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Do’s and don’ts for cutting down on medical costs

Medical bill

Many people have at some time or other experienced spiraling medical bills. With the increase in the medical costs, some people have been tempted to avoid going to the doctor absolutely. Well, this is something that is very wrong to do. If medical bills are the cause of your worry, then the following tips will definitely help in reducing the amount of the bill.

Do’s

1. Know the rule

There are times when people take medical insurance but at the time of claiming, the insurance company refuses to compensate. Such a situation happens when you have not read the rules mentioned by the insurance company properly.

Read all the rules of the insurance policy and understand them properly. In case of any confusion, you should ask for clarity.

2. Have a family doctor

It has been seen that getting help from the primary care physicians is less expensive as compared to running from one specialist to another. If you have a minor problem, then it is advised that you do not go here and there for treatment. This way you might end up saving the tip amount to the emergency room. If there is a small problem like a minor cut and you need a tetanus injection, then you should not be hunting for the best doctor in the city.

3. Use emergency room only in emergencies

This is a very expensive option and thus you should use it judiciously. If there are severe symptoms, then you should not even give it a second thought but in all the other minor and non emergency situations you should avoid the emergency room.

If your health condition is such that you might need medical emergency, then the following are the tips for you to cut medical costs:

a. Form a plan with the help of the medical practitioner. Have the common medicines for your problem with you all the time.

b. There are a lot of drugstores and malls that have doctor’s office. In these offices, the doctor can handle the urgent minor health condition.

4. Shop around

It is a good idea to shop around for testing places well in advance. When a doctor recommends you a medical testing centre, then you should ask for more than one alternative as the recommendations.

In such a case, you can find out the rates from your insurer. There are some websites which give you the option of comparing the prices for different medical tests. You can see what fits best in your budget.

There are times when the medical centers want to mint a lot of money and they advise the patient some new tests. You should not become a prey of such practices. Just stick to what the doctor has advised you to do.

In most of the cases, the testing cost forms the major chunk of the treatment cost in any medical condition.

Don’ts

1. Don’t pay before checking

It is very important for you to check all the items of the medical bill before making the payment. If at any point you feel that there is any item that is confusing you, then you should seek to get clarity on that.

Do not be resistant in asking such questions because it is your money after all.

It is also advised to check the totalling of the medical bill and ensure that there is no calculation error. Check all the items, tally with what all has been done. Also, see to it that you have not been charged twice for the same thing.

Once the payment is made, then pointing out errors will not make sense, so you should check it well before handing over the cash.

2. Don’t drop on refills

A lot of generic medicines cost quite less as compared to the other medicines. When you go to your doctor for treatment, then it is advised that you keep the prescription with you and talk to the doctor if you can use generic drugs.

Some of such prescription plans offer huge amount or percentage of discount. There are some such programs that are offered by the drug companies and medicine suppliers.

3. Don’t skimp on prevention

The most common reason because of which most of the people end up being in the emergency room is because they are careless and they do not take sufficient precautions.There are ways in which you could have minimized the possibility of the occurrences of a major problem by talking minor precautions into consideration.It is very basic and everybody knows the importance of eating healthy food and avoiding junk food. Supplement a good diet with the right type of exercise, stop smoking and consumption of alcohol as it is obviously injurious to health and the consumption of these should be minimized if not avoided.

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