Reducing Personal Healthcare Costs

Veterinary students from the United States and...
Image via Wikipedia
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20% Americans with employer-provided insurance (and 47% of those with individual insurance plans) have “high-deductible” healthcare plans—plans with deductibles of $1,500 or more. With deductibles like these, even those with insurance can’t afford to go to the doctor. As a result, more and more Americans are trying to reduce their medical expenses anyway they can. And one of the best ways to lower your expense is by learning about where your costs come from and how to reduce them.
One of the first things you should do, if you want to keep your costs down, is make sure you know where you are getting care. For example, if a doctor sends you to a hospital to get an x-ray, or have another type of body imaging test done, you’ll end up paying more than you would if it were performed at a commercial lab or in a doctor’s office.
Another tip is to research your diagnosis. If you know the types of procedures and tests that are normal and reasonable for your diagnosis, then you’ll see a red flag when a doctor wants to do tests outside that scope. That doesn’t mean you have to fight with your doctor, or tell them how to do their job, but it gives you the chance to have an open discussion with them about what is necessary and what you can or can’t afford.
Don’t be afraid to shop around. Finding the best price is normal when it comes to buying a car or a TV, but we rarely think to do it with our medical care. Different doctors will charge different prices for their services. If you think you are paying too much for service, don’t be afraid to call around and find out what an average price for that service would be.
When all else fails, simply talk to your doctor about your situation. Your doctor wants to keep you as a patient. It might be worth it for him to give you a discount every once in a while.
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Medical Issues Tagged With: , ,

Government as Mediator in the Political Debate over Healthcare

WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 18: New Jersey Governo...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Healthcare in the United States, unlike the majority of western modernized countries, is provided by a number of private companies. Private insurance companies in the US began to spring up around the time of the Civil War and only covered accidents related to travel by train or boat. But when those companies began to turn profits, other entrepreneurs, looking for a way to make their fortune, decided to start offering more comprehensive coverage—expanding into total health coverage and eventually into car, home, and life insurance.
These companies found that they could charge monthly or yearly fees to people who wanted to guard against accidents or unforeseen medical or economic emergencies. In return, customers found that they had peace of mind. They knew that in the event of an unforeseen accident, they could count on the insurance company to help them out.
Today, however, insurance has become big business. Instead of people counting on their insurance company to help them in a time of need, they often find themselves fighting with the insurance companies to get what they feel they are owed for their monthly premium.
The problem lies in the fact that private insurance companies are now large, publicly traded companies, who are required by law to provide their stakeholders with profits to the best of their ability. But if you are an insurance company, how do you create bigger profits? By paying out as little money as possible in insurance claims.
This is why healthcare in the US has become a political issue. Citizens feel that they pay insurance companies monthly premiums for peace of mind in times of hardship and distress, and in return insurance companies feel they need to pay out a little money as possible in order to turn larger and larger profits. Now, the government has entered the fray by stepping in to be a mediator between private insurance and the American people by proposing a government healthcare bill that will offer citizens a publicly-funded alternative to private insurance.
Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Body Fitness, Health Care, Medical Issues Tagged With: , ,

The Health Care Bill: Will it Help You?

House Bill and Senate Bill subsidies for healt...

If you have insurance already, you’re probably not too concerned either way about the health care bill that was passed in Congress. If you don’t have insurance, though, you may feel as though the health care bill is a piece of monumental legislation that will change your life. But, will it really? Even though it has been signed into law, it hasn’t yet taken effect. Most of the provisions of it won’t even come into play for years, so they aren’t actually helping anyone who needs insurance right now. If you’re looking for the health care bill to help you, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer. The good news is that insurance companies won’t be able to turn people down for pre-existing conditions anymore.

That’s important, because there are a lot of people out there who can’t get insurance just because they have a pre-existing problem. Of course, that’s not their fault. They may have even been born with a medical problem condition, and have never been able to get insurance. If they were allowed to get insurance at a reasonable rate, their life would be quite different. Before the health care bill changed the law, they would have been uninsurable, or would have to pay so much for insurance that it would not have been something they could ever afford. If you’re in that position, you will be able to get reasonable coverage, allegedly.

Of course, there could always be changes to some parts of the bill. It’s so long and complicated, and there are things in it that actually have nothing to do with health care. Some of those areas will probably be repealed, but what will happen to the rest of the bill still remains to be seen. There are many people counting on this law to help them, but so far they aren’t getting a lot of assistance. What happens in the coming months and years will affect a large segment of the population of the United States, so it’s vital that the people of the country pay close attention to what’s taking place. These days, we need to care about insuring every bit of our life right from pet insurance to personal health insurance; therefore The Health Care Bill is sure to help many of us.

Filed Under: Health Care, Medical Issues Tagged With: ,

Handling a Medical Crisis Without Insurance

DENVER - NOVEMBER 09: Carlos Granillo, 31, is...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

There are many people in the United States today who don’t have health insurance. Some of them simply choose not to buy it because of the cost and a perceived lack of need for it. Others – the vast majority of uninsured people – simply can’t afford it. They make too much money to qualify for government insurance assistance programs, but they don’t make enough money to be able to afford to buy insurance on their own. Naturally, that’s a very unfortunate thing. It’s important that people have insurance. If you’re one of the millions of uninsured people and you have a medical crisis, what will you do? The best thing you can do is to remember that you must seek treatment.

Don’t avoid going to the emergency room for something very serious just because you don’t have insurance and are worried about how to pay for it. Your health must come first. The hospital cannot refuse to treat you just because you don’t have insurance, either, so don’t let that keep you away. A hospital has to treat the people who come to it needing care – especially if that care is urgent and lifesaving. Once you get the care you need, you’ll undoubtedly get large bills from the hospital. You’ll have two options at that point: pay the bills by working out a payment plan with the hospital, or file for bankruptcy.

Which of these two options you choose will depend on several factors. What kind of financial resources you have will matter. So will the amount of the bills. Thousands of dollars can usually be paid off by the average person. Hundreds of thousands of dollars will be more difficult. That’s all something to think about. Filing bankruptcy over medical bills isn’t a decision that you’ll want to make lightly, so make sure you take your time and decide what would be best for you. It’s difficult to destroy your credit for years, but that must be weighed against the continuing payments and medical bills that may hang over your head for years.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: General, Health Care, Medical Issues Tagged With: , ,
Newer Posts »