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April 18, 2025 36 mins

Is the reason you don’t want to go see your grandkids (or family, friends) because you can’t hear a damn thing they are saying?

Welcome to The Hearing Show. I'm Cary Hall, America's Healthcare Advocate and I wear a hearing aid. My returning guest is an expert on all things “hearing aid”, Shannon Schnellner, the owner of Focus Hearing in Overland Park, Ks.

If you or someone you know wants to know everything you need to know about hearing aids... I have it in this episode! How they work. What do they cost. Will insurance pay for it. Plus, we will learn how to be successful in choosing the right hearing aid and in using it too and how to find the right professional for your needs (and what the hearing test is like).

There are social and health consequences of not getting a hearing aid when you have hearing loss. We will discuss that, as well.

Learn more about Shannon: https://myfocushearing.com or call 913-380-4200

This is episode 2111

As always, if you need help or have something to share contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. Visit: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Ladies and gentlemen,
this is America'sHealthcare Advocate broadcasting
coast to coast across the USA.
Cary, it's a pleasure to be with you.
And I do have to say,you are the most knowledgeable
about health policy just superlative.
And now America'sHealthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.

(00:21):
Hello, America.
Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocateshow broadcasting coast to coast
across the USA here on the HIARadio Network.
Thank you for joining us, for making usone of the most listened to talk shows
throughout the United States.
We thank each and every one of youin our listening audience and all of you
to join us on our podcastand also on our YouTube channel.
I want to give a little shout out to 98.7WBFD in Bedford, Pennsylvania.

(00:46):
They are our newest affiliate
for on their Saturday mornings,I believe at 9:00, if I'm not mistaken.
But welcome to the America'sHealthcare Advocate family.
We're happy to have you on board.
And hello to all the folks in Pennsylvanialistening to us.
America's Healthcare Advocate is a show,but we separate fact from fiction
on the subject of health care.
Today's show is going to beone in the series that we have done

(01:08):
on hearing issues
as they affect everybody, not justthose of us that are seasoned citizens.
So Shannon Schneller is joining usfrom Focus Hearing, welcome back.
Thank you for having me.
She is the owner of Focus Hearing.
He's been in his business for 25 years.
And we're going to talk about all thingsassociated with hearing and hearing loss.
Now, you know,here's something interesting.

(01:30):
They actually are able to connect withand help
about 12% of the people in this countrythat have a significant hearing loss. 12%.
So, you know what that means.
Conversely, 78% of the peopleare not getting help, okay?
They're not doing anythingto solve their hearing loss problem.
You know, I wear two hearing aids,both of which came from Focus

(01:52):
Hearing, by the way,
and they do a wonderful job of testingand getting you set up
and doing everything you need to do.
But, you know, I got to tell you it,for a lot of years, I didn't do this.
And I, you know, my wife would say,can you turn the TV down?
It's really loud or I wouldn't hearsomebody in a restaurant like I needed to.
And the problem was, I was.
I still have hearing,but it wasn't what it used to be.

(02:14):
Well, I got tested and found out.
You know what? You've got a problem.
And I was able to get to great hearingaids.
A company called Phonakthat that, Shannon connected us with.
And they actually installed these horseguards set up on our computers.
The whole nine yards.And they made a huge difference.
I hardly do anythingwithout these hearing aids now, so
I thought we'd talk a little bitabout that.

(02:35):
It's just amazing to methat when I ask you
what whatthe number of people with hearing loss
and how how many people are getting helpand how many are 12%, right,
that's not good.
No, that's our marketpenetration and averages 12, 15, 16.
We just can't ever seem to get overthat hump, whatever that factor is.
But of all of the populationthat has hearing loss,

(02:57):
that's the percentageis actually stepping up to get help.
You know?
And here's the thingyou don't want to think about this is
this is like any other handicap,but you can't see it doesn't it?
I'm so, so if you had you know,if you had drop foot.
Okay.
Or if you had, you know, some otherphysical malady that you could see,
then you would obviously you'd want,you would want to get it taken care of

(03:20):
for a whole host of reasons.
This one you can't see.
And and, you know, it's remarkable to methat people don't rate.
And I know some peoplewho actually refuse to do this.
And most of it is vanity.
Just happens to be a couple of womenI know that won't do it.
And, and and it's unfortunate
because you're, you're creatinga huge series of problems for yourself.

