It’s difficult to avoid healthcare expenses. This is why you spend a lot of your time worrying about them. Research shows that there are more than 25% of adults in America who struggle to pay their medical bills. There’s never any free money to pay medical bills. In fact, medical debt has become so bad that personal bankruptcy filings report that it’s the number one source. You’re lucky if you’re part of the people who get subsidized for healthcare premiums. Moreover, if your family is also part of your premiums. This is the reason why it’s important for you to know how you can save on your medical expenses. This should help you to lessen your debt payment burdens. If you want to find out how you can save on your medical bills, you should keep on reading.
1. Invest in Better Healthcare
When you live in a country with expensive health insurance, it’s easy to settle for the least expensive option. Your plan with the lowest premium sounds like a good idea until the daytime you try to take your daughter in for a serious medical condition. The cheaper the healthcare premium that you choose, the most likely it is to cost your life in other ways. For example, you’ll come to find that there are certain tests and procedures such as colon treatments that your daughter requires, but she can’t get because they aren’t covered by your premium. Unfortunately, nobody will give you free money to pay medical bills. As a result, you have to find an alternative way to come up with the money that you need to cover these medical expenses.
2. Understand the Health Benefits
You’d be surprised to find out how many people don’t have a full grasp of their health benefits even after speaking to a Medicare advisor. Since you don’t have anyone to hand you free money to pay medical bills, it’s important for you to know these health benefits. Surprisingly, research shows that there’s only approximately 52% of employees who understand and take advantage of their health benefits accordingly. This is why it’s essential for you to read up on your cover and to know how much your premium option will pay for. For instance, you should have an idea of whether your daughter is covered or not before you even rush her to the hospital.
3. Opt for Generic Drugs
Since there’s never any free money to pay medical bills, it’s important to save as much as you can. This includes saving money on your prescription drugs. The next time that you visit your local pharmacy, you should consider asking for generic drugs instead. These should give you the same benefits as the traditional version. The only difference is that they’re slightly cheaper in comparison. According to medical research, there’s no harm to your health if you opt for generic drugs. However, if you have any concerns, you should speak to your healthcare provider before you go to the pharmacy.
4. Buy Medication in Bulk
The thing about not having any free money to pay medical bills is that you have to be smart about everything that concerns your health. One of the ways that you can do this is by choosing to buy your medication in bulk. This helps if you have medication that you have to take regularly. Let’s say you’re on hormone therapy. Instead of always going to the pharmacy to refill when your medication runs out, you should consider buying it in bulk. This way you can get a discounted price on your medication. This won’t just save you time that you spend going to the pharmacy often, but it should save you a chunk of money that you would otherwise spend on gas.
5. Ask for free Medical Samples
Did you know that health clinics generally have a relationship with pharmaceutical representatives? These reps are always looking for places and people to promote their latest drugs to. This means that your doctor should have a number of samples lying around. If you don’t have free money to pay medical bills you should consider asking for free samples that are suitable for your specific condition. The great thing is that you can even get away with getting a 2-months supply of the same drug if this is the route that you take.
6. Become a Patient Assistant
If you’ve really struggling, and you don’t have the means to come up with free money to pay medical bills this month or the next, you should consider applying at your family medical practice for their patient assistance program. The great thing about these programs is that they’re often state-sponsored. This means that in most cases their basic requirement is that you show that you require financial assistance. All that you have to do is to prove that you’ve struggling to pay for your medical bills. Once you’re approved, you not only lower the costs of your financial burdens. But you also gain access to the medication that you need.
7. Review all Medical Bills
If you don’t have free money to pay medical bills, chances are your finances are stretched too thin to enable you to afford a family lawyer. This is why you should take it upon yourself to thoroughly review all your medical bills as regularly as you can. The thing is, it’s easy for anyone to make a mistake. Yet, the status of your finances when you factor in the various family responsibilities doesn’t allow you to make financial errors. Even the people who send you your medical bills can Make mistakes. However, if you don’t review your medical bills, you can end up paying money for services that were not rendered. The most frustrating thing about a mistake on your medical bills is that your healthcare insurance company can deny any claims that you make. It’s important for you to understand your medical bills. Most importantly, if you find anything that looks suspicious, you should question it.
