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

Post by dsr_ » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 8:03 PM UTC

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…

Post by KennyBlanken » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 8:04 PM UTC

diob wrote: post #135

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…

There are so many cost barriers to treatments. It's definitely not for patients at this point. For instance, I am supposed to redo my sleep apnea test every so often. But it's out of pocket? Why bother, I know mine is due to my genetics (I'm not overweight). So why am I subjected to reproving my need for a prescription? For eyeglasses, if someone wants to continue the same prescription they can't. It's like healthcar…

Post by KennyBlanken » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 8:08 PM UTC

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…

Post by jrace » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 8:09 PM UTC

thegrimmest wrote: post #155

jrace wrote: post #128

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…

So your argument in favour of socializing this is that people tend not behave optimally, in your view? This seems like a poor reason. Let the people who fall victim to their biases suffer the consequences, don't impose the cost of holding their hands on those who are capable of managing themselves.

Post by dzhiurgis » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 8:10 PM UTC

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.