(03:42):
So let's talk about.
Well,let's talk about your personal experience.
What were some of the reasonswhy you waited?
Well, first of all, as youknow, I'm deaf in one year
because he had a brain tumor back in 1985,and I lost all that hearing.
So I'm already handicapped enough,because I can only hear on one side
and I can't hear on the other.And that's a real nightmare.
If you're in a restaurant settingand you're sitting at a circular table,

(04:04):
or you're sitting in a placewhere you got somebody
next to youand you've got other people across you,
and you can't hear one of thembecause they're all the wrong side of you.
Or when I go to eat at the restaurant,I have to sit on the side
where the waiter is going to comeso that I can hear what they're saying.
Not now.
And I only be like,here's the other thing.
I was so stubborn about this.
I know you're laughingbecause you know I was going to say this.
I only would I would only wear one hearingaid for the longest period of time.

(04:28):
You convinced meto try the second hearing aid, which now,
even though I don't have hearingin this ear, moves the sound that I
hear on this side of my headover to the hearing on this side.
So it solved that problem.
So for me, you know,I it's funny because the other day
I had three back to back Zoom conferencesand I forgot to put the hearing aids in.
I literally stopped one of the conferencesand said,

(04:50):
I gotta run upstairsto get my hearing aids.
I'll be like that, right?
Because...
I can hear them,but I couldn't make out the words, well,
you know, and the other thingis, I can take this phone
and this app that I have,which is absolutely amazing.
This is the Phonak appand now I can actually adjust
just so the camera sees this.
You see where it says speech and noise.

(05:11):
I'm doing a radio show.
So I set it on the speech noiseso I can hear and enunciate.
It helps me and my speaking.
I can also hear everything Shannonsaying to me or Dave and Garner.
So that's that's one of the marvelsof this system, the way it works.
So for me, it's been a godsendbecause it's made a huge difference.
Absolutely huge.
You know, here's the other thingthat you're talking to, folks

(05:34):
that, you know, have a hearing issue,mostly seasoned citizens, right?
Hey, do you do you do closedcaptioning all the shows that you watch.
Well,I don't have to do closed captioning Mark
because I actually know what the hellthey're saying, right?
So, you know, it's just there's a wholeseries of things that surround this issue.
And you, you speak the truthabout the physical load, the mental load

(05:55):
to pull off your hearing lossinstead of just fixing it.
Yeah.
It's like you don't realize over timethe things you have to do
to accommodate your hearing
loss, the lip reading, the leaning,oh, I've got to sit on this wall.
I've got to be here. I'm just not evengoing to go because I don't hear well,
all those things
that arise fromjust not treating it. Yeah.
And the sad part is, I mean, in reality,this is simple to fix this.

(06:18):
Yeah.
It can be.
Yeah. Yeah it is.
And I hear a lot of my clinicabout a patient in front of me.
Well, I'm not that bad.
You don't want to get to that bad
because then you're making this huge jumpback to normal.
That really is unnecessaryif we just catch it earlier.
Well, here's the other problem.
And it is that if you don't takecare of it, and I've had this conversation

(06:41):
with several people,it gets progressively worse. Yes.
You know, explain a little bit about that.
We go to break herein about three minutes.
Okay.
Let's talkabout how untreated hearing loss,
what effectsthat has affects your cognitive function
your social overalljust relationships and interactions.
And it really is your overall well-beingbecause you're reducing your ability

(07:02):
to actively be around people and engage.
So then you start to isolate, withdraw.
And I know we'll discuss thata little bit further about how all of that
can affect youand your overall well-being.
But early
detection really can be so importantbecause you can catch things earlier.
So much easier to dig yourselfout of a hole when you're only knee deep

(07:22):
than when you're chesty.
And that's a good correlationto hearing loss.
It's like a smaller step back to normalis just an easier transition for you.
But again, you know thisthis is my understanding.
If you don't treat it.
Here's what Lori was toldthat if she didn't treat this,
that she was going to have a continuingfurther loss
of hearing by treating it,you're stopping that, correct?

(07:44):
Okay. That to me that's critical.
So not only are you creatingall these additional problems
for yourself, isolating yourself,all the things that we talked about,
you know, not going to an eventfor having a problem, understanding people
on top of all that,you're continuing to degrade.
You're hearing that it gets to a pointwhere maybe you can't do a lot about it.
And to me, that's a real tragedy. Correct.

(08:04):
Because this is not
you know, this is not you have to go infor a surgical procedure. No.
Or or you're wearing some cumbersomedevice that you know, that,
that you can't even see these things.Okay.
So to me,
it's very unfortunate that peopleto understand that and take that part.
And I think that's part ofwhy we're doing these shows.
Untreated hearing loss.
It just leads to that atrophy

(08:24):
of that neurological pathwaysbetween the air in the brain.
So if if sat there not being used andstimulated the brain gets a little lazy.
So then we do reactivateit with the hearing aid.
We need to know what that
result can be because if it sat therefor years and years and years.
Sometimes we can't get you back to normal,
and that's just part of the expectationswe need to set for you.

