UnitedHealthcare Debuts a Brand-New Hearing Website

August 28, 2019

UnitedHealthcare recently announced the establishment of a brand-new website, UnitedHealthcare Hearing, which offers all of its consumers access to more affordable, high-quality hearing health information.

According to Tom Wiffler, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the new project increases the “whole-person benefit plans that offer greater access to quality, cost-effective care” for millions of people in the United States. In discussing the importance of the project, Wiffler cited studies that show how helping people improve their hearing health can lead to greater overall health and a reduced risk of injuries and health conditions associated with untreated hearing loss, such as dementia and depression.

In total, there are about 48 million Americans who suffer from some degree of hearing loss. However, a significant number of these people do not seek the treatment they need, primarily due to a high cost and lack of proper insurance coverage. However, the longer hearing loss is left untreated, the worse it can get, and the more likely it is that those people will suffer from additional, serious conditions.

There are a variety of factors linked to a greater risk of hearing loss, including age, regular exposure to loud sounds and various environmental factors. People who work in particular industries, such as music, mining or manufacturing, are all more likely to experience hearing loss than people who work in industries where repetitive exposure to loud noise is not a hazard of the job.

The new service

The new UnitedHealthcare Hearing website will provide some extra value to individuals and companies that combine specialty and medical health benefits, such as vision, dental and financial protection coverages in a single health plan.

As part of the debut of the plan, UHC is donating 20,000 silicone-based earplugs to police and fire departments across the country. These reusable plugs will help to protect the hearing health of the first responders who are at an elevated risk for hearing loss because of the significant noise exposure they’re often subjected to while out on the job. Studies have shown firefighters and police officers to be at significant risk for these sorts of issues.

UHC has also launched various television and radio public service announcements on stations located across the country in a collaboration with the nonprofit organization Songs for Sound. The purpose of this collaboration is to raise greater awareness about the connection between exposure to significant levels of noise and long-term hearing loss, particularly for people who work in noisy industries and have to deal with exposure to loud sounds essentially every working day of their lives.

The new site is available at www.hihealthinnovations.com/united. It features information about hearing aid orders and savings, ways for people to call in for more information and have their questions answered, and tips and advice for how to properly use hearing aids.

To learn more about the steps UnitedHealthcare is taking to promote greater hearing health with the launch of its new hearing website, we encourage you to contact Potter’s Hearing Aid Service today. We look forward to assisting you soon!