AT MINIMUM $3000 per ear. And unless you have a conductive hearing loss, both ears are affected.
It makes no sense at all that the government does not recognize hearing aids as medical devices for health insurance purposes. Don't they reqiure approval from the FDA to exist?
I worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Audiology for many years, the reason they are so expensive is because 50% of all hearing aids dispensed in the United States are through the VA. They can obtain a pair of the most up to date hearing aids, a remote control, and a streaming device for the TV for around $1000 at the Government Contract price. To privately purchase the same aids, remote, and streamer would cost you $12K to 15K. Of course their is less advanced technology that cost less.
The VA Patient does not pay anything for the aids, or the other devices mentioned.
So, since the Government gets the hearing aids so cheap, the cost of all the R&D, manufacturing, and other operating cost gets dumped on the remaining 50% of users.
It is unfair, and should be corrected.
In my case since I worked for the VA in Audiology, I opted not to pursue a disability rating for hearing loss through the VA. Since I am retired from the military, I was able to purchase a pair of aids, remote, and streamer at the same government contract price, the only drawback was I had to travel to a military hospital to get tested, and return a month later for the fitting, so I did have travel and logging cost.