Hello and finally welcome back to Tip Thursday. This is the first post to what I call the “Penny Pinching” series. It’s penny pinching because these aren’t necessarily extravagant money saving tips but they may be things you haven’t sat down and thought about or may not have ever considered. I have learned many a things working in health care all my life and feel compelled to share some of these little tips with you. As always, take everything here with a grain of salt. Your health, well-being and safety should always come first so digest what I share and do what works for you. These tips are here as a helping guide and serve as nothing more than my opinion.
- Understand your health insurance – learn to read your bill, and if you don’t understand ASK
It goes without saying that it’s your responsibility to know what is and isn’t covered, contrary to what most people assume. “If my doctor says I need it, then I must need it therefore it must be covered”. Insurance doesn’t care, as insensitive as that sounds. So always take your time to review what needs to be done, what should be done, and what can be done.
Let me give you an example. When our son was a toddler we took him to the ER. Turned out he had pneumonia. The ER doctor told us our son NEEDED to be transported via ambulance to Children’s hospital since they were better equipped to take care of him. He “should” be monitored on route because his pressures were low and they needed to keep an eye on him since he was dehydrated and his temp was so high. As a parent, anything for the safety of my child – so we complied. Fast forward a month or so, we received a bill for almost $1000.00 because of that ambulance ride. When I got down to the nit-and-grit of that bill it was because that ride was coded as a “non-emergent” transport. We disputed that claim and long story short it was reprocessed and approved. Lesson here is that you must always ADVOCATE for yourself, pay attention to detail, do your homework and don’t ever settle just because you don’t know any better! This encounter taught us that we could say NO even to a doctor, we would have done things differently that day. I’m pretty certain my son would have been just fine if we drove him ourselves, 15 minutes to Children’s.
- Duplication = money
As mentioned above, the DOCTOR IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT
***take this with a grain of salt*** before you question a doctor’s/clinician’s intelligence, make sure you do your homework or truly know what you’re talking about
Let me explain. When a doctor says let’s get this “test” or let’s “do this” he does not have your financial interest in mind – it’s not his job
I highly recommend you pay attention to this one not only for your own sake but especially if you manage and oversee your elderly loved one’s health care. Some people are lucky and only see their doctor once a year. Others see a hand full of specialists multiple times a year and it’s at this level of complexity that may sometimes squeeze more money out of you if you’re not careful. Some health care organizations talk electronically to one another, some have an integrated practice or none of the above may be true. Even if it’s true, I’m sorry to break it to you, but not all doctors are diligent at their work. You may be at a disadvantage if you don’t work in healthcare or have little knowledge in this area so practice getting into the habit of saving those annoying visit summaries, bills, and test results. Labs/blood work is a very common area where snafus tend to happen. There have been multiple times where one of my doctors will order a set of blood work and then weeks later when I see a different specialist, he/she will order the same or similar blood work. I have refused before and have referred them back to my chart. So, if you don’t do your part in understanding your health care and the doctor doesn’t do his/her due diligence, you’ll be paying for the same blood work twice not to mention getting poked twice!
- Timing can be everything = the Doctor IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT = Understand your insurance.
By the end of this post you will have these 2 phrases stuck in your mind and that won’t be a bad thing. It’s not that the doctor’s not RIGHT per se, but the point is to get into the habit of remembering that they don’t have your financial interest in mind. My son see’s his specialist multiple times a year but he get’s tested at least once a year. At one of his visits the doctor said “since you’re already here let’s get “x” test done so you don’t have to come back again”. Although I appreciate her being mindful of our time, my insurance however only covers this test once a year, and we were about a month shy of that 1 year mark. If I would have said yes, we would’ve had to pay almost $600 out of pocket for that test as we hadn’t made it through one calendar year since the last one.
- Physicals – preventative measures ≠ 100% coverage
Preventative measures, AKA yearly physicals are covered, but that’s not completely cut and dry. Many moons ago before I was an adult it used to be that you could go to your yearly physical and talk about anything. Any concerns you have. Sadly, this changed many years ago pretty much due to the cost of health care. I encountered this billing change when I was a young college student. After the provider was done with her assessment she asked if I had any other concerns so naturally I mentioned my foot pain which she ruled as plantar faciatis. We discussed stretching techniques and foot inserts and then she sent me on my merry way. Sure enough when I received my bill, I was charged for 2 visits. I was billed once for the physical which was covered, then charged a second time for the foot concern. There may be rare occurrences where you don’t get charged depending on your provider since they essentially put in the charges that get coded out. But it’s pretty consistent across the board, therefore I usually remind my parents about venting versus addressing an actual health concern. Again, I’m not advising you to hold back concerns, just be mindful that sometimes you may think you’re casually making conversation or venting but it could be misunderstood and mistakenly charged.
- This last tip comes from a very good friend of mine M.X.V so I have to give her credit. She asked(s) the hospital for a detailed or itemized bill after her delivery and that was a learning experience for her – for most of us really. It’s unbelievable all the things you’re charged for during hospitalization. Diapers were an eye opener for her, me as well. These are the little things we don’t necessarily piece together especially in the moment. She also shared that there is a premium charge when your child stays in the nursery versus with you. Again, some of these things are preferential but it can certainly save you a lot of money. Medication during hospitalization is also another easy one that can sneak up on you. If you take daily medication or may have a need for over the counter pain medication, as my friend shared, bring your own supply! The hospital will always have it readily available for you and instruct you not to bring your medication but it most definitely comes at a price, might as well bring your own.
Alright! These are my 5 penny pinching tips in health care. I hope you enjoyed this simple read and hopefully you learned something new and if not, thanks for reading any way! As always, see you on the next one!
Sweetrowyn 