4 Unconventional Ways to Save Money on Healthcare
Updated July 25, 2014.
If you need to save money on healthcare or health insurance, try thinking outside the box with these counterintuitive money saving techniques.
Sometimes you can save money on healthcare if you pay out-of-pocket rather than use your health insurance. For example, if your health insurance charges a copay of more than $4 for prescriptions, you might save money by purchasing your prescription out-of-pocket at Wal-Mart, Target, or Winn-Dixie. If your medication is on their list of common generic drugs, their $4 charge per 30-day prescription, or $10 charge per 90-day prescription may cost you less than your insurance copay.
Several grocery stores even fill some prescriptions for free. The list of free drugs is usually limited to common generic antibiotics. But, Publix also includes lisinopril and metformin on its list of free medications. Meijer includes a generic substitute for cholesterol medicine Lipitor, and prenatal vitamins on its list of free drugs.
If you have large out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare services not covered by your current insurance, you might save money on healthcare by switching from an expensive traditional insurance plan to a cheaper High-Deductible Health Plan. Because the HDHP insurer knows they won't have to pay for the first few thousand dollars of your care, (that's the high-deductible part), some HDHPs cover things traditional plans might not cover, like acupuncture. Although you'll have to pay the entire high deductible before the coverage kicks in, many HDHPs cover 100% of eligible expenses after you've paid the deductible.
Since the monthly premium for the HDHP is lower than that of the traditional plan, you can partially offset the higher deductible with your monthly savings on premium costs. You may also have the option of putting pre-tax money into a Health Savings Account to help you pay the deductible.
After you've paid the deductible, you'll reap the benefits of the coverage your traditional insurance plan lacked. You'll need to run the numbers for the plans you're considering, and read the fine print to see if you can save money on healthcare this way.
Costs for procedures, equipment, prescriptions, and physician services vary from place to place, even just across town. If you’re healthy enough to travel and have the time to research costs in advance, you can use this fact to save money on healthcare.
Whether it’s an MRI, a prescription, or a colonoscopy, check the cost at your local provider. Then check the cost across town, in a neighboring town, and in another part of the state. You’re likely to find you can save money on healthcare by being willing to travel a bit to receive those services.
Taking this concept further, some people are choosing to have procedures done at accredited hospitals and clinics in other countries because of significantly lower costs. Even large institutions are beginning to take advantage of this geographic cost differential when providing benefits to their employees. For example, Wal-Mart announced it will pay 100% of the cost of care for its eligible employees to have certain high-cost procedures done at one of six designated healthcare organizations. If a Wal-Mart employee has his heart valve replacement done locally, he pays the standard deductible and copay. If he’s willing to travel to one of the designated hospitals, he doesn’t pay any deductible, copay, co-insurance, travel costs, or lodging costs.
It’s late December and you still have $800 in your Flexible Spending Account. Only $500 of that can be rolled over into next year's FSA, so you'll lose $300 if you haven’t spent it by the end of the year. Use it to buy FSA eligible items you’ll need in the future, even if you don’t need them right now. It’s a use it or lose it situation, so stock up on Band-Aids and hearing aid batteries; buy a first-aid kit and a spare pair of glasses. You’ll use these items in the future, and you’ll save money on healthcare by preventing a $300 loss.
Using more healthcare services in a single year rather than receiving those same services spread over several years can help you save money on healthcare. If you know you’re going to need some expensive procedures, lump them together into one year’s deductible period. You’ll avoid paying the deductible anew for each procedure as you would have if you’d scheduled one procedure per year.
If your insurance plan has a yearly out-of-pocket maximum after which they pay 100% of eligible expenses, you’re more likely to reach this maximum by lumping procedures together into one year. You’re also more likely to reach the IRS’s new trigger-point of 10% of adjusted gross income allowing you to deduct out-of-pocket medical expenses on your income taxes. Getting multiple procedures done together in a single day saves even more money since you’ll be paying for a single episode of general anesthesia and a single hospital admission, rather than multiple ones.
Do you anticipate needing healthcare services in the first few months of next year? If you’ve already met your annual deductible, you might save money on healthcare by getting those things taken care of before the end of this year. Refill all your prescriptions in late December while you’re still covered by this year’s deductible. If you have a nagging issue you’ve been meaning to see the doctor for, don’t wait until next year when you’ll have to pay your deductible all over again.
If you need to save money on healthcare or health insurance, try thinking outside the box with these counterintuitive money saving techniques.
