(Finance) – TheCompetition and Market Guarantor Authority concluded thecognitive investigationlaunched in September 2023, dedicated to appliances acoustic. There are at least 7 million Italians who suffer from hearing problems and of these approximately 2.5 million already use hearing aids. Compared to other comparable countries, such as France, in Italy the average price for a single device (between 1,500 and 2,100 euros) is higher and with less public support for the purchase.
The investigation found a poor transparency of the commercial conditions applied to the public: consumers have difficulty obtaining clear information both of a technical nature and on price of the appliance and related services, usually sold combined and without any distinction. Services represent the main expense in the package, but this is not perceived by consumers. The Authority has therefore reported to Parliament, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Economy, Agenas, Regions and Autonomous Provinces the opportunity to guarantee, also through legislative-regulatory interventionsa clear and distinct indication to the public of the price of the device compared to that of the related services offered to the user.
As for the appliances acoustic provided by National Health Servicethe investigation revealed serious difficulties in the procedures purchase public, due to unclear legislation which has jeopardized the effective implementation of essential levels of assistance, in addition to strong opposition from the main commercial operators. Faced with the possibility that supplies public return to a “tariff” regime – on the basis of changes linked to the entry into force of the new tariff nomenclature for prosthetic assistance -, the Authority believes that, to guarantee the efficiency of public spending and with a view to strengthening of the competitive mechanisms, the administrations concerned can carry out tenders. The Antitrust also underlined that it is appropriate to assign the reimbursement amount directly to the patient through the introduction of a “voucher” or “hearing voucher”, to support competition between suppliers of products and services that allows access to an appropriate and technologically updated offer.
“On the hearing aid front, for some time now in Italy we have been witnessing a real “hearing business”, with companies selling instruments and services to citizens at very high prices and in less than transparent conditions, such as to represent a possible form of speculation harm users who suffer from hearing problems”. This is stated by Codaconscommenting on the Antitrust report.
“The Antitrust investigation demonstrates how Italian citizens are discriminated against compared to those of other European countries in terms of hearing aids, suffering on the one hand higher prices, on the other poor transparency on the contractual conditions – explained Codacons – A situation that extends to the entire National Health Service and therefore to communityand which requires urgent intervention from the Government and Parliament to block any speculation to the detriment of people with hearing problems, starting from stringent limits on sale combined appliances-services, a practice which, as also noted by the Antitrust, enormously increases the costs borne by citizens”.