Why hearing aids are not covered under Medicare

About 50 percent of people above the age of 75 years suffer from hearing loss. This makes the occurrence of hearing loss a high probability among seniors. Thus, almost 50 percent of seniors above the age of 75 years will require hearing aids and regular hearing test.

This high requirement probability make hearing aids a likely risk among insurance providers. This makes hearing loss uninsurable.

Insurance providers consider the cost of an insurable risk, a risk that is uncommon and is less likely to happen. This risk is considered among a large group of people. The cost of the insurable risk is divided among this large group. This brings down the cost of insurance. So, the insurance company does not have to reimburse everyone in the group, since the risk hardly occurs among this group. Also, this ensures that everyone pays a reasonable amount for insurance cover.

However, with hearing loss, the insurance company will have to pay the claims of a large number of people. Also, the costs of hearing aids is quite high with replacements required every three to five years. This will make a dent in their earnings to the extent of incurring heavy losses. Hence, insurance companies, including Medicare, do not provide cover for hearing aids. The high cost will be eventually passed on to the consumer. This will make health insurance less affordable for a lot of people.

Along with financial difficulty, Medicare also suffers from a slow speed of process. With Medicare, the process of applying, clearing, and issuing claims is quite complex and lengthy. This makes Medicare cumbersome for many hearing aids providers who do not prefer or accept Medicare as their consumer’s insurance provider.

<Tag: Hearing Aids Medicare>