(08:46):
Like how long have we waited?
How long is this atrophy?
What can we get you to?
And you know, the sad part isit doesn't have to be that way
because the whole point, that'swhy we're doing the show today,
we're going to talk
a lot more about these issuesand how it affects cognitive health.
Okay.
And if you're a seasoned citizen, that's
certainly somethingyou want to be concerned about
and certainly somethingthat you need to take into consideration

(09:08):
on whether or notyou're treating your hearing loss.
If you want information,if you'd like to connect with Shannon,
you can do soat myFocusHearing.com, 913-380-4200.
They have two locations.
You can easily get to themand they'd be happy to help you.
We'll be right back after the break.
Your listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate broadcasting
here on the HIARadio Network host Coast Cross, USA.

(09:31):
Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.
Welcome back.
You're listening to America's
Healthcare Advocates Show, broadcastingcoast to coast across the USA.
My producer today, Mr.
Garner Cowdrey,who is behind the microphones here

(09:52):
at our Cumulus Studios in OverlandPark, Kansas, and Dave Thiessen, man
behind the cameras,who puts all these shows together,
puts them up on all of ouron our YouTube channel and on all 17.
We're now on 17 podcast channels.
So Dave does all that work.
And if you want to see one of these shows,you want to share this with somebody.
Hey, maybe you've got a husbandwho's stubborn,

(10:15):
kind of like I was, okay?
And, you know, is having a problem.
You might want to have himlisten to this broadcast and find out.
You know what?
You got a real problem, pal.
And, there's a simple way to fix it.
This is a great way to do it.
Contactthe people at Focus Hearing the website is
myFocusHearing.com 913-380-4200.

(10:35):
They are more than happy to help you.
913-380-4200 you know,we were talking break there for a minute
and you were your talk about graduallosing of hearing.
And I kind of look at that.
You don't really realize that this isgoing on and the effects around you.
So in other words,you don't know what you don't know.

(10:56):
Correct.
Because you don't know
that you're not hearing this or thatyou're not getting all the conversation.
Or maybe it's something actually importantto do with your work, or,
you know, your family or planningor whatever the case may be, and you think
you heard one thing, when in realitysomething completely different was said.
So let's just talk about that,because that's that's kind of interesting.

(11:16):
Well, hearing loss, the nature ofthe beast is because it's so gradual.
You don't realize where you're at.
It's very common for a first timehearing test, the patient come in
and we're already at moderatehearing. Loss, which is where I was.
And that's because of how it happens.
You just don't have a reference to normal.
Your everyday degradationwhere you exist is your normal.
And then your loved ones are complaining.

(11:36):
Your spouse, your partner.
Now I said 10 not 2 and then it justkind of comes into your mind like,
maybe I'm really not hearingthe way that I could be.
And then by the time youyou realize where you're at, it's
typically at moderate hearing loss.
So we touched on this a minute ago.
Let's go into this a little further.
If you let this go,the 78% of you out there

(11:59):
that are not paying attentionto this issue,
if you let this go and you're 45 years oldand you're starting to have a problem
or 50 years old, where are you goingto want to put your 65 to 70?
I can't help you as much as I
could before because it's all about,where can I take you?
What does that neurological pathwaybetween your ear in your brain look like?
Once we get a hearing aid on it.

(12:20):
And that'swhy it's so important to catch it early.
The impact on your mental health,untreated hearing loss.
We all know the links between hearingloss, untreated depression,
anxiety, isolation,and just addressing your hearing.
It just
overall improves your quality of life,your your interactions with your family.
You know, you're you're wanting to engage,

(12:41):
you're wanting to havethat social interaction.
And when you're frustrated
and it becomes so much work to pullthat off, what's your first reaction?
You just kind of want to pull away.
I'll just not going to go or don't.
I'll catch you next time.
So I'm standing in my son in law's,
mother's farm up in Washington

(13:02):
and my daughter and his two childrenare there in the room,
and she's talking to me,and I'm not even hearing this.
She does the beforeI get the hearing aids.
I'm not even hearingthat she's talking to me.
And Sean goes, Cary, Cary,Evelyn's talking to you, right?
Oh, and there she was standingright in front of me, talking to me.
And I had no idea she was talking to me.

