5 Ways to Save on Healthcare Costs

Go to a walk-in clinic to see a nurse practitioner or physician assistant. You get quality care from a professional who has nearly the same credentials as your family doctor, but with a much lower price. Also, check your health insurance policy because some do cover care at a retail clinic.

 Buy your glasses online. Once you get your new prescription, bypass the selling floor and head home to browse your options online. You can get quality frames from various online retailers at a fraction of what you’d pay at your eye doctor’s office. This is an especially good option for those who mostly wear contacts. Why spend $400 on glasses you wear just a few hours a day?

 Read your medical bills. You should never blindly pay a bill, much less a medical one. Were you charged for five tablets of pain reliever at $20 a pop, when you only had one? Or perhaps your child was charged for heart medication when in fact she was in the hospital for a broken leg. Comb over the charges and contact the hospital to question any that don’t seem legit.

 Visit a dental school. For families who have more time than money, getting regular dental cleanings and treatments done at a dental school by pre-professionals is well worth the savings. Cleanings can start at as little as $5, and x-rays aren’t much more than that. The drawback is the amount of time you’ll spend in the chair. For a regular cleaning with little work to be done by the student, expect to spend up to four hours, broken into two sessions so that she or he can get feedback from their instructor throughout the process.

 Use a flexible spending account. These are best, financially speaking, for people who tend to need a lot of medical care each year. You put pretax dollars in the account and then use it for expenses such as co-payments, over the counter medicines, contact lenses and therapy. If you’re going to spend money, why not let Uncle Sam subsidize it a bit?