Date: Fri 21-Jul-1995

Publication: Hea

Author: AMYD

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

hearing-aids-medicare

Full Text:

Medicare Won't Help With The Rising Cost Of Hearing Aids

B Y A MY D'O RIO

For many people, as they get older, the volume on the television grows louder.

They don't notice, but friends and family do.

Discussions about hearing aids ensue, but not much is done until the volume on

the television can go no higher.

Getting someone to admit a hearing aid is needed is hard enough. Then, try to

convince a senior citizen the cost of one is worth it.

"Most seniors are horrified at what hearing aids cost," said Karen Hoyt,

Newtown's municipal agent for the elderly and disabled.

Hearing aids typically run seniors around $700. Medicare will not help with

the costs, nor will many supplemental insurance plans.

The state's Medicaid program pays for hearing aids and it offers a program for

children with hearing problems. Charities help with the hard luck cases.

The forgotten group is the seniors who are not poor enough for Medicaid, and

not rich enough to easily pay for one on their own.

"It is a hardship to the middle class," said Terri Arnone, resident services

coordinator at Nunnawauk Meadows for the Western Connecticut Area Agency on

Aging. "I think there are a lot of hardship cases."

Judy Stein Hulin, executive director of The Center for Medicare Advocacy in

Willimantic, agrees.

She said it is a shame that Medicare does not cover such a basic need for

seniors. The Medicare act, passed in 1965, specifically excluded hearing aids

from coverage. However, Ms Stein Hulin said the program is supposed to cover

basic health needs for seniors and even equipment to replace non-functioning

body parts.

She said if there was not specific exclusion in the act, a lawyer could argue

Medicare's guidelines would require hearing aid coverage.

Mrs Hoyt, who works with many Newtown seniors on their finances, said seniors

think they are worse off than they are and are loathe to dip into savings.

"They are saving for a rainy day, but they don't realize the rainy day has

arrived," she said.

Often, she said they do not want to tap into savings because they want to

leave the money to children. Or, they just can not bring themselves to spend

so much, she said. This current generation of seniors, Mrs Hoyt noted, went

through the Depression and do not spend money as easily as younger

generations. Ms Hoyt said she does not believe Medicare should pay for hearing

aids when many seniors are capable of doing it themselves. Nor, does she

believe Medicare could take the burden of providing hearing aids for the

country's seniors.

"Medicare is already in trouble and this would just compound it," she said.

Ms Stein Hulin is not sure Medicare is on the brink of bankruptcy, but she

does not hold out much hope for any changes.

"The times are not kind. It is very unlikely to get any additional coverage.

The goal is to keep what they have got," she said.

Sandra Peck, a geriatric nurse practitioner with the Geriatric Health Center

in Danbury, said hearing aids mean more than to a senior's health than one

might initially think.

A lack of hearing could lead to social isolation, she said. From there, mental

depression may set it, or it may play a part in a general decline in mental

acuity. "Your brain is like a muscle. If you don't use it, you lose it," she

said. To Mrs Peck, Medicare makes no sense. It will pay to fix health

problems, but not prevent them from occurring. The first things to go on

seniors are eyesight, teeth and hearing, yet Medicare does not cover much in

those areas, she said.

Mrs Peck said she recently worked with a woman who needed a hearing aid but

could not afford to buy one. The only thing Mrs Peck could do was suggest the

woman get an amplifier with headphones. It is slightly smaller than a walkman

and costs around $40.

There is an organization in Colorado that recycles used hearing aids for

people in need. Most of them go to people in states that do not have Medicaid.

The non-profit group, called Hear Now, encourages people to donate hearing

aids when they are no longer needed or when the equipment is defective. Hear

Now either refurbishes the hearing aids or the components are sold to help pay

for repairs or buy new instruments.

For more information about Hear Now or to donate a hearing aid, call

1-800-648-HEAR or write to 9745 East Hampden Avenue, Suite 300, Denver, CO.,

80231-4923.