(13:23):
That was kind of a wake up call.
Okay, you know, I've got six grandkids,all right?
And whether it's Clara or Evelynor Jack or or or or Jonah or,
you know, whoever it may be, or Skye,you know, they all have.
They all want to talk about something.Okay.
And when you can't hear them, okay.
Or worse yet,if you hear them and you can't understand.

(13:45):
But that was another problem.I can hear them.
They don't speak that clearly.
Especiallythey're all under the age of of seven.
If that gives you any idea.
So having said that, it's,you know, they don't
necessarily speak that clearly welltrying to understand what they are saying.
If you can't understand it, distinguishit and hear it, then you got it right.
You've got a compounded problem.

(14:06):
Well, there's a big differencebetween hearing and understanding.
Okay.
You know, most of my patients can hear,but can they understand the conversation.
Absolutely not.
And it's just like with your glassesyou take your glasses off.
I can still see. I'm not that bad.
But when you put your glasses on oh mygosh, I can read that sign over there.
And it's just adding that clarityin that layer of understanding.

(14:27):
Going back to that conversationthat you missed,
they might be thinking,oh, grandpa was just ignoring me.
Yeah.
Correct.
You know, it's not that you
chose to ignore them.
You just didn't hear them.
On the flip side of that,well, he's not engaging with me.
Maybe I just won't have that conversationwith him.
Yeah.
That's terrible for your relationships.
Yeah, and we can. It's easy to fix.

(14:50):
The hard part is self-reflectionand realizing where you're at
and being honest with yourself about it,you really need help, and of coarse
99% of the processis getting your toes on my carpet.
Yeah, because if you can't acceptwhat's going on,
it makes it a hard treatment process.
Yeah, it really does.
And believe me, okay,if you're listening to this,

(15:12):
you've got the problemand you're not treating it.
You know who I'm talking to? Okay?
You know,you're hearing it from your wife.
You're hearing it from your children.
You're hearing it from your grandchildren.
Maybe the guys you go to the VFW with,or maybe the ladies at the women's
church social, whatever the case may be,if you're not paying attention to this,
you know you're getting the signsthat there's a problem,
and then you have to take the initiativeto do, you know, I guess with the

(15:36):
from the quality of life standpoint,I would have to say
that the difference it's made for mehas been night and day.
I, like I said,I can't operate without these things.
Now I can show here,I can take them out of here.
But it's not the same.
It's not the same clarity, it'snot the same volume.
You know, I can adjust thiswhen I go into a restaurant.
There's a setting on here.

(15:57):
It says restaurantand I just set it for restaurant.
and it tones the sound down significantlyso that I'm not.
If I'm sitting at a table, I'm not hearingeverybody's conversation around me,
which is a real problem.
If you ever hearing aid at a restaurant,
you're listening to somebodytwo tables over.
You're talking about something.
It has no no relationshipto what you're in the restaurant for.

(16:18):
So so to me, you know, this particular oneand we'll talk about this.
We come back from the breakthis particular hearing aid
because of all these fabulous settingsthat it has.
And the way that it works,like I said, it's I can't be without it.
The minute I don't have it on, I'm like,
or if I drive out of the houseand I forget to put them on, I'm like,

(16:39):
I've got to go back, I forgot.
Yep. Yeah.
And you live in a great time hearing aidsnow technologically advanced.
I mean the things that we have now,we didn't have five, six years ago.
This particular one, the Phonak,
and we can talk about this after we comeback from the break, to me is amazing.
And I had other hearing aids.
They did not work like this.
They were okay but they didn't give methe kind of control that this gives me.

(17:02):
Right.
And what Iand I can adjust the volume on this down.
You know,I can do a host of things that just.
I couldn't do before.
That, you know, it was worth every nickelthat I spent on this.
And I wouldn't be without it.
Because this works so well.
Well, you're not having to acceptthe best average anymore.
Everywhere you go, you can go That’sinteresting, I didn’t think about that.
You can go in.
Oh, I mean, I want this,I want this, and the next table over

(17:24):
next visityou have what I need this and this.
We didn't have that before.
So I understand the stigmathat hearing aids weren't very good.
When I first started doing this,I had a “trim potentiometer screwdriver”.
That's all we could do.
So to think about where we are
now and the abilitythat we have to help with your issues.
And it's a great time to wear hearing aidsbecause of technology.

(17:44):
Yeah, it is.
And, you know,there's this setting on here for TVs.
There's a setting on here for music.
So there are all kinds of differentsettings on here that help you adjust
these hearing aids to whatever situationyou find yourself in.
If you want information,the website is myFocusHearing.com.
Phone number 913-380-4200.

