How Your Hearing Benefit Works
How Your Hearing Benefit Works
Original Medicare covers hearing and balance exams that your doctor orders to check for a medical problem. Elderplan Select (HMO-POS I-SNP/IE-SNP) covers these Medicare-covered hearing exams and gives you a way to pay for over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids through your monthly OTC benefit.
Your Hearing Coverage at a Glance
This plan does not have a separate hearing aid allowance. Instead:
| Over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids | You can use your $175 monthly OTC benefit to buy eligible OTC hearing aids and hearing amplifiers from the OTC catalog, up to your available balance. Unused OTC dollars do not carry over. |
| Medicare-covered hearing exams | Diagnostic hearing and balance exams that your provider orders are covered at a $0 copayment. |
How to Use Your Hearing Coverage
- For OTC hearing aids: Shop the OTC catalog in your benefits portal at MyBenefitsCenter.com or at a participating retailer and pay with your OTC card.
- For a Medicare-covered exam: Use the search tool on the Find a Hearing Specialist page, or choose any Medicare-approved hearing provider. You pay $0.
Medicare-Covered Hearing Care
These are services your provider orders to find out whether you need medical treatment — for example, to check dizziness, balance problems, or hearing loss caused by a medical condition.
- What’s covered: Diagnostic hearing and balance exams performed by your physician, audiologist, or other qualified provider.
- Your cost: $0 copayment.