Major U.S. retailers began selling lower-cost hearing aids without a prescription or medical exam under final Biden administration rules that took effect Monday.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August approved the sale of over-the-counter hearing aids, allowing millions of Americans to buy hearing aids without seeing an audiologist and potentially saving individuals thousands of dollars.
The rules apply to hearing aids for people with mild to moderate hearing loss. The aids will be available directly from stores or online without medical exams, a prescription, or audiologist fitting adjustments.
The hearing aids are air-conduction models which moves sound around the ear canal to amplify noise, but has sound limits to prevent further hearing loss for those using the device.
The White House touted announcements of major retailers that they would begin offering the lower-priced hearing aids including from Walgreens and Walmart. CVS started selling lower-cost hearing aids online Monday and in some stores in November, the White House said.
Best Buy will start selling lower-priced hearing aids online this week and in stores by the end of October, the White House added.
White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese said in August the government estimated the rule will save consumers about $2,800 per pair of hearing aids and could help “tens of millions of Americans.”
It is estimated that nearly 40 million Americans over the age of 18 suffer from hearing loss and that nearly 30 million could benefit from the use of hearing aids. Hearing aids are costly devices usually not covered by insurance or Medicare.
In 2017, Congress passed legislation requiring the FDA to create a category of over-the-counter hearing aids, but it was not fully implemented. In June 2021, President Joe Biden signed a broad competition executive order that instructed the Health and Human Services Department to “promote the wide availability of low-cost hearing aids.”
Copyright 2022 Thomson/Reuters