Is Hearing Aids Covered Under Medical Insurance Policy?

Is hearing aid covered by health insurance in India?

With exorbitant prices of hearing equipment, you would like your health insurance to cover hearing aids under your policy.  But does your medical insurance allow coverage for hearing aids? Let’s find out!

Hearing loss is a major issue faced by many, especially the elderly, due to complications of health and the process of aging. In fact, the rising number of individuals opting for hearing aid equipment makes it evident that hearing related complications are a major problem. Hearing problems need special treatment and there are many such facilities that allow patients to get rid of their hearing complications. Most of these treatments might ask the patient to get a heading device in their ear to make it easy to hear properly. But these latest equipment are costly and might not be within the reach of many people. So, the question is, does your medical insurance policy cover hearing aids or hearing related conditions.

We will discuss the same in this blog to let you know if you can expect hearing complications to be included under your medical insurance. But before that let’s start with what hearing aids are.

What do you mean by Hearing Aids?

With age, people tend to lose their hearing capacity and face hearing problems. The Hearing Aids are devices that run electronically to help people who have hearing issues. These are small devices that can easily fit either inside the ear or behind it as per comfort of the patient. Further, the design of the device also decides how the patient is going to use/wear the device.

There are basically three things that a Hearing aid consists of and they are:

• Microphone
• Amplifier
• Receiver

All the above instruments help the patient in improving his/her hearing.

When do you need Hearing Aids?

People require hearing aids when they have a hearing problem or hearing loss caused due to damage in inner ear including eardrums, middle ear or ear canal. There could be many reasons which lead to such damage. Age-related conditions are one of the key reasons. Besides, there may be other reasons such as;

• Congenital conditions
• Disease related conditions
• Accidental injury
• Exposure to loud noise
• Aging
• Medicinal Side Effects, etc.

However, it is important to note that every hearing loss condition may not be cured by using hearing aids. Thus, every patient might not benefit from such devices. Depending on the reason for hearing loss, hearing aids might benefit certain patients, while some might have to look for other treatment options. Your ENT specialist is the right person to assess your hearing problem and they offer you the right hearing aid or the right solution for the same.

Now, let us discuss if such hearing devices are covered under your medical insurance plans.

Does your Health Insurance cover your hearing aid machine?

Most insurance companies do not cover the cost of hearing gadgets under their health insurance plan. Usually, insurance providers include hearing aid insurance coverage under their exclusions along with other things like contact lenses, eyeglasses etc.

But, you would like to know that there are certain health insurance plan providers who offer hearing aid insurance coverage. However, there are conditions such as, if the hearing aid is required due to any medical treatment that is covered under the policy as well as if the device is required due to any accidental injury. In such cases, the insured can expect compensation for the hearing aid device under his/her best medical insurance policy.

Of late, insurers are realizing the expenses that people had to undergo to get these hearing aid devices. Thus, some of them are coming up with coverage for such gadgets in their overall plan or as optional cover. So, policy seekers can buy these covers as optional or add-ons by paying extra premium together with the normal plan they are availing.

How much do you have to pay to buy Hearing Aids in India?

Depending on the requirement, you might have to pay between 10,000 rupees to over 15 lakh rupees to buy hearing aids in India. So, as per the extent of the problem as well as other factors like age of patient, requirement (need for one ear or both), the patient needs to pay for the device.

Though a large number of people in India, including children suffer from deafness of different degrees, however, very few of them could afford to buy hearing devices. Thus, the number of people using this machine in the country is also low.

Hearing Aid Insurance Coverage

There are some health insurance companies offering plans with coverage against hearing devices. However, the benefits received under such plans do vary. So, the insured might receive compensation of 50% or above as per their policy.

Since the hearing devices are costly as well as vulnerable towards wear and tear, having a backup in the form of health insurance for such hearing devices is important.  This way, people can stay covered for such expensive ear machines.

Further, the insured might also get coverage against expenses that they might have to incur due to damage of the hearing device or theft, breakdown etc. But, for this it is important to check or thoroughly read the policy document of such plans.