"A Push for Less Expensive Hearing Aids"
Almost two-thirds of Americans over age 70 have meaningful hearing loss, experts say, and I probably will be among them. I should do something about it. One reason I haven’t is the average price for hearing aids: roughly $2,500, often more — and most of us need two. That helps explain why only 20 percent of those with hearing loss use hearing aids. Medicare declines to cover a number of products and services that older beneficiaries need. Dental care ranks high on my personal list of exclusions that make the least sense, but the fact that the 1965 Medicare law specifically prohibits the national insurance program from paying for hearing aids is also a strong contender.
...Congress barred Medicare coverage of hearing aids 50 years ago because “people thought hearing loss was just a normal part of aging,” said Dr. Cassel, one of the authors of a recent JAMA editorial on hearing health policies. “They didn’t see it as a disability or a medical problem.”
This deathism is almost stunning in its casual cruelty.
Could it possibly be that the costs of fixing all health problems of old people simply skyrocket after some age? Thus, given limited resources, we only have the following options:
I am not saying that even if this is the case, that the decision where to draw the line was optimal. Just that a line has to exist somewhere.
(And it's not just old pe...
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