Five Things Seniors Are Overpaying For

Updated on August 24, 2018

Seniors shell out money for necessity items every day without even checking if there are more affordable alternatives. Below are the five things seniors are overpaying for:

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.

3 – Hearing aids. Custom aids typically cost $5000-$7000 per ear and are not covered by Medicare or most insurance policies. Off-the-shelf, FDA-registered options available from companies like LifeEar at $1599 offer a companion mobile app to program and tune the setting, assisting 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. Seniors can also inquire about senior discounts for public transportation.

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.

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