Hearing aids are now available without a prescription at Walgreens, CVS, and Best Buy.
Jennifer Nealon, Chief Marketing Officer of Hear Again America, holds the hearing aids they are selling October 19, 2021 in Boca Raton, Florida.
Joe Radle | Getty Images
Millions of Americans with hearing loss can now buy hearing aids without a prescription or physical examination at walgreens, CVS as well as Best Buy according to companies.
Walgreens launched on Monday sale of over-the-counter hearing aids via the Internet and in stores nationwide for $799 a pair. CVS is selling over-the-counter devices on your website priced between $199 and $999. The network of pharmacies will also start offering them in some pharmacies starting in November.
The best buy is offers 20 different OTC hearing aids online at a price of 200 to 3000 dollars, according to the company. The electronics retailer will offer the devices in 300 stores across the country later this month.
And supermarket chain Hy-Vee will offer four different hearing aids online this week and at 34 locations in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Prices range from $499 to $999. By the end of the year, the devices will be available in 100 stores.
Food and Drug Administration issued a rule in August this allowed the over-the-counter sale of hearing aids to adults aged 18 and over with mild to moderate hearing loss. People with severe hearing loss and children still require prescriptions for devices.
In 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services and the FDA to develop a rule allowing hearing aids to be sold without a prescription. The White House announced the availability of hearing aids earlier Monday.
About 30 million people in the US have hearing loss, according to the FDA, but only a fifth of them have and use hearing aids. According to the agency, many people who could benefit from the devices are either unable to access them due to cost, while other people do not use them due to perceived stigma.
Food and Drug Administration, in analysiscalculated that OTC hearing aids could save consumers about $1,438 because they do not involve costly professional services.
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