Top Tips for Reducing Your Healthcare Costs

By The Numbers

The best way to live healthy and avoid costs associated with healthcare is to exercise regularly and eat organic foods. That is to say: foods that aren’t processed, that don’t include hormones, pesticides, preservatives, or other artificial foodstuffs. But not everyone is able to just jump on an exercise/diet regimen and get “in the green” in terms of health.

There are many individuals who have a lot of expenses in terms of healthcare, and rising prices are not helping them out. It’s no secret that the American healthcare system is broken. If you’re going to survive, you’ve got to get strategic and use resources pioneered by those who’ve gone before.

It’s not enough just to enroll in health insurance, but it’s important to pick the best plan for you and your family.

One thing you can do to offset, rather than reduce, healthcare costs involves crowdfunding. Especially if you’ve got certain conditions, going to the crowd can really help you survive financial difficulties. But this doesn’t reduce your actual expenses, it only gives you a means of defraying associated costs.

Savings Tips

In places like Pennsylvania, the state has opted out of an internally-run healthcare exchange program, and instead uses a federally-run program attainable through Healthcare.gov. But that doesn’t mean there are a lack of exchange providers. Currently the state has nine carriers that will participate in the 2018 fiscal year and If you are older and looking into Medicare, you can check out this Medicarewire article which goes over the top 7 complaints and whether the Medicare Advantage Plans are good or bad for you.

With Annual Open Enrollment, members help each other by sharing in the cost associated with eligible medical expenses, learn all about Health Share Programs here.

Sometimes you can save money on healthcare just by applying to the right program. Certain applicants are automatically enrolled in a Medicaid program should their income be as high as 138% of established poverty levels.

But again, the system does seem to punish you if you aren’t at or around the poverty level. You’ve got to be crafty to get around these things. There is a marked lack of transparency among healthcare exchange providers. You should call local hospitals, clinics, and practitioners to get the real prices on certain procedures.

Some procedures just aren’t necessary—but today, there are a ubiquity of tests which may be justified through fear. I.E., the doctor says something like: “Well…you don’t have to do this procedure; but I wouldn’t advise avoiding it.” If you know what the procedure is, its cost, and its relevance to your condition, you may opt out and save thousands. If you need advice on certain health and dental treatments, be sure to call the Dentist in Sacramento.

Talk To Professionals, Fight Erroneous Bills

Also, talk with your doctor if you find yourself in a difficult situation and don’t know where you stand. Let him know what your financial situation is. Most doctors are paid through insurers, not patients. They know how to tiptoe around costs and still maintain a profit through payouts from insurance exchange providers. This likely won’t save you much, but it can save you some.

You’re likely going to get erroneous bills at some point. You won’t know unless you’ve done your research. But if you have, and you get an erroneous bill anyway, do not back down. Fight it. This can happen even for small healthcare costs. Sometimes you may not even have insurance, but check yourself into an urgent care for an injury.

You may pay in cash, and think you’re finished with the situation—but then several months later, you get a bill in the mail. What the heck? Well, by paying out-of-pocket directly, you jumped outside traditional payment methods, and it’s likely a secretary had a “moment” and accidentally put your bill in as unpaid. Or the healthcare facility you went through was dishonest. Either way, don’t roll over for that kind of thing. Fight it.

There are a lot of things you can do to reduce healthcare costs; this writing barely scratches the surface. Do a little online research, especially if you have a condition for which you know there’s a necessary procedure. An hour’s Google perusal could save you thousands of dollars.