(18:05):
You're listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate
broadcasting here on the HIARadio Network.
Coast to coast across USA.
We'll be right back.
Don't go anywhere.

(18:25):
Welcome back.
You're listening to America's Healthcare
Advocate show broadcasting coastto coast to coast USA.
Here on the HIA Radio Network.
You can find out more about usby going to our website.
America's Healthcare Advocate.comI just got an email
the other day, lady who's got a sonshe needs health insurance for.
If we can help you with that,please send us an email.

(18:45):
I'll refer you probably to the folksover at RPS Benefits by Design.
They do a great job.
They can handle anythinganywhere in the country
and they are extremely competent people.
So once again,
if you do have questionsabout health insurance,
if you have a questionabout anything else,
if it's a medical issue,
they need to know where to get treatmentor whatever the case may be.
Send me an email.

(19:06):
I'm happy to help in any way that I can.
The website America's HealthcareAdvocate.com once again in studio
with me, Shannon Schnellerhere from Focus Hearing.
You know, I always tell you when I'm doingthe Medicare shows
don't call the number on TV,don't call Joe.
Nameth’s phone number.
Okay.
Don't call William Devaneif he isn't selling gold coins.

(19:27):
Okay. Don't don't call. You know,
because you're going to get a call centersomewhere
with somebody that doesn't know anythingabout your geographic area
in terms of providers, what's available,what makes most sense?
Well, you know, those TV ads for hearingaids, it's the same thing all over again.
Let me explain.
You're going to go bysomething sight unseen off the TV because

(19:50):
you think it's cheap,
and they're telling you it'sgoing to be a really great hearing aid.
You're not being tested,you don't know how to adjust it, how
it's going to work, and you've got nobodyto walk you through the process.
Why is that not a good idea?
Well, it's an answer.
It's not the best answer. Okay.
It's really about we need to knowwhat you're hearing levels are.

(20:10):
The hearing tests.So you do the test. Of course. Of course.
We need to know exactly what we're dealingwith. Is it volume?
Is it clarity, speech understanding.
How well do you hear in crowds?
Those are all completely differentsituations and issues.
So we put all that information togetherto make a recommendation, pairing
that with where you go, what you do,
how socially active are you,what's important to you.

(20:31):
Those two hours at church,is that the highlight of your week?
Are you playing cards?Am I going to the casino?
What's important to you?
What do we really need to address?
That is the key factorto getting you here.
Because if I can't helpthe things that are important to you, then
what's the point?
But getting a hearing test is key,because when you have a prescription
and I know exactly how to fix it,

(20:52):
if we don't have that,you're just got a straight amplifier.
Everything's turned up, turned down.
You're over
amplifying where you may not need it,and then
you're not getting enough amplificationwhere you do.
It's just not ideal.
And so it
affects the effectivenessof what you're doing.
And then it just it keeps a stigmaof hearing aids don't work.
And then yeah.
And Dave’s telling us off

(21:13):
air during the break of you knowfamily members that, you know, either
have a hearing aid that doesn't workor don't have hearing aids at all.
And, and the ones that have itthat don't work, you're telling me
they're all no good?
They're not any good. The bitthey're buying up off TV. Right.
So you know what I'll say to you?
You're not necessarilygoing to save more money.
Maybe. Maybe not.
Okay, but you won't know that,

(21:35):
if you don't get testedand you're not going to get tested.
So how are you going to knowif you're getting the optimum value
for what you need in termsof affecting your hearing?
So to me, that's critical. Sure.
I mean, some patientsdo better than others.
And there's lots of factors to that.
What is the degree of your loss?
What are we what's the monsterthat we're dealing with?

(21:56):
How big of a jump back to normaldo we need to make?
Bring up adaptation is a crucial factor.
What is the duration of your hearingloss is related to how
well you can adapt backto a normal hearing set.
The neuroplasticity of the brain.
How can it react to hearing better again?
It's atrophied
if it's out there for years and yearsand years, our whole system is atrophied.

(22:18):
What can it do when we activate it?
Sometimes I can't get you back to normal,
and that's directly relatedbecause we waited too long.
So it's my job to give you a fairexpectation
of what I canand what I can't do for you and why.
So let's talk a little, switch gearsand talk a little bit about,
the technology and what's available now.
You mentionedin one of the previous segments that,

(22:40):
you know, five years agoyou couldn't do this,
you couldn't do that,you could do something else.
And then off break, you said,I said, so, hey, this Phonak that I have,
which, you know, inmy opinion is an outstanding device.
And you said, oh,there's a new one with upgraded tech,
you know, like,I want to know what that is. Right?
So talk aboutlet's just talk about that in general.
And then the different brandsthat you sell.

