When private insurance does pay, it typically covers the cost of an exam to assess hearing loss, and that's about it.
The devices are expensive, sometimes costing in the $1,000 to $6,000 range -- and that's per ear. Perhaps this explains, at least in part, why 75% to 80% of adults with hearing loss do not get hearing aids, according to a recent study done by Virginia Ramachandran, a senior staff audiologist in the Division of Audiology of the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Her study showed the only group that consistently got hearing aids had insurance that paid for them in full.