Digitial Hearing Aids vs. Analog Hearing Aids. Can you help me?


Question:
I have been diagnosed with "mild to moderate high frequency senorineural hearing loss bilaterally" or in laymans terms permanent hearing loss at higher frequencies. My audiologist recommended Digital Hearing Aids but my insurance denied it saying it wasn't "Medically Necessary" over analog hearing aids.

Has anyone ever had this happen? Any websites / research / journal articles that you can give me will be most greatly appreciated. I am appealing the decision and want to have the most information I can attach with my appeal to overturn the decision.

Thank you so much!

Answers:
Most insurance companies wrote their payment policies back when analog technology was the only technology available in hearing aids. They have not amended their reimbursal rates to include the newer and more expensive technologies. Oftentimes an insurance company will pay whatever their max coverage is for analog hearing aids and the patient would then be responsible for the retail balance of the instrument. If you are willing to accept the analog technology then you may not have any out of pocket expenses.

That said, it is important to realize that there is a great difference in abilities between analog and digital technology and the prices do range because of this. There are many companies that no longer offer an analog line of products, in favor of the more up to date digital products.

Call you insurance company and find out what they would cover if you did get digital hearing aids and discuss with your audiologist what out of pocket expenses you may have if you do go digital vs analog.

In my opinion digital will give you and your dispenser more flexibility to fine tune and adjust your hearing aid and also give you more of a range of fitting in case your hearing declines over the next several years. This is greatly limited in analog products.
I've had analog hearing aids since I was 11 (I'm 28 now) and they seem to work just fine. I haven't tried a digital one (they're too expensive) so I couldn't compare though. The ones I have currently are though Belltone and they're great. The audiologist can program them right through the computer. Check out Belltone.


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