Costs Have More Than Doubled
It’s expensive to protect your health today. If you were paying $500 a month for healthcare in 2007, you’re probably paying close to $1,000 a month today. A number of factors have driven this cost-increase, including the pharmaceutical industry, inflation, and bad political decisions vis-à-vis the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or as it’s more popularly known, Obamacare.
Now, this seems to be in strict contradiction to trends that characterize the healthcare industry. It is a developing industry, and it is one that continuously provides gainful employment for diverse employees across the board. So it shouldn’t be so expensive—especially in developed countries, right? But there are politics to consider; so if you want to pay less, you’ve got to be strategic about it.
Cutting Your Healthcare Expenses
One simple tip is to avoid healthcare costs as much as you can. The best way to do that is to eat right and exercise—which is a lifestyle change that is easier said than done, but is the simplest and most effective way to reduce costs related to healthcare.
Something else you can do is consult your doctor. Tell them you’re not in the best financial place and ask them what possible programs may be available to you. You may be surprised at what you find. Special interest groups and increasing medical knowledge, as well as varying tax programs, have led to a variety of available services.
Certainly, you won’t qualify for everything, but there will be things you do qualify for; a program that cuts X amount of funding from Y operation, that kind of thing. If you don’t ask you’ll never know. So don’t be afraid to put some pointed questions to your physician.
Self-Funding, Alternative Options, And Strategy
You can look into self-funding your healthcare as well. If you’re paying $12k a year for healthcare, or $1k a month, that’s a pretty large chunk of change. You might just put that much away annually in a fund you use for health needs. You’re not likely to have substantial health needs of the multi-thousand dollar kind every year; hopefully, they’re a once-in-a-lifetime inconvenience. If you’ve got the assets in waiting, you’re golden.
At the same time, that’s not feasible for everyone; so another solution often chosen is to look into secondary healthcare solutions like those from Medi-Share. Through groups like this, you can cut a $1,000 a month bill to $500, maintain essentially the same level of coverage, and save $6k annually.
Whether you’re self-funding, going through secondary means, or trying to use the system against itself, you can cut thousands of dollars from your healthcare costs; it’s just going to require some strategy and effort. But provided you’re willing to bring those two things to the table, you can ease your healthcare burden.
Enrolling in an appropriate health insurance plan in a timely manner can significantly help in making the right decision and will certainly save you from unpredicted expenses.
