
We all agree: Hospitals and doctors are a good thing. Good
for you, in fact. Just ask your doctor.
But what happens when your health-care gets too expensive? Americans spend hundreds a year on doctor visits -- and maybe 10 times as much for hospital stays?
Money magazine says you don't have to with
50 ways to cut your health-care costs. Here's a list of 10 that will help you cut your bills down to something more reasonable.
- Ask for a deal. The rate for your doctor isn't set in stone.
- Get the facts. The more you know about the real cost of your care, the better you'll be able to negotiate discounts.
- Pay up front, in cash and get a discount. Most doctors lose thousands each year on unpaid bills and spend thousands on credit-card processing fees.
- Look for mistakes. As many as eight out of 10 hospital bills contain errors.
- Check up before you check in. Radiologists, anesthesiologists and other specialists don't always accept the same insurance as the doctor who admits you to the hospital.
- Track your spending. Do you know when you've met your deductibles or how much money is left in your health FSA?
- Follow doctor's orders. Roughly half of all patients don't follow instructions about taking medicine, which results in 10% of hospital visits a year.
- Equip yourself. Hospitals charge a significant markup on equipment like crutches or braces, so your almost always better off buying them on your own.
- Seek smart counsel. If you're seeing a mental-health therapist every week, you're probably footing much of the bill.
- Visit a retail health clinic. Got an earache or upset stomach? Visit a walk-in clinic found at retail stores like CVS and Wal-Mart.
Tip: Don't stick your head in the sand. It may be human nature to wish your problems away or to hope some windfall like a winning lottery ticket will bail you out, but failure to act on your hospital bills is just dooming yourself for trouble. The hospital may interpret your silence as an unwillingness to pay your debts rather than an inability to pay them.