(23:00):
And then and then you can chata little bit about this for sure.
Well if you think about this, howyour cell phone changes in 5 to 6 years,
it's very comparable to whatyour technology changes and hearing is.
We have all these wonderfulsound engineers
that are constantly working onmaking your hearing aids better.
So when we launch a product,that's typically something
that's been in researchand development for a good 3 or 4 years.

(23:24):
So allof that time and care and technology
and engineering that they haveput into that once they launch it,
and it's just an exciting timeto be wearing hearing aids right now,
because the things that we can do, you'regoing to be hearing better in crowds.
You've got directionality,you're going to have better clarity.
You've got your appthat's that's become so huge.
I didn't have this on my first.

(23:46):
I had two.
This is my third set of hearing aids.
The first two that I had, which I did notget at Focus Hearing, okay.
It was one of these national places
that I went to, and believe me,it was not the same.
I couldn't adjust them, couldn'tdo anything with them.
Drove me nuts.
And I didn't wear them all the timebecause I didn't like them.
This is a completeI found what works for me.

(24:06):
Right.
And and it's also about some patientsdo better than others
because if I don't setyou realistic expectations.
I can't promise you the moonand I can't deliver it.
So that's a conversation that we have.
This is what we're dealing with.
This is what wecan do and what we cannot do.
You have to use them consistently.
My patientsthat do not like their hearing aids,
they wear themthree hours a week for church.

(24:27):
They have not done the work.
You've never gotten used to them.
I tell my patients all the time,
it's like you just bought a housenext to the railroad tracks.
You're going to hear the trainsfor a week or two,
but the longer you stay in the house,the trains come and go,
but you don't hear them because the brainnaturally filters them out.
Consistent use helps the trains filter.
That's an interesting analogy.

(24:48):
And if you don't do that,you're never going to get used to them.
And so then you'rejust going to put them in the drawer.
So talk about the different.
And so I use a Phonak.
Is this a German product.
That is is European.
So you've got German engineering.You've got Swedish.
You've got Danish engineering.
There's some American engineering as well.
They all typically launch a newtechnology every year or two.

(25:11):
With the app.
We've got Bluetooth,you're taking your phone
calls, you can listen to your podcastthrough your hearing aids.
It's just
I let you out into the worldwith your parameters, and,
hey, wear them for two weeks.
Let's figure out what you like,what you don't like,
what your preference is, and then whateverbased on what you've been doing.
Then I'll just reset you to that becauseyou're hearing loss of your prescription.

(25:33):
But your app is your preferences. Yeah.
One of the things that this does
is it lets you get your phone callsthrough your hearing aid.
That drove me nuts.
I shut it off.
I don't want my phone calls
coming in on my hearing aids,and especially if I have in my truck
and it's dancing between the phone,the truck and my hearing aid.

(25:54):
So I got rid of it.
So that was an example of somethingannoyed the hell out of me, right?
And I got rid of it,
but she set it up and changed itand but you see what I'm saying?
You're not going to do thatif you're buying hearing aid from William
Devane on television.
I don't know if he’s selling them nowor not, but I'm using that as an example.
You know, the idea that I can go thereand I believe me, I,

(26:14):
I've been to their offices onmore than one occasion when I have issues,
when I need something fixed,but I need help with something.
They've got great people and they're right
there, and I just drive over thereand get it taken care of and I'm fine.
Okay, so and there is a maintenancecomponent of these things.
So before we go to break talk about that.
So there is a huge service portionof your hearing aids.

(26:37):
And you're hearing loss.
It's like it's not we're just going tomeet once and I'll see you in three years.
There's a maintenance program.
And with your Bluetooth in your app,there's going to be firmware updates.
There's just consistent service
that you're always going to needfrom your provider.
That's one of the big differenceswhere you're successful,
whether you're hearing aids or not,
because you need that support.
Bluetooth has become such a huge,important portion of the hearing aids

(27:01):
that, you know, a patient would be like,oh my, my Bluetooth, my phone calls
aren't coming through.Some patients love. That. I know.
Most patients.
Do it this.
And that's okay. That's okay. Yeah.
That generational gap just helpingwith the app and the Bluetooth.
And you're going to needyou're going to need service for that.
Generation gap means somebody buys it,doesn't know what the hell they're doing.
Okay.

