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Tips on Reducing Medical Bills

Health insurance is designed to help people cover the cost of medical care, but the high cost of health care can lead to substantial medical bills even if you carry insurance. Individuals still have to pay certain costs despite carrying insurance and the cost of insurance itself can be expensive. There are several ways to potentially reduce medical bills and health insurance costs.

  1. Get Health Insurance

    • If you don't currently have health insurance, getting health care coverage is essential to avoid costly medical bills. Even though insurance can be expensive, carrying insurance will help avoid incurring extremely large bills that you cannot afford to pay. For example, if you discover you have cancer or have some other serious medical issue, it could result in tens of thousands of dollars of expenses that you may have difficulty paying if you are uninsured.

    Buy Generic Drugs

    • Prescription drugs amount result in large medical bills for many individuals. Doctors may recommend specific brand name drugs, but health insurance plans may charge more if you get brand name drugs than if you choose generics. Oftentimes there is little or no difference between brand name drugs and generics in terms of effectiveness.

    Adjust Your Deductibles

    • A deductible is an upfront cost that you pay before your insurance company will cover costs. Health insurance plans typically have annual deductibles: the money you pay toward health care during the year accumulates toward the deductible and once you meet the deductible for the year, your insurance will begin to cover costs. Choosing higher deductibles will typically save on the cost of health insurance and can be a wise option if you are healthy and rarely use medical care.

    Make Use of HSAs and FSAs

    • Health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts are special tax-advantaged accounts that allow individuals to save money toward medical expenses on a pre-tax basis. FSAs are offered through employer health plans and the money you save in an FSA must be used during the year. In other words, you should only save an amount that you will know you will use during the year in an FSA. The Internal Revenue Service states that HSAs are available to people with high-deductible health insurance plans (plans with deductibles of $1,200 or more for single coverage) and that money you save carries over from year to year, so you can save as much as you want without worrying about losing your money.

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