Dental, Vision & Hearing
Does Medicare Cover Hearing Aids?
No. Original Medicare does not cover hearing aids or exams for fitting hearing aids — you pay 100% of the cost. It does cover diagnostic hearing exams your doctor orders for a medical reason.
What Original Medicare covers
On the hearing aid side, nothing: not the devices, not the exam to fit or prescribe them, not batteries or maintenance. What Part B does cover is diagnostic hearing and balance exams — testing your doctor orders to find out whether a medical condition needs treatment, such as sudden hearing loss, dizziness, or hearing changes after an illness or injury.
What it does NOT cover
Hearing aids themselves, at any price point, and the fitting exams that go with them. This is a longstanding exclusion in Original Medicare, not a gap that depends on your diagnosis or your doctor's paperwork.
The conditions and limits
The dividing line is the purpose of the visit. An exam to diagnose a medical problem is covered; an exam whose purpose is a hearing aid is not — even when both happen in the same office. One development worth knowing: since 2022, over-the-counter hearing aids for adults with perceived mild-to-moderate hearing loss can be bought without a prescription or an exam. Medicare does not cover those either, but a hearing professional can tell you honestly whether an over-the-counter device is a reasonable fit for your degree of loss.
What it costs you
Hearing aids are 100% yours under Original Medicare — the $283 Part B deductible and 20% coinsurance apply to covered diagnostic exams, not to the aids. Because prices vary widely between providers and models for what can be similar technology, get more than one quote before you buy, the same way you would shop any major purchase.
Many Medicare Advantage plans include a hearing aid benefit — typically an allowance or set copays through a specific supplier network — with the real terms in the plan's Evidence of Coverage.
Doctor or advisor?
Start with your doctor or an audiologist about the hearing loss itself: its cause, its degree, and which type of device actually helps. If hearing aid coverage would change your Medicare decision, review the plan documents with a licensed agent or your state's SHIP program — and check whether your audiologist participates in the plan's hearing network before counting on the benefit.