> For decades, the FDA has regulated hearing aids as a prescription medical device — an arrangement that adds to the cost and effort people must expend to get them.
It's a treatment for a specific medical condition. Those devices and claims about them are universally regulated.
I also don't believe deregulating the market is going to work. The reason prices are so high is because there is a small monopoly of manufacturers that control global supply and a small cadre of middle-men that are allowed to create whatever markup they like.
Deregulating the middle men doesn't really solve the fundamental problem. I would expect a lot of patent lawsuits to be filed against small manufacturers and distributors if the government gets it's way here.
It's an attempt to solve an endemic lack of regulation with even less regulation.
Same rational for an eye exam and Rx.
it is more complicated than just "do you see or not?"
And medical issues can, and are, discovered with a comprehensive hearing evaluation.
What is the rationale for this?