Seniors shell out money for necessity items every day without realizing that there are more affordable alternatives, eating into limited incomes that are often stretched to the bone to make ends meet. Here are five areas where seniors can save money by switching to newer options:
1 – Landline telephones. Now that most seniors are online and have cell phones, they can trim expenses by either dropping their landlines completely or replacing their home phones with VOIP telephones. In many cases, they can also keep the same phone number they’ve had for years.
2 – Cable TV. The same Internet connection that brings the grandchildren closer can bring Hulu and Netflix to seniors and allow seniors to access quality entertainment options for less than the cost of a monthly cable TV subscription, according to the latest cable tv statistics.
3 – Hearing aids. Custom aids typically cost $2000-$4000 per ear and are not covered by Medicaid or most insurance policies. Off-the-shelf, FDA-registered options available from companies like MDHearingAid cost as little as $300 per ear, recently prompting FDA support for ‘one size fits most’ products to assist the 80% of Americans who need hearing aids but cannot afford them.
4 – Transportation. Seniors who live in urban areas may be able to cut their costs by using services like Uber and Lyft to get to doctors’ appointments and run errands instead of using their cars or taking taxis.
5 – Prescription drugs. Everyone knows that meds can burn a hole in your checkbook. CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid all have prescription discount programs that can yield substantial savings. For the more tech-savvy apps like GoodRX and LowestMed allow users to comparison-shop many pharmacies from their phones to zero in on the best prices.
For more information, visit www.mdhearingaid.com.
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