HearWorth is a cost and coverage research site. We read public rules and public data files about hearing aids, hearing tests and the programs that pay for them, and we publish what those sources say, with a link to each one. We do not give medical advice, recommend a plan or tell you whether you qualify for a benefit.
Where our figures come from
Every figure on a page is tied to a recorded fact: the value, the source URL, the date we read it and the date the rule or data takes effect. A figure with no recorded source is removed before publication.
- Medicare Advantage hearing benefits come from the CMS Plan Benefit Package files for contract year 2026 (hearing section B18), joined to the CMS monthly enrollment file for parent organizations.
- What Medicare pays for audiology services comes from the CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule relative value files for 2026 (October release, RVU26D), using the non-qualifying APM conversion factor.
- What Medicaid paid for hearing aid codes comes from the HHS Medicaid Provider Spending file, filtered to HCPCS codes V5000-V5999.
- Rules are read in their current text on the official site that publishes them: Medicare.gov and CMS, VA.gov, the eCFR, Congress.gov for bills, OPM for federal employee plans, and state legislature sites for state laws.
- Program and company pages (for example a hearing aid donation program or an insurer's announcement) are used only to describe that program itself, and are labeled as the program's own page.
We keep a copy of each data file and its checksum, so a figure can be traced back to the exact file it came from.
How we count
- Plan segments, not people. Medicare Advantage figures count contract-plan-segments as filed with CMS. A share of plan segments is not a share of members.
- A coverage cap is not a price. When a plan limits what it pays for hearing aids, we report that limit. It is not what a hearing aid costs.
- Small groups are hidden. When fewer than 5 plan segments share a value, we show the count and hide the median.
- Optional packages are not counted. Benefits sold as optional supplemental packages are not included. A 0% share of mandatory benefits does not mean a plan offers no hearing coverage.
- Medicaid payments are not prices. A Medicaid figure is what Medicaid paid per claim line in a state, which can cover a device, a fitting, a repair or batteries under separate codes.
- Bills are not laws. A bill is reported with its exact status on Congress.gov.
What we check before a page is published
Each page goes through a live search audit of the top results for its question, a check that it adds at least three things those results do not, a check that every number in the text, title, description and structured data matches a recorded fact, and a review of the full page before it goes live.
Corrections
When a figure is wrong or a rule changes, we correct it on every page, table and data file that uses it.
Cost and coverage research, not medical advice.