I'm a hearing aid user in Canada and your numbers seem off. Canadian government will pay $500 / ear. I have near top of the line Widex hearing aids and they were more like $2750 / ear including a 3 year service contract which included batteries for the full term.
If your relatives got "free" hearing aids, it's likely they were low end (i.e. less than $500 so totally covered by the government grant). My father had a similar experience with low end devices and thankfully recently bought a much better pair and has finally successfully adapted to wearing them.
If your relatives got "free" hearing aids, it's likely they were low end (i.e. less than $500 so totally covered by the government grant). My father had a similar experience with low end devices and thankfully recently bought a much better pair and has finally successfully adapted to wearing them.