Health insurance has become a big obstacle for many families these days. Due to hard economic times and many people losing their jobs, several families have been unfortunately left without any health or prescription insurance. This has led many people to become less willing to seek medical advice unless it was a life threatening event and less compliant in taking their maintenance medications. People with diseases like Diabetes and Hypertension for example, may not feel anything while discontinuing their medications, but the complications of theses silent diseases can be fatal. This article will give you some insight on how to seek medical help at a discounted rate and how to find different prescription discount options.
Normally, people who have insurance usually pay premiums from $150 - $700 per month. When they go to see their primary care physician, they have to pay the visit fee $15 - $25 or even $35 for a specialist. That’s not all, if the physician orders some tests, they have to pay some of the cost until the meet their deductible. So if you don’t get sick, you happily donated your monthly premium to the insurance company, and if you get sick, you paid even more for the services. Like you shop around for bargains on items, you could also shop around for doctors. Many doctors prefer to have cash paying patients than to chase down insurance companies for months in order to get paid for their services. One good way to start is by finding a local physician and speaking with their office financial manager. Explain that you don’t have insurance coverage and ask if they have a discount for uninsured patients. Always ask for a dollar amount and get the name of the person you spoke with. Most of the time, you will be surprised that the price is much cheaper than you expected or even less than half your monthly premium. In fact, I’ve seen visit charges in the $60 range. Getting established with one physician is also a wise decision, which not only builds a close relationship with your physician, but also saves you the repetition of unnecessary tests.
Prescription costs have been forcing many people on a limited budget to become less compliant with their therapy. Some people will just pay the cost regardless because they have no choice and others will simply not buy their prescriptions. There are many programs offered by pharmacies that provide maintenance medications at a discounted rate or even for free. Also, there are prescription discount cards and coupons that are available to save money on prescription costs.
Some pharmacies like CVS have a prescription discount program (Health Savings Pass) for maintenance medications, where you pay a $10 yearly enrollment fee and receive a 90 day supply of some generic medications for $9.99. Other pharmacies like Wal-Mart offer a 30 day supply on some generics for a $4 co pay with no enrollment fee. Publix pharmacy offers many generic antibiotics for free, and has recently started a free medication program for diabetic patients. So calling your local pharmacies and asking about prescription discounts for uninsured people would be a good start.
Another way of getting prescription discounts is by checking with the county you are living in if they have a prescription discount card. Also, some other prescription discount cards can be found online, and some prescription discount cards may be state specific. The last money saving option is to contact the manufacturer of the medication you are taking via customer service phone or through their website and see if they have any prescription discount coupons on their brands or co pay assistance programs for uninsured patients. Using these money saving options can significantly help you cut down on your medical expenses and prescription costs.
