Hearing aids: beware of the risk of fraud

If you are disappointed with your hearing aids, it may be because they were incorrectly chosen or incorrectly adjusted. Health Insurance is launching an alert and inviting all those concerned to adopt “good reflexes in the face of fraudulent practices”.

Géraldine Zamansky, journalist for the Health Magazine on France 5, talks to us today about the alert launched by Health Insurance on all the risks of scams in the field of hearing aids. It has updated its information messages to try to protect patients from scams.

franceinfo: What does this alert launched by Health Insurance underline?

Geraldine Zamansky: Health Insurance has just clarified, I quote, “the right reflexes to adopt in the face of fraudulent practices”, in the field of hearing aids. This is a response to the increase in these frauds, since the 100% health reform in 2021. By creating access to fully reimbursed devices, this reform has attracted unscrupulous players into this sector.

With a financial, but above all human, cost for people who have not received good devices, as Professor Jérôme Nevoux, ENT at Bicêtre Hospital in the Paris region, regularly observes. He regrets these months, even these lost years, still hearing poorly. Because time then works against the brain, which finds it increasingly difficult to get used to these devices.

Did these people receive defective hearing aids?

In fact, there can be several types of failure. The one that Professor Nevoux most often observes is the total absence of support. First during the test month, mandatory before any purchase. Each device must be adjusted, ear by ear, with a gradual on-set to gently reintroduce lost sounds. He often discovers prostheses “out of the factory”, without any adaptation.

How to quickly notice it? Professor Nevoux is categorical: in 90% of cases, even with a device reimbursed 100%, there must be an improvement from the first days, and of course the first month. Otherwise, above all, do not take these devices.

So you have to choose your hearing care professional carefully?

If the ENT does not recommend it, there must be at least a recommendation from a satisfied person, with regular follow-up, also obligatory. Health Insurance also emphasizes the importance of a quote that specifies everything. And above all denounces the illegality of even the slightest canvassing by SMS, or even, worse, at home. Or even rapid screenings, encouraging people to ask their GP for a prescription

Everything must start from a real audiogram, and a prescription made by a specialist. Luis Godinho, vice-president of the hearing care professionals’ union, fully agrees with these warning messages. He is calling for reinforced regulation of his profession, which would be on the desk of the Ministry of Health. In the meantime, everyone really needs to be vigilant.

The list of all the reflexes to adopt in the face of fraudulent practices