(27:21):
When it comes to computersand those kinds of issues.
You know what? I have a problem.
I go to my grandson,
Jonah, who's 14 years old, 15 years old,and that's how I get that solved.
Okay.
So yeah, so for me having them availableand there's also,
you know, this particular hearingaid has a little insert in it
that you have to change out what he gets.
Clogged up with ear wax. Oh yes. Yes.

(27:42):
And you know I had troublewith that initially, but I would go in,
they would show me exactly how to do itand I and now I can do it.
I don't have a problem with it.
So again, having somebody therewhen you need them is huge.
It is.
And that that can make you successfulor not.
Yeah.
When we come back after a break I'mgoing to talk about the Medicare plans.

(28:02):
And if you've got a Medicare Advantageplan, you more than likely
have some benefit on there.
They can offset the cost of thesehearing aid and we'll talk about that.
And the fact that Focus Hearing workswith those carriers
to be able to provide youwith that particular benefit, if, in fact,
you choose to do that.
So we come back to a break,we'll talk about that
and we'll wrap it upwith a few other things.

(28:23):
You're listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate
Broadcasting here on the HIARadio Network.
Coast to coast across the USA.
If you want help, reach out,
myFocusHearing.com or call
913-380-4200.
We'll be right back after the breakhere on America's Healthcare Advocate.

(28:53):
Welcome back.
You're listening to America's HealthcareAdvocate show, broadcasting coast to coast
across the USA here on the HIARadio Network.
You know, we do a lot of workon this broadcast with regard to Medicare
Advantage.
We work with, you know, 5or 6 different carriers on this.
We, you know, we talk about whatthe plans, you know, and how people
enroll, you know, dis enroll,whatever the case may be.

(29:16):
Most of the Medicare Advantageplans have a hearing aid benefit.
They're all different.
Blue Cross may offer a $1,000 cardthat you can get
a debit card that covers hearing aidsand maybe some dental or something else.
Aetna’s got a different plan.The UnitedHealthCare’s got another.
How do you deal with those?We deal with all of them.
And that's really what our job is to helpyou navigate that.

(29:40):
Bring in your card.
It's our jobto figure out where you're at,
what we can do for you,what your benefit is.
They're not all the same. They're similar,but they're not all the same.
So that's an important conversationfor you
to havewith your Medicare Advantage specialists.
That's assuming you have one, right?
From William Duvain’scall it number or Joe Nameth’s.
Okay.
You know, Aetna has benefits.
UnitedHealthCare Blue Cross Shield.

(30:00):
Well they got out of the MedicareAdvantage plan this year.
So they're gone.
So those patients had to jump overto Humana, Aetna, UnitedHealthCare.
Right.
We deal with.
All of them and they all have a benefit.
They do and they're all different.
And but what I'm saying isShannon knows what those benefits are.
The folks in her shopknow what those benefits are.

(30:21):
You don't have to go try to figure it out.
They can look up your plan.
You bring in your ID card,they're going to know, hey,
you've got a $300 credit herethat we can use to buy a Phonak.
Or maybe you've got,you know, you've got $1,000 here.
You can use all of it for this.
Or do you want to use part of thisand save some for something else?
Those are all thingsthey can help you with.
They're intimately familiarwith all of that okay.

(30:42):
And that will assist youwhen you're looking to do this
and to offset your costif you're a seasoned citizen.
So let's talk about cost range
because I think mine were $2,500,if I'm not mistaken, something like that.
I believe you came in through ona Humana plan too, if I remember, I.
came in cash.
I didn't use a health insuranceplan at all.
I think you,I think you paid cash through your Humana.

(31:05):
They get it's a discount. Discount?
Yeah. It's a discount.
So once again,it can be very confusing for the patient.
It's just like, am I paying cash? Is this?
Mine was a discount, right?
Not cash. Exactly. And that'sthere's a big there's. A big difference.
There was a discount with the Blue Cross.That is correct.
Or do you have a straight benefit?
I have a $3,000 spend through Aetna, now,what can I get for that?
Or you're going to have a copay set up.

(31:26):
You know, you've got your options.
And those third party administratorsset all that up.
So I don't control any of that.
I just work within their parameters.
And that's our jobto find out what that parameter looks like
for the year,because it changes every year.
The range of costsfor the hearing aids themselves.
So if you're just goingto be typically straight out of pocket,
I mean, you've got a hearing aid
that can start at 995and go all the way up to 3200, 3500.

(31:48):
There's lots of stops in between.
If you have a Medicare Advantage plan,sometimes it's if what you need,
matches up, you can have a set ofhearing aids for nothing out of pocket.
Yeah.
And I've helped a lot of patientswith their first set of hearing aids
that way that just because of monetarysituation, couldn't afford to hear better.

