I was checking market for these in russia and you can buy anything from $100 to $2000 based on where it has been made. Cheaper ones are russian made, expensive ones are European.

Chinese or russian made devices would never sell in EU, canada or states because of regulations of course. So much for global economy and free market. Global and free when it suits however it is supposed to suit...

 

If they costs too much, one is presented with an opportunity to compete with a less expensive version.

You take the risk, you get the rewards.

 

New legislation in the US will create an "over the counter" (non-prescription) hearing aid for people with moderate to mild hearing loss.

Current hearing aids cost $2000 to $4000 each (most people need a pair). A hearing aid has much less technology in it than an iPhone and they cost way more - weird. Someone must be making a big profit off the hearing impaired (and that profit is government mandated). That said, Guess who is fighting the bill with major lobbying efforts?

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/03/opinions/otc-hearing-aids-opinion-kelley/index.html

It already passed congress, I wonder if it will go through the senate.

I'm at a bit of a loss. How is it that hearing aids can be purchased online for as low as $10?

Amazon alone has a rather large selection of several hundred.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=lp_862...342011&ie=UTF8&qid=1502056296&rnid=8626342011

Sam's Club also sells several dozen, with 2/3 of them being under $100.

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/searc...wl16=+hearing +aids +. +sams&wl17=1t1&veh=sem

Back in the late 90's my dad got his hearing aids from Sam's Club. The first pair was about $20 and he decided he didn't like them, but learned quite a bit about what it was that he didn't like. So he got another set for a couple hundred bucks, was quite satisfied, and used them until he died several years later.

 

I'm at a bit of a loss. How is it that hearing aids can be purchased online for as low as $10?

Amazon alone has a rather large selection of several hundred.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=lp_8626342011_nr_n_4?fst=asff&rh=n:3760901,n:!3760931,n:3775161,n:8624314011,n:8626342011,n:3775901&bbn=8626342011&ie=UTF8&qid=1502056296&rnid=8626342011

Sam's Club also sells several dozen, with 2/3 of them being under $100.

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/search/searchResults.jsp?searchTerm=Hearing Aids&pid=ps_658555641&adid=22222222620271134023&wl0=b&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=196920929696&wl4=kwd-156970420864&wl5=9031925&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl15=35076434084&wl16=+hearing +aids +. +sams&wl17=1t1&veh=sem

Back in the late 90's my dad got his hearing aids from Sam's Club. The first pair was about $20 and he decided he didn't like them, but learned quite a bit about what it was that he didn't like. So he got another set for a couple hundred bucks, was quite satisfied, and used them until he died several years later.

Online sellers = law breakers. Must have a prescription in the US.

$10 at Sams club? Your search must have returned "HEARING AID cleaning supplies" and "HEARING AID batteries".

Some healer ones if you call $300 cheap. Also, this are OTE (over the ear). All others are online only and not custom fit-able.

Consumer adjustable "Custom-fit" Mouth guards have been available for almost 40 years. Why not a hearing aid?

 

Why not a hearing aid?

from:https://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/...umer/ConsumerProducts/HearingAids/default.htm
This site includes information on the difference between hearing aids, intended for use by people with hearing loss, and sound amplifiers for consumers with no hearing loss who want to make environmental sounds louder for recreational use. While the FDA regulates hearing aids, which are medical devices, it does not consider sound amplifiers to be medical devices when labeled for recreational or other use by individuals with normal hearing. However, certain safety regulations related to sound output levels still apply to these products.

You will find guidance at https://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/DeviceRegulationandGuidance/GuidanceDocuments/ucm373461.htm

Good luck in your endeavor.

 

You're sticking with that story? Are these assumptions or did you really look? Could you please describe what "FDA regs" are driving up the price? I'm guessing more hearing aids are sold than "laser combs to cure baldness and all of these devices claim some degree of FDA approval - I'm guessing the same level of non-invasive device as hearing aids.

http://hairlosscureguide.com/13-of-the-best-laser-hair-growth-combs-and-helmets-to-treat-baldness/

Interestingly, more and bigger injection molded parts, and still under $500.

