Why Purchasing a Hearing Aid is a Consumer Nightmare

[Jeffrey Sirianni]

jbell at barint.on.ca writes:

>Absolutely unbelievable! Good consumer dialog here, providing information to the
>community.. nothing but knocks from those professionals (sic) who are unable to
>defend their practices with valid information. Here in Ontario the dispensing
>profession does operate as a professional group with published flat rate fees for
>each level of service which are posted in each office. I think this came about due
>to all the consumer rip offs of the past which forced the government to take some
>action... [snip]

Let's create a sample situation here.  I have an private practice audiology clinic
staffed with a receptionist and an office manger.  Let's say I sell one a hearing aid
a day (on average) for the year (50 weeks, 2 for vacation).  Let's say my average
profit on a hearing aid is $700 (that is fairly liberal).  My projected hearing aid
profit for the year is ($700 x 5 days a week x 50 weeks) $175000.  Overhead takes
about 60% of that leaving me with ($175000 x .4) $70000.  Don't forget that the average
return rate is 30%, so that leaves me with ($70000 x .7) $49000 for a take home salary
at the end of the year.  Sounds pretty reasonable for someone who has spent 6+ years in
univeristy training programs and pays nearly $500 a month in student loans.

-- 
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* Jeff Sirianni, M.A., CCC-A                      *
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