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The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

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Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#121

Post by kwiens »

xmprt wrote: post #71
JCM9 wrote: post #55

There are a number of healthcare areas in the US that have been protected by regulation, but it’s increasingly unclear if this is good for patients, consumers, or public health at large. The increasing sentiment seems to be probably not. Vision care is another area I’d expect to see more changes and disruption coming down the pipeline. Vision care is very important and advanced cases require special skills, but it’s…

One pretty big (and relatively unknown) law is that your doctor needs to give you your vision prescription so you can buy glasses elsewhere (usually for much cheaper). I think a lot of them get around this by letting you look for glasses while waiting and not telling you that this law exists.

You're absolutely correct that this has had a huge impact. This is actually the FTC's eyeglass rule and not a separate law, something that I didn't know until they started getting involved with Right to Repair.

https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/rules/rulemaking-regulatory-...

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#122

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #33
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then the doctor leaves their signature off the prescription so that it is effectively useless.

I've had no trouble ordering from online retailers such as Zenni Optical just by typing in the numbers from the prescription. No signature needed. They do ask for a prescription date, and require that to have been within the last two (I think it is) years, but as far as I can remember it's all on the honor system. They don't even ask for the doctor's name. Edit: it occurs to me that this may very well be one of those…

1800contacts definitely rejects unsigned prescriptions. You have to upload a scan and they have manual review.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#123

Post by jtwaleson »

0des wrote: post #37
jtwaleson wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean contacts or glasses?

Surely it's not glasses, I just go to the website and punch in my measurements, pick frames and they arrive shortly after.

Afaik you need a valid prescription by law in the US. This might not be strictly enforced or verified by the retailers.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#124

Post by [deleted] »

xmprt wrote: post #71
JCM9 wrote: post #55

There are a number of healthcare areas in the US that have been protected by regulation, but it’s increasingly unclear if this is good for patients, consumers, or public health at large. The increasing sentiment seems to be probably not. Vision care is another area I’d expect to see more changes and disruption coming down the pipeline. Vision care is very important and advanced cases require special skills, but it’s…

One pretty big (and relatively unknown) law is that your doctor needs to give you your vision prescription so you can buy glasses elsewhere (usually for much cheaper). I think a lot of them get around this by letting you look for glasses while waiting and not telling you that this law exists.

[deleted]

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#125

Post by otabdeveloper4 »

tristor wrote: post #84
xmprt wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One pretty big (and relatively unknown) law is that your doctor needs to give you your vision prescription so you can buy glasses elsewhere (usually for much cheaper). I think a lot of them get around this by letting you look for glasses while waiting and not telling you that this law exists.

The bigger issue is that a prescription alone is not enough to order new glasses, you also need pupillary distance measurements in order to ensure the lenses are ground correctly. Many many optometrists will not provide these, only the legally obligated prescription. While for most people who have minimum prescriptions you can use a phone app or similar to get a rough PD, for anyone with serious prescriptions even mi…

I'm not in the US; when I got my latest pair of glasses they just used a ruler. It works fine.

(Yes, I'm exactly one of those people sensitive to "minute variations".)

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#126

Post by donatj »

tristor wrote: post #84
xmprt wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One pretty big (and relatively unknown) law is that your doctor needs to give you your vision prescription so you can buy glasses elsewhere (usually for much cheaper). I think a lot of them get around this by letting you look for glasses while waiting and not telling you that this law exists.

The bigger issue is that a prescription alone is not enough to order new glasses, you also need pupillary distance measurements in order to ensure the lenses are ground correctly. Many many optometrists will not provide these, only the legally obligated prescription. While for most people who have minimum prescriptions you can use a phone app or similar to get a rough PD, for anyone with serious prescriptions even mi…

I needed my PD to get prescription lenses for my Oculus headset and it wasn't on my prescription.

On a whim I asked at a glasses store in the mall if they could measure mine. They happily did it for free. Your milage may vary on that of course, depending on the person you interact with.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#127

Post by JCM9 »

JCM9 wrote: post #55

There are a number of healthcare areas in the US that have been protected by regulation, but it’s increasingly unclear if this is good for patients, consumers, or public health at large. The increasing sentiment seems to be probably not. Vision care is another area I’d expect to see more changes and disruption coming down the pipeline. Vision care is very important and advanced cases require special skills, but it’s…

Vaccine administration is another area that has seen / is seeing broad deregulation. In many states one needed a medical doctor to “prescribe” a flu shot or other vaccine. Now many states have moved to allow such “prescriptions” to be written by pharmacists and issued right there on the spot in a pharmacy.

Some physician groups fought that tooth and nail… not because there was any real evidence of people dropping dead from mis-prescribed vaccines but because it was a good stream of easy revenue for their office billing insurers for giving the shot. This change was much better for consumers and for public health overall by making vaccines more readily accessible.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#128

Post by jrace »

How much would you pay for:

*Hearing test

* Hearing aid fitting

* Usage counselling

* Follow up adjustments

* Annual retest of your hearing

* Replacement of lost hearing aids

* Unlimited repair for 3 years ??

====== I got out of the Audiology field in 2015. At that time all the above was included for every hearing aid we sold (Prices varied from $750 / ear - $3600 / ear.

When I was in that field many companies tried "pay as you go" models, instead of bundles.

You know what happened? People paid the minimum (test, and fit) the never returned for repairs or re-tunings.

And then complained to everyone that "hearing aids don't work".

Buy a hearing aid today from any major provider in Canada and you get:

Initial test

Initial fitting

Follow up tests

Follow up re tunes

Counselling

repairs - including full replacement in case of loss

Batteries

In-clinic repairs and cleanings.

100% return, and in some cases $0.00 3 month trial period.

There is far more to fixing your hearing issues that just amplifying sound. Sadly, most people wait too long before trying a hearing aid, and give up because they hear too much noise.

Imagine returning your eye glasses because you still see ugly people.

I truly wish hearing aids were far cheaper, and that was a very hard part of my job and one of the reasons why I changed careers.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#129

Post by AlbertCory »

Almost half the comments relate to eye exams & glasses, not hearing aids. There's almost no one defending the present system, and I suspect if you took a poll of the US population, at least 90% would favor deregulating hearing aids. Probably glasses, too.

So why hasn't it happened? Those people who said "regulatory capture" get a gold star. A small group who will suffer a lot manage to defeat a much bigger group who will benefit by a much smaller amount.

Re: The FDA wants you to be able to buy a hearing aid without a prescription

#130

Post by Damogran6 »

So do I…oddly, I went and got my hearing tested and my issues are with processing, not hearing. The guy said “I actually can’t prescribe you a hearing aid, even if I wanted to.”

So, there should be some barrier to entry. Just not at $3500 an ear.

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