(32:09):
That's a huge issue.
And that's just so frustrating.
And it's sad because you've got thebenefit if you're on a Medicare Advantage.
To let me be clear about this,you've got the benefit in your plan.
You may not know what it is,you may not know how to access it.
And by the way,
I'm on a Medicare supplement planand I did not have a cash benefit.
I had a discount. It was substantial.

(32:30):
Okay.
And I got to discount through Blue Crossand Blue Shield of Kansas City.
So if you're out of Blue Cross and BlueShield Med Sup, you've got the plan.
If you're on the Meds Sup anywherethey offer discounts, Focus
Hearing can do the same thing.
Medicare Advantage is different.
It's actually a cash pay.
They get reimbursedby the Medicare Advantage provider.
So it but you won't knowif you don't go in and talk to somebody.

(32:51):
Right? Correct. Correct.
So that's kind of doubly sad.
You've got a problem.
You may not have to pay anything right.
Maybe a minimal amount.
You could fix it. Duh.
Why don't we reach out to these folks,get some help, and.
I literally just cost youyour time to come see. Me.
Yeah, right.
Yeah.
At the end, I guess, you know,you know, we're kind of run.

(33:13):
We're going to close it out here shortly.
But this really affects those of us.
As I like to say,you're chronologically challenged
more than it does the younger folks.
Although my hearing loss started aroundage 48, 49, somewhere around there.
The longer this
goes on, the more isolatedyou become, right?
And the less you want to.
I don't want to go overto the kid's house,

(33:34):
but I just don't want to go.
Well, you really don't want to go,because you can't hear a damn thing
you're saying or you can't understandwhat they're saying.
Whatever the case may be,
the more you do that withdrawal,the more difficult and the more
and the worse it becomes.
Well, there's a lot of social consequencesto hearing loss.
If you leave it untreated,you start your gradual hearing loss.
You may not notice it.
You start to strugglemore in interactions.

(33:54):
Then you start to disengage,kind of pulling away from, I'm
just not going to go this week didn't gogreat last time, I'm just going to not go.
And then you completely withdrawfrom those things.
And then then withdrawal leadsto your isolation
where you'rejust not interacting with anybody.
And I'll tell you something, you know,in the category of seasoned citizens,
if you're a widower and you're,you know, you've got this problem

(34:17):
and you're living by yourselfnow, you're doubly
isolating yourself from your family,your friends, and your social circles
by not doing things with this.
That's why I do these shows, okay,is to try to get people to understand,
here'sthe consequence of not doing anything.
Here's the reward of doingsomething that makes sense.
So that's exactly why why we do these.

(34:37):
And I think it can make a big differencefor folks.
I urge you,you're listening across the country.
Obviously you can't all fly in here ,although I'm
sure Shannon would be happy to help you.
You know, find a reputablehearing aid clinic somewhere in your area,
go in, get tested, get a hearing aid,and start having a better quality of life.
Because really, Shannon, that'swhat it's all about, isn't it?

(34:59):
You’re reducing your social network size.
So instead of doingall the things that you used to do,
then you start pulling awayand your primary
and secondary interactionsbecome less and less and less.
Your cognitive decline starts to kick inbecause you're not interacting,
socially.
It's justsuch an important part of our lives.
When you have those social interactionsand you're with family and friends,

(35:20):
it's the connectionsthat make your life better.
That's it, okay?
It's the quality of lifeand cognitive decline.
You know, again, I'll say it again.
You know, if you'reif you're one of one of those of us
that is seasoned citizen, chronologicallychallenged, whatever the case may be,
that, that that cognitive issueshould be front and center in your mind,

(35:41):
you know, the last thing you want to dealwith is dementia, you know, or,
you know, Alzheimer's.
So you're, you'reyou're making the issue worse.
If you don't do somethingto solve the problem.
I hope this has helped everyone today.
Once again, if you want to reach out herein the Metro to the folks at Focus
Hearing, it's myFocusHearing.com the phonenumber 913-380-4200 and now I leave you

(36:03):
with this thought from Albert Einstein,the one who follows the crowd.
Will usually get no furtherthan the crowd, the one who walks alone
is likely to find himself in placesno one has ever been.
Remember,friends, it's a funny thing about life.
People refuse to accept anythingbut the very best.
You most often get it.
Thank you for listening to America'sHealthcare Advocates Show.
Broadcasting coastto coast across the USA.

(36:27):
Goodbye America.
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