Spend Less on Health Care - 3 Quick Tips

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No one wants to think about getting sick, but it happens. Plus, there's regular health maintenance all of us have to do - annual checkups etc. One thing we know for sure - health care is very expensive. Here are 3 quick tips to bring down those healthcare costs.:

1. Get health insurance.

For some people it's part of your benefits package at work; while others debate whether or not they should pay the premiums. Well, why do you pay premiums? So that the insurance company will cover the costs of certain covered activities up to the limit of the insurance that you have bought.

Health insurance is worth it, and here's why:

• Health insurance covers a wide range of things - doctors visits, dentist visit, optician visits, prescriptions, hospitalizations etc. Other than hospitalizations, I think health care provider visits (doctor etc.) and prescriptions are pretty unavoidable for most people. Since you have to spend money regularly on health-care, why not pay the least that you can for each visit/prescription/event?

• Here's the key: if you have an unexpected health catastrophe at any age, comprehensive major medical benefit covers you so you don't have to look first to wiping out savings, going into debt or cashing in investments.
  

What do you need to know about health insurance? You pay a fraction of the cost up to a limit.

Consider this.

• My recent visit to the dentist cost J$6000. BUT, when I took out my insurance card, I actually paid J$1200. That's right. I saved J$4800 just by making sure that I had health insurance and had the card. I paid 20% of the cost that was quoted to me. I saved 80%.

• Prescriptions with insurance can be hundreds of dollars instead of thousands of dollars.
  

If American Express would allow me to borrow their tag line, I'd say "I never leave home without my insurance card"

2. Get a NHF card.

A NHF card is a National Health Fund card, and no you don't have to be a senior citizen to qualify. If you live in Jamaica, if you have a NHF card, the government will subsidize the cost of certain prescriptions in certain categories of illness.

NHF and your insurance card work well together. So let's say you need Drug A. Drug A is covered by NHF and the Government pays a portion. Then, the pharmacist will determine if your insurance will pick up another portion, and how much. Then you pay what's left between the original cost and what NHF paid and what your insurance paid.

Now, why get an NHF card? Because it will allow your insurance benefits to last longer - you will take longer to reach your prescription limits and therefore receive more subsidies by using both.

What illnesses does NHF cover? Here's the list (click here):

• Cancer: Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer

• Cardio-vascular: Hypertension, Ischaemic Heart Disease, Rheumatic Fever/Heart Disease, High Cholesterol, Vascular Disease

• Endocrine: Diabetes

• Neurological: Epilepsy, Major Depression, Psychosisoptical
  

• Optical: Glaucoma

• Respiratory: Asthma
  

• Musculo-skeletal; Arthritis
  

• Geneto-urinary: Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)

NHF has a specific list of drugs in each category and the amount of subsidy for each. Here is the link for the Drug Subsidy List. For information about how to apply for a NHF card, click here.

3. Prevention and Wellness

Generally speaking, it's less expensive to avoid illness than to treat it or cure it. Take the time to adopt a healthy lifestyle with proper nutrition, diet, exercise and rest. Besides, the better you treat your body, the more you strengthen it to fight illnesses that you may not have been able to avoid!

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