New York Times: The vital medical devices could be inexpensive and available over the counter. But efforts have stalled under the FDA.
By now, we were supposed to be swiftly approaching the day when we could walk into a CVS or Walgreens, a Best Buy or Walmart, and walk out with a pair of quality, affordable hearing aids approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Hearing aids, a widely needed but dauntingly expensive investment, cost on average $4,700 a pair. (Most people need two.) So in 2017, Congress passed legislation allowing the devices to be sold directly to consumers, without a prescription from an audiologist. The next step was for the FDA to issue draft regulations to establish safety and effectiveness benchmarks for these over-the-counter devices. Its deadline: August 2020. READ MORE
(Source: New York Times, 12/14/2020)