Last Friday President Joe Biden signed a new executive order, including a directive to the Department of Health and Human Services to consider issuing proposed rules to allow hearing aids to be sold over the counter.
The executive order noted that hearing aids, which can cost more than $5,000 per pair, are “so expensive that only 14% of the approximately 48 million Americans with hearing loss use them.”
Tell us about it! We hear these stories all the time: people who are suffering from hearing loss and can’t afford to buy hearing aids. Fortunately, we’re here to help, and we’ve been able to provide countless people in California with hearing aids since our hearing program started 10 years ago.
Will this new initiative help?
Well, for some, yes – just the way reading glasses sold over the counter help with simple vision problems.
But just as many of us need prescription glasses, most people with hearing loss will still need the services of professional audiologists to restore their hearing. For them, a simple device sold over the counter won’t be much help.
For them, we will still be there, providing access to high-quality hearing aids, dispensed by professionals to Californians who need our help.
