Interesting. I’m in WA State. Last year my heathcare plan covered $3600 (for two hearing aids). This year, 2024, it’s gone down to $2000 (total for two). I wonder what happened? Same plan.
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That is interesting. I am also in WA, though I’m in SW. I am on Kaiser Oregon/SW Washington and I just ordered new HAs a couple of weeks ago. My Kaiser plan just included HA coverage for the first time this year (and it seems like a good benefit), but I paid 15% plus a $250 copay.
Ended up costing about $1100 out of pocket for two aids listed at $2900 each. That’s a pretty good deal, but quite a bit worse than free…
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I’m sorry that happened. We’re all kind of stuck in the crazy-quilt of health insurance that America now has.
The new law covers:
- Employees of companies with more tha 50 employees, when the company is not self insured
- Public school employees
- state employees covered under the State Employees Benefits Board
All together, this adds up to many thousands of people, but not everyone
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Most of us think about health insurance by the carrier name, like “Kaiser” or “United Healthcare” or “Medicare “. But the state governments group it by how the plan is funded. Kaiser plans might be funded by the state, by Medicare, by an employer, etc it’s an unholy mess.
On top of that, there are differences in how the actual benefits are regulated. Could be the federal government, a state government, the military, or a self-funded employer
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People in Australia, UK and other places know exactly where Washington state is. It’s only people in the USA who have no idea where it is. 
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I have UnitedHealthcare Dual Complete. Last year I bought the Phonak Lumity L90T’s. Only had to pay an additional $898 for both. Glad I did it, as this year I’d have to pay more. Although if I remember right, I think it’s every two years the insurance will pay the $2000 now.
I have Kaiser, although when I bought my aids almost two years ago, Kaiser gave no discount at all. And so I’ve stayed with my private provider, who’s ten minutes away.
Apparently next time around, with Kaiser I’ll get major discounts. So Kaiser it is! I’m only thirty minutes away from Kaiser, including parking. A pair of new high end HAs for $1100? I’ll gladly accept that.
The U.S. “mixed model” of private and government financing is confusing. But it also has advantages over single payer systems. The U.S. may be stumbling into a pretty good mixed system after decades of horror.
If this goes on, with more insurance companies picking up much of the cost of aids, Costco may finally find some competition. The shoe will be on the other foot!
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Oh, my. I wish you weren’t right!
Keep in mind that Kaiser has potentially dozens of plans, with the group (my employer, for example) selecting which options they want to offer to their members. As an example, I can choose from what my employer calls “bronze, silver, or gold” plans. Each has different coverage, different coinsurance and deductibles, different prescription copays, etc, and a different cost per payday.
My particular plan has a $250 copay, and then most services are paid at a percentage of the billed amount until I have paid $2,500 out of pocket, then everything except things like emergency room are fully covered.
In the case of hearing coverage, I paid a $40 “specialist” fee for the initial hearing test, and then for the aids I pay 15% of the cost (plus that first $250). That came out to around $1100 for me, might be different for someone else.
My paperwork says that the ones that I ordered would normally cost about $2,900 each, or $5800 for the pair. This tracks, as 15% of $5800 is $870, and $250 added to that is just over $1100.
Don’t get me wrong, I am happy with the deal that I got - but for information, my employer has about 8,000 employees, it is not public sector in any way, and I would’t think that we are self insured, since we have commercial providers for health, dental, life, disability, etc as options during our enrollment period.
I’m just pointing out that it seems odd.
Yes, and I’m familiar with them. And actually, it’s not so difficult as your post suggests. Sure, Kaiser may have “potentially” dozens of plans, but realistically there are far fewer to choose from for the vast majority of us. I also have Medicare–I’m 69. I went to Member Services and was walked through how to integrate that with Kaiser. It all made sense and is a very good deal for me. One visit and done; things are even less expensive now.
Out of curiosity, how cheap are HA if bought in say Mexico, I know up north (looking at you Terrance and Phillip) it must cost an arm and a leg?
I suppose WA state isn’t far from the Mexican border, assuming you can easily fly above the
Appalachian Mountains.
You really need to look at a map. I grew up in Washington state. Ummm, the Appalachians are ‘just a bit’ east…and Mexico is a few miles away as well.
Yep, I am about as south as you can go in WA, and the Mexican border is still 1,000 miles away. I’m almost 300 miles from Canada, and approximately 2,500 miles from anywhere in the Appalachian mountains.
Coincidentally, as I write this, I am in Nashville, Tennessee - just a couple hours away from the western edge of the Appalachians. This isn’t my regular stomping grounds though, and I will be back home in Washington tomorrow.
Oh my bad, I’ve always thought that the Appalachian mountains were to the west, but it’s the Rockies that are close the WA state, or maybe I got confused between the two Washington.
I guess my geography is becoming rusty.