Let me know you you determined production volume and FDA approval costs drive hearing aid costs to $4000 each. I'm guessing it is lack of competition and "value pricing", not free markets and "cost plus" pricing that keep the price of hearing adds high. In fact, I doubt a hearing aid costs more than $50 in parts and assembly.




So a fluorescent bulb can be correlated to a $4000 hearing aid? Please share the details you've found! I can't wait to hear about it!

Gophert I say you need to take a few deep breaths and calm down! Cuz I never claimed to be economist and I didn't know your OP was on a subject so emotional to you! So my post wasn't a political argument at all! I was just causally guessing! So plz just chill for your own sake b4 you need to worry abt price of antihypertensives!

 

...And the fact that such extortion, mayhem and murder is possible under US law says all that needs be said about the so called 'free market' system and pay-per-play governmental oversight -- both of which being among the many faces of fascism!...

HP I totally agree and I want to take it a LOT further than that but that would be politics so I'll just leave it at agreed to AGREE!

 

Online sellers = law breakers. Must have a prescription in the US.

GopherT the law is _funny_ that way! Cuz prescription device isn't the same as controlled substance! So unregulated sale of _prescription devices_ is legit as long as they're not being sold as medical device! So even itc and cic hearing aid can be freely sold if they are marketed as like _personal amplifier_ or like that!

Gophert I'm not saying ppl should have to resort to using devices of questionable origin and quality like that! I'm just pointing out difference between _controlled_ and _regulated_ for medical devices which is huge!

 

So much for global economy and free market. Global and free when it suits however it is supposed to suit...

justtrying I totally agree! The free market a racket! Plain and simple!

 

Online sellers = law breakers. Must have a prescription in the US.

$10 at Sams club? Your search must have returned "HEARING AID cleaning supplies" and "HEARING AID batteries".

Yeah, I guess it must have been just batteries that my dad was shoving in his ears for several years. Must have been the placebo affect because he sure seemed to hear a lot better with those batteries crammed in there.

Probably because they shaped those batteries to look like what most people think a hearing aid looks like:

Sam's Club:



Amazon ($37.43)

Some healer ones if you call $300 cheap. Also, this are OTE (over the ear). All others are online only and not custom fit-able.

Consumer adjustable "Custom-fit" Mouth guards have been available for almost 40 years. Why not a hearing aid?

Why aren't over-the-ear hearing aids a reasonable option for someone that is complaining about not being able to afford $2000 to $4000 hearing aids?

Sam's Club has several hearing aids that are ONLY available in store and others that are only available on line and some that are available both ways.[/QUOTE]

 

I have 50% hearing in my left ear and about 20% in the right. I wear hearing aids in both ears. Costs about $1500 each.
These are digital:

• DSP technology
• runs on 1.5V
• remote controller
• Bluetooth streaming, remote connect to phones and tablets
• four audio programs, automatic selection of program
• behind the ear

Can I survive without hearing aids? Maybe.
Can I live without my wife? Not so sure.
Could I build something like this? Would take a lot of knowledge and effort.
Well worth every dollar.

 

GopherT as example of what I mean by supply and demand forces I paid $700 for a $15 8' linear florescent lamp just cuz of requesting no phosphor coating (so I mean just 110W HO w/o UVC lucent envelope glass so it's just regular lighting tube w/o phosphor) so limited demand usually means paying more for less

Haven't we all at one time or another in our lives?

 

This is another of those things that some people call, "Free Market", or say, "let the free market take place", and claim it is so. But how exactly is it the 'free market' when lobbyists insist on keeping it to just a few?

And It's not just hearing aids, that have the 'prescription only' market cornered. I use CPAP, and to get a new mask, not the machine but a mask. I have to go to my lung doctor and pay her then get a prescription and go to another place and get fitted and get the mask. Both of them getting a chunk of my money and money from Medicare. I already have a mask and it has both a manufacturers name and model number molded into it, some here would argue that I'm not smart enough to order the same one again, but I am. Then we complain about high healthcare costs, and many say let the free market do it's thing, but that is like saying the 'trickle down economy is working'.

