Third Party Payers

Many insurance companies utilize companies called third party payers. Insurance companies will pay a provider who agrees to accept a certain fee for services. The insurance company dictates who you can use, and most times, what device they will provide if you choose to use their plan. Ultimately, most insurance companies are for profit companies.  Meaning, they want to hold on to more money than they spend for a patient.  Even delaying payment of claims for just a few days can make them thousands of dollars every year in interest payments. These choices may not always be in the patient’s best interest.

Often with these profit driven insurance plans, the patient has a minimal quality of care as the provider is compensated so little.  Unfortunately, this interferes with our ability to provide best practices and gold standard of care.  These are the standards that we adhere to under the ethics of our professional organizations and commitment we dedicate ourselves to when we entered the field of audiology.

Hearing & Balance Clinics follow gold standard of care and feel strongly that compromising our care for our patients’ insurance plans will not be in their best interest. Some patients will choose to purchase their devices through their insurance contracted provider and purchase a service package with the Audiologist. If you choose to use your insurance’s third-party payor benefits, we would suggest checking in with our office so that we are able to arm you with the questions to ask and requests to make when navigating their processes.

Insurance Plans

Currently most insurance companies WILL cover the diagnostic portion of your hearing evaluation but will NOT cover any services related to hearing aids or hearing aid related services. These services are an integral part of the rehabilitation process and necessary to effectively correct a hearing loss and meet patient expectations.

It is important to understand that correcting a hearing loss is a process. New patients who have never worn amplification will see the audiologist ten times or more during the first year. Most age-related hearing loss does not happen overnight, and proper counseling and adjustments helps the brain adjust to the new way of hearing with amplification.

Over the counter, big box retail, and devices that you can order online are not going to be able to provide you the level of service to effectively treat and correct your hearing loss. Best practices and gold standard care for hearing loss requires the hearing device AND accessible follow-up care which together assure that you are successful in your journey to better hearing.

Hearing Aid Pricing

The pricing of hearing aids is dependent on individual hearing loss, communication difficulties, lifestyle, and budget. When researching pricing for hearing aids, it can be a daunting task.  Pricing varies wildly based on provider, location, product availability and more. We communicate with each patient to work within their budget and lifestyle while accessing communication needs. Our Audiologists will take the time to discuss with each patient how we will best be able to identify and address their needs for their hearing healthcare. 

Each recommendation made by our Audiologist is based on patient specific loss, lifestyle, and budget specifically. Rehabilitating a loss requires more than the gadget alone. Successful patients will need regular rehabilitative follow-up care, adjustments, and maintenance.