1. Don’t Use Your Health Insurance
Sometimes you can save money on healthcare if you pay out-of-pocket rather than use your health insurance. For example, if your health insurance charges a copay of more than $4 for prescriptions, you might save money by purchasing your prescription out-of-pocket at Wal-Mart, Target, or Winn-Dixie. If your medication is on their list of common generic drugs, their $4 charge per 30-day prescription, or $10 charge per 90-day prescription may cost you less than your insurance copay.
Several grocery stores even fill some prescriptions for free. The list of free drugs is usually limited to common generic antibiotics. But, Publix also includes lisinopril and metformin on its list of free medications. Meijer includes a generic substitute for cholesterol medicine Lipitor, and prenatal vitamins on its list of free drugs.
2. Switch to a Cheaper Health Insurance Plan and Get More Benefits
If you have large out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare services not covered by your current insurance, you might save money on healthcare by switching from an expensive traditional insurance plan to a cheaper High-Deductible Health Plan. Because the HDHP insurer knows they won't have to pay for the first few thousand dollars of your care, (that's the high-deductible part), some HDHPs cover things traditional plans might not cover, like acupuncture. Although you'll have to pay the entire high deductible before the coverage kicks in, many HDHPs cover 100% of eligible expenses after you've paid the deductible.
Since the monthly premium for the HDHP is lower than that of the traditional plan, you can partially offset the higher deductible with your monthly savings on premium costs. You may also have the option of putting pre-tax money into a Health Savings Account to help you pay the deductible.
After you've paid the deductible, you'll reap the benefits of the coverage your traditional insurance plan lacked. You'll need to run the numbers for the plans you're considering, and read the fine print to see if you can save money on healthcare this way.
3. Travel to Save Money
Costs for procedures, equipment, prescriptions, and physician services vary from place to place, even just across town. If you’re healthy enough to travel and have the time to research costs in advance, you can use this fact to save money on healthcare.
Whether it’s an MRI, a prescription, or a colonoscopy, check the cost at your local provider. Then check the cost across town, in a neighboring town, and in another part of the state. You’re likely to find you can save money on healthcare by being willing to travel a bit to receive those services.
Taking this concept further, some people are choosing to have procedures done at accredited hospitals and clinics in other countries because of significantly lower costs. Even large institutions are beginning to take advantage of this geographic cost differential when providing benefits to their employees. For example, Wal-Mart announced it will pay 100% of the cost of care for its eligible employees to have certain high-cost procedures done at one of six designated healthcare organizations. If a Wal-Mart employee has his heart valve replacement done locally, he pays the standard deductible and copay. If he’s willing to travel to one of the designated hospitals, he doesn’t pay any deductible, copay, co-insurance, travel costs, or lodging costs.
4. Use More Healthcare Services and Supplies
It’s late December and you still have $800 in your Flexible Spending Account. Only $500 of that can be rolled over into next year's FSA, so you'll lose $300 if you haven’t spent it by the end of the year. Use it to buy FSA eligible items you’ll need in the future, even if you don’t need them right now. It’s a use it or lose it situation, so stock up on Band-Aids and hearing aid batteries; buy a first-aid kit and a spare pair of glasses. You’ll use these items in the future, and you’ll save money on healthcare by preventing a $300 loss.
Using more healthcare services in a single year rather than receiving those same services spread over several years can help you save money on healthcare. If you know you’re going to need some expensive procedures, lump them together into one year’s deductible period. You’ll avoid paying the deductible anew for each procedure as you would have if you’d scheduled one procedure per year.
If your insurance plan has a yearly out-of-pocket maximum after which they pay 100% of eligible expenses, you’re more likely to reach this maximum by lumping procedures together into one year. You’re also more likely to reach the IRS’s new trigger-point of 10% of adjusted gross income allowing you to deduct out-of-pocket medical expenses on your income taxes. Getting multiple procedures done together in a single day saves even more money since you’ll be paying for a single episode of general anesthesia and a single hospital admission, rather than multiple ones.
Do you anticipate needing healthcare services in the first few months of next year? If you’ve already met your annual deductible, you might save money on healthcare by getting those things taken care of before the end of this year. Refill all your prescriptions in late December while you’re still covered by this year’s deductible. If you have a nagging issue you’ve been meaning to see the doctor for, don’t wait until next year when you’ll have to pay your deductible all over again.
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