 

Cheap hearing aids. Lots of choices available.

https://www.google.com/search?q=che...1.69i57j0l5.5402j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Laws that were being made to make competition more fair.

http://www.nextavenue.org/cheaper-hearing-aids-law/
http://www.hearingreview.com/2017/03/counter-hearing-aid-act-2017-introduced-congress/

Bill for them passed!

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/na...-easier-buy/YjRgnSXuhwrn032Rmu11CO/story.html

http://www.hearingloss.org/sites/default/files/docs/Warren-Grassley_Factsheet.pdf

Looks like you can buy what you want where you want now and will likely be getting cheaper now that it's legal to do so and in the hands of real unbiased American business competition!

 

Looks like you can buy what you want where you want now and will likely be getting cheaper now that it's legal to do so and in the hands of real unbiased American business competition!

I dunno -- So long as unions and lobbyists are 'in it' --to any extent-- there is little to be appreciated in the way of 'free' as regards the (so called) 'free market'-- My $.02

Best regards
HP

 

I dunno -- So long as unions and lobbyists are 'in it' --to any extent-- there is little to be appreciated in the way of 'free' as regards the (so called) 'free market'-- My $.02

Best regards
HP

If prices for something get too high people always find a way around the problem. Laws only work for those who believe they are good and thusly are willing to follow them.

For $4000 I would fly to some other country that has a decent health care system and pay them for what work I need done then take a nice vacation while there jus tlike million of people do now for the same reasons.

A person can sit on their butt and whine about how unfair something is or they can put their mind to work and start thinking about and researching alternatives that will solve the problem. That's what I do. In this day and age a little bit of rational thought backed up by research and planning goes a long way toward solving a lot of unnecessarily expensive problems for cheap.

I had a impacted tooth pulled for $100 while in Turkey several years ago that 20 years ago in the US was estimated to be a $2000 job and moderate facial maxillary surgery. The Turkish dentist numbed up my gum, split it and had the tooth out and me stitched back up in less than 20 minutes and said it was normal procedure then commented that as an American he was charging me double what he would any Turkish person who had walked in off the street.

 

This is another of those things that some people call, "Free Market", or say, "let the free market take place", and claim it is so. But how exactly is it the 'free market' when lobbyists insist on keeping it to just a few?

So true. The market for hearing aids (and most medical stuff) is the very definition of un-free. Rent-seeking monopolists acting in collusion with regulatory intervention on their side are not features of a free market.

I'm really pleased (and more than a little surprised) to see new legislation in support of individual liberty and free-er markets.

 

I dunno -- So long as unions and lobbyists are 'in it' --to any extent-- there is little to be appreciated in the way of 'free' as regards the (so called) 'free market'-- My $.02

Best regards
HP

This thread will get political fast after your post. Many decry the use of unions, but without them the everyday working guy would still be making less than we are now. I've worked in both union and non-union shops. When I left the non-union shop for a union shop, my wages more than doubled on my first day. Doing the same type of work, but actually less of it, running just one machine instead of two. Those that don't believe in unions should thank their lucky stars that there are some unions out there. Unions are the only thing that has given us the job safety protections and wages all workers have today. They are the closest thing the working man has to 'lobbyists', to keep corporations at least some what treating the worker fair and not disposable.

 

This thread will get political fast after your post.

The above quoted observation as well as your point that there are yet unions who genuinely advocate for (and truly benefit) labourers are well taken!

With genuine contrition
HP

 

A person scan sit their butt and whine about how unfair something is or they can put their mind to work and start thinking about and researching alternatives that will solve the problem. That what I do. In this day and gae a little bit of rational thought

Do you seriously regard traveling abroad for (IMO highly questionable) basic healthcare a viable alternative to 'the problem'? --- @tcmtech, my friend, you must have a lot of time on your hands!?

Very best regards
HP