Tips on Reducing Out-of-Pocket Healthcare Expenses

Surviving In a Rapidly Transitioning Healthcare Market

Healthcare is expensive, there are no two ways about it. Unfortunately, this trend tends toward increased expense and complication, not against it. This is especially true because of Obama’s “Affordable” Care Act, or the ACA. You may know it as Obamacare.

When it comes to Healthcare, the ACA act has made things incredibly difficult—however, there are ways around this; according to Healthcare.com: “As the cost of insurance premiums and deductibles continue to go up, some people may choose to pay the tax penalty, which, in many cases, is cheaper than buying insurance.”

Certainly, this is an intolerable solution for many. But the cost of healthcare to those who aren’t substantially endowed in terms of finances is such that actually insuring yourself may itself be insurmountable. Some have adopted a strategy of diet and exercise to avoid as many instances of medical need as possible.

But you can’t avoid getting hit by a car, or injuring yourself, or becoming sick in some other way. Health insurance may be the only saving grace in such a situation, and if you don’t have it, you could seriously be in trouble.

Know Your Options

One way to reduce out of pocket costs is to shop around very carefully before you “sign on the dotted line”, as the saying goes. There are often cost-effective solutions out there you can put to work for you that will make it affordable—or at least more affordable than it would be otherwise—for you to secure health insurance.

Ask your physician about your financial situation. There may be options that can provide you coverage at a reduced sum. Since doctors are usually more apt to be paid through insurance providers to begin with, they have some motivation to help you out. At the very least, there’s no harm in asking them.

You might look at alternative coverage solutions as well, like Medi-share. Such solutions can cut as much as fifty percent from your recurring insurance bills on a monthly basis.

Unnecessary Sacrifice

Especially if you’re already in debt, you need to save as much as you possibly can—and you don’t want to rob Peter to pay Paul, as the saying goes. That’s good for no one. If you’re sacrificing things in terms of personal maintenance just to pay for health insurance, you definitely should look into assistance programs.

The good news is, ACA is on the way out. The bad news is, there’s still one more year to go—and if you have had coverage throughout 2017 for less than three consecutive months in terms of health insurance, you’re going to have to pay the penalty. That or be civilly disobedient and absorb whatever penalties develop as a result; which is just as intolerable.

The rough truth here is that there are no easy answers, but there are answers. You might just have to do a little research to find them. You can save on out-of-pocket costs, you’re just going to have to do the footwork to do so.

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