If you can't afford good hearing aids, here is a work around.

[Buddyzbuddy]

11. Even with hearing aids at a total cost to my insurance company of $9k

I too have to look directly at the person speaking with me to enhance listening by somewhat reading their lips.
Even with all of the adjustments available on my hearing aids I'm still unable to hear all spoken words. They do however help me to hear all sounds clearer such as sirens, alarms and the sound of voices. Otherwise without them it's like walking around with my hands held tightly against my ears.
As for my suggestion of using the phone, it's about a 10th of the cost of the hearing aids or equal to the out of pocket portion and I get multiple uses of the phone with better clarity.
The point is, there may be alternative solutions at a lower cost with better results. Some places offer the phone "free" for signing up for their mobile service. Most people need the service, anyway.

BTW, I use the phone and earbuds while sleeping at night as a sound machine to camouflage the maddening ringing of the ears. Youtube has many sources of many different sounds to match the tones you hear or enhance the tones you want to hear.