1. Our first tip to lower
your healthcare cost is to compare prices
when shopping for health and medical
products. OmniMedicalShop.com
is a price comparison shopping search
engine for health and medical products
that allows you to do this easier than
ever before.
2. Prescriptions can cost
a fortune and break your spirit and
family finances. Fortunately, you can
shop online and truly save 50 to 80
percent on your prescription buying from
reputable Canadian Pharmacies. Once
you've bought cheap prescription drugs
from Canada, you'll never go to your
drugstore again. But how can you make
sure that these Canadian pharmacies are
legit? First, look for telephone numbers
that allow you to talk to a live
operator. Just an email address will not
do. You should also look for a physical
address as well. You are not breaking the
law when ordering from these pharmacies
as long as you have a prescription -
which they will demand to see before they
can fill your order.
3. Self education about
healthcare options, treatment plans,
risks, etc., is one aspect of saving
money on healthcare that is often
overlooked. If you or a family member has
been diagnosed with a healthcare
condition or disease, arm yourself with
knowledge by going online and using two
of the most responsible and best medical
search engines available: OmniMedicalSearch.com
and Healthline.com
4. Ask your doctor for
samples. Doctors get tons of free sample
medication from the big pharmaceutical
companies.
5. Always buy generic
medications - they're cheaper and FDA
regulations mandate that they must have
the same ingredients.
6. If your insurance
company denies your medical claim or
reduces their reimbursement down to
pennies on the dollar, never take this as
the last word. It's almost become
standard operating procedure for
insurance companies to deny a legitimate
claim. If your claim is denied, you must
first make an appeal to the insurance
company. If that fails, you can take your
case to the state regulatory agency. When
medical claims aren't settled between the
consumer and the insurer, appeals go to a
state agency. According to a recent Henry
J. Kaiser Family Foundation report,
insurers were overruled in about half of
such cases. (Bankrate.com) However,
before you file an appeal, or even before
you file a claim, you should do something
most people don't do. Read your policy
over carefully. Knowing your policy will
help you understand what is covered and
what is not.
7. Get a flu shot and
keep your immunizations up to date. If
you come down with the flu, you might
miss one, two, or three days of work.
That's lost income that can add up to
$100s.
8. According to
bankrate.com, hospital overcharges on
your bill is prolific problem. Estimates
on hospital overcharges run up to $10
billion a year, with an average of $1,300
per hospital stay. - It's no secret
that hospitals, doctors and executives
are greedy, money sucking machines. Some
of the mistakes they make are accidental,
but many are deliberate. Hospitals
deliberately make their billing system
confusing and difficult so patients will
get bogged down, confused and give up in
trying to make sense of their bills. "I've
seen $90 charged for a 70-cent I.V. How
about $129 for a mucous recovery system?
That's a box of Kleenex," reports
the bankrate.com article. If you have a
lengthy stay in the hospital, make sure
you receive your bill as itemized list.
More than likely, the items you are being
charged for will be in code, and not
spelled out. Hospitals will go to
incredible lengths to prevent you from
understanding your bill and you'll have
to work through this. For more help on
understanding your bill check with:
National Health Care Anti-Fraud
Association, Medical Billing Advocates of
America. at BillingAdvocates.com, and
hfma.org
If there are items
you don't understand, call the billing
department and your insurer, and ask them
to explain. Don't accept bills that use
terms like "lab fees," or
"miscellaneous fees." Demand an
itemization. If you don't get
satisfaction from the hospital billing
department -- and you probably won't --
appeal in writing to the hospital
administrator or patient ombudsman.
Reports bankrate.com If you are still
scratching your head, ask for an itemized
bill as well as your medical records to
confirm whether you received the
treatments and medications you've been
billed for. Every state now requires
hospitals to provide itemized bills.
9. Don't ever go to the
emergency room if your problem can wait
until tomorrow morning. Emergency rooms
charge outrageous prices for treatment
and should be avoided if at all possible.
10. If you ever served in
the military and can qualify as low
income, you might be able to get
treatment from a Veteran's Administration
hospital or clinic. Check with your local
or state VA office for more information.
11. Healthcare tourism is
on the increase due to the rising cost of
healthcare in the USA. With healthcare
costs so high here in the US, many
people are finding that it's actually
cheaper to fly to another country with a
more affordable healthcare system to
receive treatment. As an
example, the webmaster of
badcreditservice.com lived in Romania for
3 years. While there, he sought out
surgery for a deviated septum from a
highly reputable Ear Nose and Throat
Doctor (ENT). Total cost, $300. The
surgery in the USA would have cost $4000
to $6000. There are even travel agencies
that focus just on healthcare tourism.
Use a search engine to find out more
about healthcare tourism. Many countries
in Eastern Europe offer affordable
healthcare from the countries best
doctors who are used to treating
foreigners and VIPs from their own
country. Many of these reputable doctors
will have websites in their own language
and English, so try using a search engine
with the keywords of the country you want
to try and the medical condition you want
to treat. If this search gets you
nowhere, you can try contacting embassy
representatives in the United States for
the country you are interested in
traveling to.
12. Here's an interesting
fact about health insurance in the USA.
Twenty percent of insured Americans
account for 80 percent of the $1.1
trillion in annual health care costs.
annually. Half of that 20 percent are
sucking up all the healthcare costs
because of their lifestyle disorders like
overeating, drinking, using drugs,
practicing poor sex habits, not wearing
helmets, seat belts, etc.
(website101.com) - Those numbers alone
should be reason enough to remind you of
some very simple steps you can take: Lose
weight, quit drinking alochol, don't use
drugs, wear a condom, put your motorcycle
helmet on, and fasten your seat belt. If
you don't have enough discipline or
forethought to take these precautions,
seek profesional help whether it be drug
and alcohol counseling, a weight loss
clinic, or a therapist.
13. If you are one of
those 44 million Americans that are
uninsured, consider a Health Savings
Account (HSA). The health savings account
(HSA) is a tax advantaged savings plan (a
financial account with various
restrictions) available to taxpayers in
the United States to cover current and
future medical expenses. It allows money
to be put in before tax is paid on it and
then to withdraw the money tax free for
qualified medical expenses. HSA's also go
by the names Medical Savings Account
(MSA) and Flexible Savings Accounts
(FSA).
14. Most health insurance
plans cover regular annual procedures,
such as physicals, gynecological exams,
mammograms and immunizations. But if you
go for these procedures twice within the
same 12-month period, you may have to pay
the full amount for the second test.
15. While you should
never avoid going to the doctor for
serious health problems, there are lots
of home remedies and cures you can use
that will have on your healthcare costs
for the "little things."
Consider buying these 2 great books which
will guide you through most of your
families health problems: The Doctors
Book of Home Remedies II : Over 1,200 New
Doctor-Tested Tips and Techniques Anyone
Can Use to Heal Hundreds of Everyday
Health Problems (Doctors' Book of Home
Remedies) which sells for $1.34 used
on Amazon.com or 1801 Home Remedies
by Reader's Digest editors which sells
for about $10 on Amazon.com.
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