Hearing aid reimbursement for adults for both ears
As of July, adults with a hearing disability will have two hearing aids reimbursed every five years, regardless of their age. This year, these medical aids will require about 900 thousand euros from the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (CHIF).
‘Adults with hearing disabilities, covered by the compulsory health insurance, are provided with an opportunity to live the most quality life they can by having both of their hearing aids reimbursed by CHIF. Earlier, two CHIF-covered hearing aids every five years used to be offered only for patients, covered by the compulsory health insurance, who are younger than 24 years and study at special vocational schools and universities.’ says Eglė Valiulytė, Advisor of the Medical Devices Reimbursement Division of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) under the Ministry of Health.
The health insurance fund are kindly reminding that people should contact their general practitioner upon the first signs of deteriorated hearing. In case of a need, the GP will issue a prescription to consult an expert doctor. CHIF-covered hearing aids can be prescribed only by an otorhinolaryngologist.
‘If a hearing aid is prescribed for an adult patient for the first time, the degree of hearing impairment is diagnosed by an otorhinolaryngologist, working at a third level medical institution, offering outpatient and (or) inpatient services, who will also issue the prescription. If the patient is prescribed a hearing aid not for the first time, the reimbursed hearing aid can be prescribed by a said expert, working at a medical institution, offering secondary level inpatient otorhinolaryngology services.’ says Valiulytė.
According to her, in case of an opportunity to get a reimbursed hearing aid for the other ear, patients with hearing disabilities already owning one hearing aid, should immediately apply to an otorhinolaryngologist, working at a third level medical institution, offering outpatient and (or) inpatient services for a procurement of a second hearing aid.
An expert physician will assess the patient’s health, the need for a hearing aid and issue a medical extract that the patient needs to bring to a company that has signed an agreement with the NHIF and offers reimbursed hearing aids.
The chosen hearing aid will be reimbursed for the CHIF-covered person 100 per cent. It should be noted that companies must provide the insurance-covered patients with hearing aids, subject to agreements, with no additional fees due to technological peculiarities. An additional fee due to technological peculiarities may be applied only if the insurance-covered patient provides a signed confirmation that they have been informed of a possibility to obtain a reimbursed hearing aid, but decided to select an aid of the same purpose, which requires more modern technology and more expensive materials to produce.
This year, the amount for CHIF-covered hearing and their fitting costs was allocated more than 3 million Eur.
More information on the procedure of reimbursed hearing aids is available here.
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Last updated: 20-07-2022
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