Simple ways to cut medical insurance bills
A lot of companies offer wellness programs to their employees to help them lower their medical insurance costs. These programs can save companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in health care costs. And wellness programs can reduce employees' medical insurance costs, too.
These programs generally begin with a health risk assessment. The purpose of this is to evaluate an employee's lifestyle and their risk of developing a chronic illness.
Cheaper, better, healthier
Companies usually give their employees an incentive to participate in the assessment. For instance, the company might offer lower medical insurance premiums. Conversely, not participating in the assessment could result in higher premiums or denial of access to a cheaper, better medical insurance plan.
Wellness programs can include weight-loss plans, nutrition coaching and smoking-cessation programs. Companies are encouraged to give health risk screenings annually to track progress. They are also encouraged to reward employees just for participating, even if they don't have success with the program.
Employees' families can get involved in some of these programs. That's because sick families can hurt productivity and lead to absenteeism. Companies send out notifications to their workers' homes to try to get their families involved in wellness programs.
Other ways to save
You can get prescription medications at a greatly reduced cost or no cost by enrolling in a patient assistance program. You will find information about these programs from the Partnership for Prescription Assistance. Talk to your doctor or drug manufacturers directly to find out more about reducing health care costs.
If your medical insurance plan doesn't have much prescription coverage or leaves you with some big out-of-pocket costs, you should consider enrolling in one of these programs.
The same can be said for dental care. Maybe your medical insurance doesn't provide much coverage in that area. You can trim costs by going to a dental school for care. The quality of care is similar to what you would get at a large dental clinic.
Be warned: Things will take longer because everything has to be checked by an instructor. A filling that would take an hour at a clinic might take three at a school.