Home Does any company insure hearing aids?

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AlastairSC

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Just got two new hearing aids. Quinn won't cover them (renewing my house ins this week).

Does anyone know which companies would? Or failing that, can anyone recommend stand-alone ins co for this?

Are there any other (partly) deaf AAMers out there? Eh?
 
FBD will. And most other insurers will allow you to add items - specifying what they are and the value...
 
Theres a few others that are excluding them. So its not as simple as just specifying it. More main stream insurers. I cant think of which ones they are.
 
You could make a case that this is discrimination against you on the grounds of your disability. Try requesting a 'reasonable accomodation' from them mentioning the Equal Status Acts and see how that goes.
 
It isn't discrimination.
It is just the policy of the company not to insure that item, ie the hearing aid. Unfortunate for the OP but as others have said there are other options.
 
Dirac said:
It isn't discrimination.
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Are you the Equality Tribunal?

Assuming that you are not, then you don't get to decide what constitutes discrimination. That's down to the tribunal.

I'm not certain that you would win this case, but it could be worth taking. It may well be discrimination where a number of companies do not cover hearing aids, but do cover spectacles for example. Equality law is complex, so maybe we should leave the final decisions to the experts.
 
Obviously I am not the Equality Tribunal. Don't be so petty please.

The OP asked for info on who insures hearing aids. Whether in reality Quinn are discriminating against the OP we are unlikely to ever find out. I will rephrase my original quote to "In my opinion, it isn't discrimination."

If it helps the OP I have insured with FBD for a longtime now and can only recommend them as I have found them to be exceptionally helpful and seem to take customer service very seriously. So it's a thumbs up! (And no I am not affiliated to them. Just a happy customer).
 
No offence intended. You're right in that we probably will never find out if this constitutes discrimination. If the OP does decide to take a case to the Tribunal, we might find out in a couple of years time. If the OP doesn't take a case, he may well find that fewer and fewer companies will insure these aids over time.

Either way, I agree that FBD are generally strong on customer service, which might be a better short term solution.
 
Just switched my house ins from Quinn to FBD. Thanks, Seratoninsid. It was €40 more to cover them as personal effects; given that the pair cost €3000 it was worth it.

(I wonder if a possible outcome of threatening to take any case might be that Quinn would offer to cover them - at an exorbitant premium - thereby making it non cost-effective?)
 
AlastairSC said:
(I wonder if a possible outcome of threatening to take any case might be that Quinn would offer to cover them - at an exorbitant premium - thereby making it non cost-effective?)
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That is indeed a possible outcome, and could also possibly be considered to be discriminatory.

It all depends on what evidence is available. I believe there was a case a few years back seeking equal treatment on car insurance for men and women. This case failed because there was evidence to show that ladies were lower risks. I'd guess that this case would depend on what evidence was available about the risk associated with hearing aids.
 
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