HEARING AIDS-WHY SO EXPENSIVE AND WHY NO REAL PRICE,SERVICE,WARRANTY,OR POLICY, COMPETITION...NOW AN

I have a theory as to why Hearing Aids, regardless of Brand, Make, or Model, are so EXPENSIVE.

If there are 2 Million Hearing Aids sold in the United States, the question is: Who is buying them?

It is my understanding that the Veterans Administration of the United States Government buys over 425,000 Hearing Aids per year, directly from Hearing Aid Manufacturers.

The buying decisions and procedures are a mystery to me, since I am not a Hearing Aid Manufacturer.

That represents about 20% of all Hearing Aids sold.

Since it is a Government Agency, there is no real concern over price. It is what it is.

I don't think there is the same concern over costs by Government Employees as there is by Private Consumers.

I believe at least another 20% and perhaps a lot more, are bought by Federal,State,County,and City Governments, in the form of Welfare and other Public Agencies, such as Workmans Compensation,

the Department of Rehabilitation,and most of all, MEDICAID AND IN CALIFORNIA, MEDI-CAL.

For at least another 20%, and again, perhaps a lot more, THERE ARE THIRD PARTY PAY PROVIDERS.

For example, Present and Former Employers, Union Plans for Members, School Districts, Police and Fire Departments, Pension Plans, and the lists go on and on, and a lot of them processed through Insurance Plans or HMOS.

If there is any validity to the above theory, it would mean that well over 60% of Hearing Aids Sold are not paid for by Private Individuals known as Consumers, but are paid for by American Taxpayers,and Employers, who have little influence or control over how these products are paid for and dispensed.

As most Consumers are aware, nobody spends their Money, more cautiously than they do.

Since it is to the Manufacturers and Dispensers of Hearing Aids, whatever their Title may be, whether its an Institution, Medical Facility, Medical Doctor, Audiology Center, Hearing Aid Office, or COSTCO OR SEARS OR WALMART OR CVS, to CREATE, ESTABLISH,AND GIVE CREDIBILITY TO, ABSURD RETAIL PRICES, SUCH PRICES THEN BECOME ESTABLISHED AND IMPLANTED IN THE MINDS OF THE CONSUMER AS A GIVEN.

Such artificial pricing gains credibility.

Some Manufacturers such as STARKEY AND PHONAK, when they DONATE HEARING AIDS, always have their publicity departments and People, make sure the dollar value of such aids are $10,000 per pair, retail.

The top of the line Hearing Aids cost the DEALER about $1,000 each.

Multiply that by 2, which is $2,000 and if they can be sold for $10,000 per pair, thats $8,000 profit. More profit than when a $40,000 Vehicle is sold.

Such a sale provides an 80% Gross Profit Margin.

My experience suggests that no more than 4 hours is spent in a year on any Hearing Aid Client, in all aspects of testing,selling,and fitting Hearing Aids.

$2,000 per hour is more money than any top Attorney makes.

Such profit is why anybody that can read and write, is trying to sell Hearing Aids.

Such absurd profit is why the Hearing Aid Industry is awaiting a WHITE KNIGHT.

Some day, somebody, or some Organization of For Profit Company, will enter the Hearing Aid Business and make them available over the counter in Best Buy or Circuit City for $500.00 per pair, including a remote control, which use will eliminate the need for a Hearing Aid Dispenser.

We can only hope.

For more information, call Eugenia Mironoff @ (800) 432-7114

Alsip Magistrate