Healthcare is expensive, let's just get it out there.
It costs a lot and we all know it.
I have five kids myself and even being a doctor we are still spending a lot on our healthcare.
You can't get away from all of the costs, but there are some simple things that you
can do.
In this video, I'm going to review 5 easy things that you and your family can do that
can end up saving you a lot of money!
Welcome to Family Med, your medical home for practical and accurate information to help
your family make healthy decisions.
If you are new here, let me introduce myself.
I'm Doctor Erik Richardson, my passion is helping you cut through all the health information
clutter on the internet.
If that sounds like the kind of information you or family needs make sure you follow along
with us, hit that subscribe button and share it with your friends.
So today I've decided to help all of you to save a few pennies.
The economy may be doing better, but that doesn't mean we all have a ton of extra cash
to be throwing around.
For some reason, healthcare is one of those areas that everybody really hates to spend
money.
It's kind of like buying tires or a new refrigerator.
You have to do it, but it's not much fun.
Now we can't get away from every cost in healthcare, but there are some simple things that each
one of us can do to minimize and cut costs where it doesn't really matter.
So let's talk about them.
So the first way that I recommend cutting costs to my patients is to get tests done
at an independent lab or imaging center.
Your costs can be dramatically less.
Oftentimes, you can get them for 50-75% of the cost that you can get at the local hospital.
I'll give you a personal example that happened to me recently.
My son had some issues with pain in his shins.
He's a runner and we needed to do an evaluation for any evidence of stress fractures.
Well, I was a little lazy and in a hurry so I just sent him downstairs to the hospital
to get it done instead of a local independent facility.
I have a high deductible insurance plan so to my surprise when I got the bill it was
$300 just for the x-ray and then $35 for the radiologist read.
If I had sent him to the local outpatient imaging center,
It would have been $55 including the radiology read.
So you would think that I would follow my own advice.
If I had, it would have saved me a lot.
The same holds true for getting labs done.
Look for an independent lab to get the best price.
Just ask your doctor for a print out of the lab or imaging order or ask them to send it
to a local independent facility.
The second area that I recommend to save money is on your prescriptions medication.
If you don't have insurance or are on a high deductible plan like me you are typically
left responsible for the entire amount of the medication.
This can add up pretty quickly.
One of the first things that I recommend doing is looking into a prescription savings card.
Now, I have no affiliation with them and am not being compensated for any of this, but
one that I recommend frequently is GoodRx.
It's a good way to comparison shop.
You just put in the medication you are looking for and they search all the pharmacies around
you and show you where the best price is.
You click on that pharmacy and it will give you a coupon that you can use at the pharmacy
to get it for that price.
They have an app for your phone that works the same way.
It's really convenient and has helped us get some better prices on medications.
It also highlights the significant difference in medication prices that you can find between
pharmacies.
Often times, you can use this to negotiate a price at your personal pharmacy if you don't
want to go to a different one.
This isn't insurance and it doesn't go through your insurance so you are paying cash for
it, but often times it has beat what I would have paid using my insurance.
There are several similar programs out there so check it out.
This tends to work best for generic medications.
If you have to get a name brand medication make sure you go to the manufacturer and get
a coupon for the prescription you are on and that can help save you some money as well.
There certainly are a lot of different things out there that can help you save on your prescriptions
costs.
I'm not going to take the time to go through every one in this video, but if you have one
that is working for you let us know in the comments below.
A third way, and one of the biggest ways, to unexpectedly rack up a big medical bill
is to go somewhere out of your insurance network.
It doesn't happen as much when you are seeing your primary doctor because that is something
you likely researched.
Where I've seen patients get burned is when they go get labs or imaging or see a specialist
that I've referred them too.
As a physician I am not going to know who is or isn't in your network as there are so
many different insurance plans.
So as much as I try to send you to somewhere that takes your insurance, I can't guarantee
that I'm going to know.
Where this may come back and bite you that you wouldn't even know, is when you need to
use the services of a pathologist after getting a biopsy or pap smear.
You have no visibility on where the doctor is going to send the specimen.
If they send it to an out of network pathologist then you can get stuck with the bill that
you were not expecting.
Ask you doctor where they send their specimens before having it done and make sure they are
a preferred provider.
So remember always, always, always, check with your insurance carrier before getting
any kind of care to make sure that they are in your network.
It is going to save you a lot of money A Fourth way that you can save a lot of money
is in getting care after.
This may seem obvious, but it can result in a significant savings.
When you need to see your doctor after normal clinic hours, try and go to an urgent care
center instead of going to the Emergency room.
This can result in thousands of dollars in savings.
Now the purpose of this video is not to tell you when it is appropriate or not to go to
the ER, I don't know your situation.
What I am going to say though is that much of the time what goes to the ER can easily
be handled in an urgent care setting.
In fact, a recent analysis showed that 71% of the visits to the Emergency Room were unnecessary
and could have been cared for at an urgent care or the next day at their doctors office.
I'm not talking about your heart attacks or respiratory distress.
I'm talking about the late night visits for cold or earache symptoms that tend to plug
up the emergency room.
If you wonder where is most appropriate to go in your situation call you doctors office.
There is always somebody that is on call that can help guide your decision.
A lot of the time things can wait until the next day so take advantage of whoever is on
call and get their advice on the best place to go.
If you don't have a doctor get one!!
If you still don't have one then a lot of insurance companies have nurse triage lines
that you can call and get advice as well.
Going to the ER instead of urgent care for an unnecessary visit, can cost you thousands
of dollars more that you just didn't need to spend.
OK, last but not least is the 5th way that I recommend saving money on your healthcare.
This one may seem a little self serving, but bear with me.
The last way I'm recommending that you save money on healthcare is get yourself a primary
care doctor.
Now how does seeing a doctor help me save money on healthcare you may ask?
We'll I'll tell you.
First of all in my specialty of Family Medicine we are trained to focus on prevention.
Prevention through healthy eating, activity level, cancer prevention, diabetes prevention
and so on.
Having a visit with your family doctor once a year and making sure your preventative care
is in order is time and money very well spent.
It's certainly easier to pay for a physical than it is for a lengthy cancer treatment
that could have been prevented.
Also, Family Medicine or Primary care doctors are trained in the breadth of medical specialties.
For certain I'm not a neurologist or surgeon, but we do treat most conditions and can best
tell when it is important that you see a specialist and when it's likely not necessary.
Specialists are more expensive and their tests are more expensive.
When you see a specialist first, you are more likely to get testing that is a lot more expensive
and may be unnecessary to begin with.
We are trained in looking at the person as a whole and getting a better picture of what
is going on in your health.
And lastly, there is a great benefit in having a relationship with your own doctor.
Quick care clinics can be convenient, but you are also more likely to get more unnecessary
studies, be inappropriately treated with antibiotics or other unnecessary treatments.
When you have your own doctor that knows you, you will always get better care, and in the
long run save you money.
Well those are the tips that I have to share today , if you missed anything go back and
re-watch this video or check out the notes section below for a review of what we talked
about today.
Hopefully you found these tips helpful If so, don't forget to like, subscribe and even
hit that notification button as well as share it with your friends.
This is key to helping me be able to continue to produce this kind of content for you.
Also let me know what you think in the comments below.
What ways have you found that can help you save money in your healthcare?
We look forward to hearing from you.
Well, that's all I have for now so until next time, this is FamilyMed with Dr. Erik Richardson
and remember, don't forget to take care of your body because it's the only one you have.