You and Your Healthcare: 5 Ways to Cut Your Medical Costs

According to Kaiser Health Foundation, a healthcare non-profit, an average employee currently pays $694 in annual healthcare premium for individual coverage and $3,281 for family coverage. This amount is expected to increase by 10 percent this year.

In the face of tough economic times, rising cost of medical care, as well as the ongoing threat of a global pandemic, paying close attention to your healthcare expenses has become urgent and very necessary. There’s no better time to sit down and carefully lay out your spending priorities than now. But the important fact one has to remember is that, while it is imperative that existing medical cost has to be cut down in order to accommodate other basic household necessities, nobody can afford to get sick, or worse, lose their jobs as a consequence.

Preventive measures

Of course, the most simplistic, most basic thing to do is to be healthy or to adopt preventive measures in order not to incur or add up on your medical cost. This may include cutting down on smoking (if not totally quitting), exercising more, modifying your lifestyle in order to get more sleep and eating healthy. When an illness is being investigated, the choices we make each day in what we eat and how we live are among the most important underlying causes.

Comprehensive lifestyle changes as means of prevention also dramatically cut insurance costs as more and more employers are offering financial incentives to those who participate in company wellness programs this year, according to the National Business Group on Health.

Incentives may come in a form of cash or contributions credited either on a healthcare account aimed at helping employees replace out-of-pocket medical costs, or count directly towards the premium. For example, Dell employees participating in the “Well at Dell” program may earn as much as $78 each year for completing an online health assessment and up to $225 more if they join and surpass one of the goals of a company wellness program. Corresponding incentives for family participation is at $303.

On the other hand, PepsiCo penalizes smokers in their workforce with $100 more annually for insurance coverage while media company Tribune had implemented $100 premium surcharge from workers using tobacco products.

Save on prescription medicines

Most of us are aware of the generic medicines which are way cheaper than the branded products but work just as well. Therefore, it is always wise to ask your doctor if there is a generic alternative to the medication he or she is prescribing. Better yet, ask for samples as it will cut another good percentage of the total medicine cost.

If you are on an ongoing medication (e.g. chronic asthma, heart medicine), Dr. Phillip Hecht, a Baylor Grapevine cardiologist, recommends mail-order pharmacy where patients can save money and avoid repeated trips to the pharmacy and have their medications delivered by mail. Very often, as per Hecht, a 90-day prescription obtained through a mail-order pharmacy costs less than a 30-day prescription bought from the pharmacy since you can buy in bulk.

Clinic vs. ER

For non-emergency cases, it is smarter to go to a clinic than the emergency room of a hospital, which is something that most patients without insurance do. There are about 7,000 community centers round the country that are being funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service and are offering medical health services such as checkups, immunizations, laboratory tests and sick visits (visit http://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/ for locations). If you don’t have any insurance, these clinics will accommodate you for treatment and may charge according to a sliding scale.

In addition to these freestanding clinics, there are also the walk-in clinics found in retail pharmacies that charge about $25 to $100 for minor ailments such as earaches or stomach ailments. This is about 25 percent less than the cost of a doctor visit.

Free tests and screenings

Health screenings are valuable because they provide early detection of health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer and others. These screenings can be very expensive however.

You may sign-up for free tests and screenings at local hospitals or community health fairs where you can save hundreds of dollars. Many drugstore chains and supermarkets also offer free blood pressure screening but you may need to seek approval from your physician if it’s okay to get your blood pressure readings from these venues.

Ask for discounts

According to the 2005 Harris Interactive Poll, about two-thirds of adults who asked for a lower price from a hospital or a dentist got it. Moreover, Chief Medical Officer of Ardent Health Services of Nashville Dr. Steven Landgarten said that most doctors are willing to agree on special payment arrangements with patients who are going through financial difficulties, particularly if they are regular patients.

Don’t be embarrassed – it never hurts to ask!