I am curious, how did you arrive at "TWO for less than $1200"?
That is less than my husband paid at Sams Club for his first aids 9 years ago, less than my Mom paid for her last pair in 2009....
I understand the need for affordability. Have you considered one now and one in a year or so?
Sue

@pc2018

Search Hearing Loss Association of American for a list of organizations, like Kiwanis, that can help financially with aids.
Reach out to your community Deaf Services organization if you have one. Many ENT practices accept trade ins on old hearing aids when someone buys new ones. I did exactly that many years ago…got about $300 for each aid off the new price. He knew a patient who could not afford to pay much for aids and made some money of them himself. A guy who used to sit next to me at the gym got two older models of a name brand for several hundred dollars each. They worked for him. Some practices will work with you in getting one if you state your budget upfront. The older aids are out there…sitting in drawers or donated to hospitals and nursing homes. They will be behind the ear aids and will need new domes or molds and programming.
Requires work on your part but may pay off since you don’t need or want Bluetooth. Nothing wrong with older models…just like phones only way more expensive.

FL Mary

It is a shame that hearing aids cost so much. It's also a shame that Medicare doesn't cover them. This is an issue that the consumer organization, The Hearing Loss Assn. of America (HLAA) has been working very hard on. If the people who need hearing aids, who feel they are too costly, would get involved in HLAA, it would help. http://www.hearingloss.org How? Because numbers matter to the decision makers in the legislature. Isn't it time to let those decision makers know that hearing loss affects millions of Americans?

It is very common for a person with hearing loss to blame others for mumbling. In fact, that is one of the most common signs of hearing loss. Yes, some people do not speak up, or don't speak as clearly as they should. Some have accents. Some have speech defects. Now, many are wearing masks that muffle speech, even on the phone. They also make it impossible to speech read if you depend on that skill. Most of us with hearing loss do depend on that whether we realize it or not as we learn to watch for clues to help us understand what is being said.

If you need hearing help, do get tested by a clinical audiologist. Ask for a copy of the test results. Once you have the results of that test in hand, via an audiogram, take it with you to shop for hearing aids if what is offered there is too costly for you. A lot of people in this forum had shared very positive experiences of buying hearing aids at big box retailers like Costco and Sam's Club. They generally offer a longer trial period than you will get from a clinical audiologist. That gives you time to try and get used to hearing with them. If they don't work for you take them back. Nothing lost except the initial cost of the testing.

It's obvious that the technology field of audiology is changing due to different sales approaches and opportunities. It is important though, to understand that a hearing aid can be the best and most expensive model of all, but if it isn't fit properly for an individual's hearing loss it probably will not work well.

There are reasonable options out there if you want to hear better. Do you?