Take these basic steps to reduce healthcare costs:
- Get routine checkups and screenings to catch health problems early.
- Use free and discounted services (gym, eyewear, vaccines, etc).
- Use in-network healthcare providers.
- If you have an emergency, decide whether you can go to an urgent care center instead of an emergency department. If your child slices their finger, you may get faster care at an urgent care. It will certainly be cheaper!
- If you need a procedure or surgery, ask your provider if you can have it done at an outpatient clinic. Typically, care at a clinic is much cheaper than at a hospital. This one is critical! If you get a procedure done at a hospital, you will receive a hospital bill covering all the overhead related to running an expensive hospital, PLUS a fee from your doctor provider. Get the same procedure in a doctor’s office, and you will get only the doctor’s bill.
- Be aware of your annual individual and family deductible.
- Bucket your healthcare checkups in a given year to max out on your in-network deductible.
- Call providers BEFORE you receive care and find out how much it will be. If getting a non-urgent MRI, for example, call around. Rates can vary from as little as a few hundred dollars to thousands for the same scan.
- Know that for the vast majority of care, receiving it in a hospital will cost you much more (usually multiples more) than if you get it done in an outpatient setting or doctor’s office.
- Stay healthy by eating well, sleeping well and exercising.
