Time to read: 3 minutes
From health insurance to home insurance, we take a look at the types of support available should you have a lost or damaged hearing aid.
Health Insurance
If you have private health insurance, you might be able to get a percentage off the cost of new hearing aids.
Each health insurance provider has different rebates so take the time to contact your insurer and find out what is available for you and how often that benefit rolls over.
But once you’ve got your hearing aids, there is another insurance you should look at - loss and damage insurance.
Manufacturer’s Insurance
Hearing aid manufacturers offer a limited one year loss and damage insurance for each set of new hearing aids sold.
This is quite apart from the manufacturer’s warranty which maybe three or four years dependent on the brand. But what happens if something happens after the first 12 months?
To the best of our knowledge, there are no specific hearing aid insurers, so the best thing to do is ensure you can claim on your home contents insurance.
Home Contents Insurance
Your hearing aids may not automatically be covered for loss and damage as part of your home contents. They may be needed to be listed as a separate item - just as you would for a valuable piece of jewellery.
Your insurer may charge you a nominal sum each year to insure your hearing aids but it is certainly good peace of mind to protect such a valuable piece of equipment.
Hearing Services Program Loss and Damage Program
If you have received your aids through Australia’s Hearing Services Program, replacement of your hearing aids is covered with just a nominal $30 charge for ‘free-to-client’ hearing aids that have been fully subsidised by the Government.
You will be required to sign a statutory declaration in which you will have to outline what happened to your aids.
Clients who have ‘topped up’ their Hearing Services Program hearing aids to a more advanced, better featured model will need to pay extra. That extra amount will be dependent on the original hearing aid price.
Read more:
