4 Selection of hearing aids for a child or an adult should be made according to the appropriateness of a specific hearing aid to a specific hearing loss. We find it disturbing that such a high percentage of people with hearing loss are being forced to do with less than the optimal hearing aid for their needs. We find some consolation in the fact that this percentage is lower for children, during the critical language learning years. Unfortunately this also happened when children were concerned. If the insurance companies were to spend their money wisely, it would cover all prosthetic devices needed for optimal effective therapeutic intervention and maximum participation in the mainstream of living.
Hearing aids are like cochlear implants in that regard, i.e., hearing prostheses.
Insurance companies now cover cochlear implants which are far more costly than hearing aids and these medical implant devices necessitate expensive medical ramifications such as surgical, hospital, and physician costs. Perhaps if the companies were to cover hearing aids, regardless of cost, then fewer families would be rushing into cochlear implant surgery. Without a doubt, the purchase of the most effective hearing prosthesis for each patient is the single most important purchase needed for cost-effective treatment that will have the greatest impact on the person's life. I changed not only jobs but careers giving up 3 years of graduate school education to go back to an industry where I could get health insurance that covered hearing aids. We have had 6 different health insurance policies since diagnosis and none have paid any portion of hearing aids.