8. Negotiate the Services Insurance doesn’t Cover
Let’s say that you want to take your teenage daughter to her acne dermatologist appointment, and you ford that your insurance company doesn’t even pay for. If you’re fortunate enough to come into free money to pay medical bills from out of pocket, you should inform your medical insurance provider. You’ll be surprised to find that you can get a reduced rate if you’re paying for this service out-of-pocket. Sometimes, if a reduction isn’t on offer, you can still find yourself scoring a nor interest payment plan.
9. Appeal any Denied Claims
Your insurance company can deny your claim. For example, there are certain services that are offered at day caves that you’ll find aren’t covered. But if you want to try your luck and find out why certain services were denied, you should consider appealing their decision to limit cover. The appeals process can differ depending on your insurance company. But it generally involves you filling out specific forms and asking for the decision to be overturned. To be successful in your appeal, you should consider speaking to your doctor. They can provide reasons why it’s crucial for you to receive certain services. You also stand a better chance if you use a healthcare advocate. You should find out if your company can provide you with one or not.
10. Request copies of Your medical Records
You may underestimate the importance of having access to your medical records. This doesn’t mean that you should keep a detailed overview of your medical records. But it does help you to request some copies of your records. For instance, whenever you require to undergo your yearly tests with specific diagnostics, you should ask your doctor to give you those copies. This should help you in several ways. For example, should you choose to change your doctor, you shouldn’t have to repeat the same tests. If you can’t find any free money to pay medical bills, paying money to undergo the same tests should be avoided.
Besides using your medical records to your advantage if you wish to change doctors or go for an emergency procedure, these are other reasons why they’re important.
- It helps you to understand what’s in your records more.
- You can find inaccuracies in your diagnosis to avoid taking incorrect medications.
- It motivates you to follow your treatments.
- It makes it easier to share your medical history with other health practitioners.
- You can keep your records up-to-date.
11. Avoid going to the E.R
The unfortunate thing about life is that you can never avoid certain situations. A trip to the E.R once in your life is inevitable. Moreover, it is most likely to happen that you require this urgent care in the wee hours of the morning. This means that your family practitioner will most likely not be available to come to assess your injuries. So, what’s the next practical thing for you to do when you know that you don’t have free money to pay medical bills? Instead of heading to your nearest emergency room, you should consider visiting an urgent care center.
However, if your issue is life-threatening, you should go to the emergency room. If you don’t have any free money to pay medical bills, you should understand that the costs of going to the E.R have increased significantly over the years. It’s always best to stay prepared for any potentially exorbitant fees that you might have to pay.
12. Stay Healthy
The last thing that you want to do when you don’t have any free money to pay medical bills is going to the doctor even when you don’t have a major medical problem. You’d be surprised to find that more than 20% of Americans have found that avoiding the doctor is a great way to reduce their health insurance bills. In addition, you shouldn’t be avoiding work just to sort out a minor cough. There are several things that you can do to help you improve your health. The following tips should be an effective way to improve your health.
- Maintain a healthy diet as much as you can.
- Stay as active as you possibly can. Regular exercise goes a long way.
- Focus on staying hydrated.
- Improve your skin’s health by protecting it from sun damage.
- Listen to your doctor’s instructions and recommendations.
The thing is, staying healthy by choosing an improved lifestyle isn’t only about reducing how much you and your family should pay on your medical bills. This is an important consideration that you should make to lead a great life. It’s essential to teach everyone in your family effective ways to improve their health. Additionally, you should ensure that you do what you can to make sure that everyone follows suit. With your younger kids, motivate them to have their veggies every night. When you have older kids in the house, keep them active by getting them involved in extracurricular activities. For instance, they can volunteer at child care centers or other places where they’ll be sure to stay active throughout the day. You should ensure that you create an environment where healthy living is the order of the day.
In summary, knowing these effective ways that can help you to save on your medical bills is important. It doesn’t matter if you need the services of a rehab and physical therapy center or a standard healthcare practice. It helps you find ways to save more money towards other essential expenses such as your children’s college tuition. You don’t have to always worry about finding someone to give you free money to pay medical bills. The fact of the matter is that medical expenses continue to rise across the world. If there’s no alternative ways to ensure that they are effectively reduced, it’s up to you and the choices that you make to ensure that your medical needs are taken care of. Most importantly, the decisions that you make can also impact the overall health of everyone in your family.
