My aids were bought from a local hearing center (after I did some research), and the Widex Uniques have done very well for me. The audiologist is well trained and has a PhD in audiology, so I meet with her about twice a year, and she inspects them and corrects any malfunctions, all at minimum cost. One has to do some maintenance, such as change the molds, buy batteries, clean, etc., but it is not bad after a little experience. I don't live within 80 miles of a Costco store, so I can't buy from them, because if I had trouble, the trips would be costly. I'm due for a replacement in about a year (they're supposed to last from 5 to 7 yrs), since mine are 5.5 years old. If those in stores don't understand you, just point to your ears, and they will immediately talk louder and slower (usually).
I have had hearing aids for a while. It is one of the reasons I retired when I did, as I could no longer carry on phone conversations, especially with someone whose first language is not English. At home, I use a speaker phone, and that is okay but not usable in an office environment. I also have trouble ordering in fast food places in person, with background noise and masks. I have to have my wife with me to interpret. I found Widex to be superior to other brands I have tried, but the VA supplied me with Oticon, so that is what I currently use.
The McDonald's drive-through (our only fast-food place) in Millinocket has a sign that says that someone can go ahead and order directly from the payment window if they have trouble hearing the speaker. That may sound like a nice thing to do but it annoys me when people butt ahead of the line in that way and I strongly suspect that many of them could place their order through the speaker with no trouble, only this lets them go ahead of others.
I figured I had to much excess wax in my left ear, I told my VA doctor that, if possible, I'd like to have my ears checked, I was given an appointment. The appointment was with an actual hearing doctor (Phd degree). She cleaned both ear canals out and I did have excess wax in left ear and pushed up against the eardrum. I was pretty amazed that, even though not fully, I could hear out of that ear again. Then, came the hearing test and I was told I needed new hearing aids. She put some kind of soft plastic stuff in each ear, that created a mold of the inside of my ear canal. I got an appointment for a month later to get my new hearing aids. I was, and still am, amazed at the new ones! But, have to get use to them. They are from a company called Oticon and very high-tech. However, on the Oticon website, the part of their hearing aids that go into the ear, are different than the ones give to me by the VA. The VA must have some kind of Contract with this company to use their hearing aids, but connect the ear mold to that hearing aid. Heck, I even have a iPhone 12 App to use with both (if I want to). Have a cleaning kit and charger also. These are truly a much better hearing aid set than the ones I already have. And, because my old hearing aids cost $518 (pair) plus $100x2 for two repairs, I'm keeping them as a backup. I was told by the VA Hearing Doctor that the ones the VA gave me are free-of-charge to me, but will have to wait and see about that. I can tell the Oticon hearing aids would cost somewhat more than my old ones did of $518 a pair.
So why do you have to "wait and see" if you'll get charged for the hearing aids? Did VA provide them, and may later decide to bill you? Or is this an Oticon issue?
Well, John, when we lived in Jacksonville, Florida, my wife made too high of a salary to get my VA medications for free (no co-pay). We could have done a Means Evaluation, but we knew she made to much money at her job. So, we had to do co-pays for meds and appointments with my VA doctor. When we first got here, and I got a VA doctor from local VA Clinic, due to the tax year, we couldn't do a Means Evaluation until 2021. However, with her starting her at-home job in January of this year, and making the salary she did, we knew we wouldn't qualify for free meds and appointments from the VA. If you aren't a Veteran, and not with the VA Medical, you may not understand what I've just said. Perhaps Bobby could make it clearer. So, up until the Pandemic started, I was paying a co-pay for almost anything dealing with the VA Medical. After the Pandemic, I was no longer being billed with co-pays from the VA. When I talked to the VA about them "not billing", they told me that co-pays weren't being done for now. So, it's been a number of months since we have been billed for any VA medications I get and, it appears, that that will continue...........but I don't know. So, don't know if I will get a co-pay bill from the VA for the new hearing aids or not. We are hoping.......NOT!
When a Veteran isn't consider a "Service Related" medical, of which I'm not, a Means Test has to be done to qualify for no co-pays. If the Veteran's household income is too high, they can require you to pay a co-pay for whatever. I have Medicare A/B, a Supplement and a Drug Plan, but haven't got a Medicare doctor yet. Will end up using my wife's Medicare doctor as a backup to my VA doctor. It is highly recommended that a Veteran, when they become illegible for Medicare, they get it. I haven't, and don't, use my VA Medical for everything medically related.