If you plan to use medical insurance plan benefits to help pay for your hearing services and hearing instruments, it is important to know that only the testing provided by an Audiologist—not by a hearing aid dealer—can provide the diagnosis code that is required on insurance claims. (An Audiologist is the primary professional who is educated and qualified for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of individuals with hearing loss.)
Many Alaskans who have health insurance coverage also have of hearing benefits available to them. To find out what coverage you have, we recommend you read your insurance plan booklet or online document for details. You may also call your insurance plan administrator to ask about your hearing and hardware benefits. They should be able to tell you what coverage level you have, but unfortunately insurance administrator representatives have been known to give varying answers, so you may need to call more than once to compare. If you supply us your insurance information, we may also be able to call about your coverage. Please keep in mind that insurance administrators decline to provide a written quote, and that all quotes you or we receive are followed by a caveat stating “this is not a guarantee of payment.”
Alaskans who are Medicaid recipients, are likely to be covered for the diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss, including hearing aids when authorized. After we test your hearing, we will submit to the Medicaid program for approval for hearing aids if needed. As long as your coverage is current, you are unlikely to need to pay out-of-pocket for items covered by Medicaid.
Medicare does not cover hearing aids or tests to determine the need for hearing aids. Medicare will also not pay on diagnostic hearing evaluations unless referred by a physician or healthcare provider for each exam. Medicare also routinely does not pay for Audiology office visits, so either you the patient, or your insurance plan will need to pay for that portion of services.
Some individual funding sources may be available through state programs such as Alaska DVR (Department of Vocational Rehabilitation) when it is necessary that you hear well in order to remain employed, and you haven’t the means to pay for hearing services. Limited funding may also be available to someone who qualifies through an Alzheimer’s grant. Both of these programs will need to authorize individual funding before the hearing services are provided.
We also accept Care Credit.