OK, you’ve settled into, or settled for, your 2017 health
care plan. For most of you the cost of coverage is up, the out of pocket
maximum is higher, the network is smaller, and there were fewer options than
the year before. It’s a pattern that, for those who are responsible for their
own health care, has repeated itself for the last four years. If you’re 65 or
older the picture is a little brighter but still, every health care plan
requires some out-of-pocket costs when you use your coverage.
As more and more of the cost of care is shifted from the
health care companies to you doesn’t it make sense to take control of your
non-emergency health care costs? Fortunately, and in direct response to the
ever-increasing cost of health care, there are a growing number of companies and
services that are making it easier and cheaper to purchase care, treatment, and
medications. So arm yourself with these resources and start saving every time
that you require care. These companies are available through websites, phone
apps, or telephone.
Here’s a list of no cost apps and websites to help make you
a savvy patient:
Find medical providers, rate medical providers, learn about
medical providers, view patient ratings, check accepted health care plans, or
schedule an office visit
Zocdoc.com –
Zocdoc is a handy website and app that lets you find doctors, view patient
ratings, view office visit availability, and schedule office visits through
your phone or their website. It’s not foolproof, so if you are scheduling an
office visit I suggest that you also call to confirm.
Vitals.com –
Vitals is a good site for finding medical providers and viewing patient
ratings. Look for doctors by name, location or medical condition for which you
need treatment.
Healthgrades.com –
Looking for a doctor or dentist? Trying to research hospitals in your area?
Healthgrades, both a website and an app are for you. Fast and intuitive, you’ll
have the information that you need in less than a minute.
Check your symptoms, get healthy, and stay healthy
healthfinder.gov – This is an enormous
government website but it is packed with good stuff. One of the best sections
of the site lets you enter your age and then it displays all of the recommended
“scheduled maintenance” and preventive care that you should be doing. Think of
it as an owner’s manual for your body.
Isabelhealthcare.com – Symptom checker – website and app that easily and
quickly lets you enter your age, gender, and symptoms. It then pulls up a list
of possible diagnoses. Warning: this is a good little research tool but always
consult with your doctor before self-diagnosing or treating (WebMD also has an
excellent symptom checker)
Mediguard.org –
This app and website are primarily for the purpose of monitoring your
medications and warning of possible medication interactions. It also provides
you with easy to understand health information, safety alerts, and recall
information.
MediSafe.com –
Website and app. Like Medigard, MediSafe includes information about
prescription interactions but this site is really for those patients who have a
hard time complying with the proper use of their medications. Non-compliance is
a big problem and medications won’t do a thing if they are unused and sitting
in the medicine cabinet. You’ll know what pills you’ve taken and what pills are
coming up for you. There are also gentle “nudges” in the app to remind you what
to take and when.
Reduce the cost of prescription medications
GoodRx.com – If
you are uninsured or underinsured GoodRx can reduce your costs of medications.
This website and app searches for your medications at all of the pharmacies in
your area in real time. If a manufacturer is offering an incentive price you can open it on your phone or print it
from their website and apply it for savings. Even if you are insured the
regular prices for many medications are often lower than your generic
prescription copay on your health care plan. If GoodRx displays a lower price
than your copay tell the pharmacist that you want the regular price displayed
on GoodRx.
PrescriptionHope.com – Not an insured product and not a discount
resource, Prescription Hope is one of several prescription assistance plans.
These are plans that are designed to help lower income (up to about $30,000 for
individuals, $50,000 for couples) reduce the cost of high-priced medications.
They cover about 1,500 different prescriptions and, if you qualify, your
monthly payment is $35.00. With some of today’s newer medications costing
hundreds or thousands per month
Prescription Hope can be a great tool to help you economize.
Reduce the costs health and dental care
WalkinLab.com –
Lab tests have some of the highest profit margins in all of medicine. WalkinLab
acquires thousands of tests and then re-sells them at deeply discounted rates,
up to 80% off. Pay for your test online or by phone, visit one of their
contracted labs throughout the country and take your test. Better still, no
doctor’s orders are needed for most tests and the test results are e-mailed to
you, not your doctor. You could possibly avoid the cost of two doctor visits
whenever you have a test performed. Curious about your lipid levels? Order your
own test and only consult your doctor if the results come back outside the
normal range.
MediBid.com – Is
MediBid the future of healthcare? This website exists for non-emergency
patients to actually put their medical procedures out to bid. The patient
creates a profile and a request for bids. Once the bidding process has been
completed the patient may then accept a bid, connect with the provider, and
schedule their procedure. When used in combination with the medical provider
grading sites above the patient/consumer now has powerful tools at their
disposal.
SingleCare.com –
SingleCare, a website and app, is a no-cost membership program that provides
discounted rates for prescriptions, dental, eyewear, and telemedicine services.
This young company is growing fast and will no doubt add more services and
greater geographical reach over time. The site or app let you pick the type of
service or medication and then it displays local providers and their pricing.
There is even an online office visit scheduler for your convenience
Reduce the costs of expensive or non-covered procedures by
visiting another state or country
MDSave.com – This
is another up and coming site and app that has not yet reached national scope
but it’s worth a look. Similar to MediBid, MDSave lets you search by procedure,
provider or disease. If you select disease for example, the site then displays
common services (initial exam, full workup, etc) related to the disease and
then displays pricing and providers of the service. Right now you may need to
go a bit of a distance for treatment but this type of service can’t help but
become national in its reach. The site even offers financing options. Imagine
“purchasing” your hernia repair, adding it to your cart and checking out…just
like purchasing that used lawnmower on your favorite website.
MedRepublic.com –
I’ve said many times before in these articles that medical costs in the US far
exceed nearly every other industrialized nation in the world. It is not
uncommon for procedures here to cost five to six times what they cost in other
countries even though those countries have state-of-the art facilities with
western-trained doctors. MedRepublic was started by a US doctor who recognized
this differential in medical and dental costs. MedRepublic vets doctors and
dentists around the world and provides a service for patients and their
families to view the costs of procedures in other countries, view the
information about the practices and the personnel including patient ratings,
learn how many times the provider has performed the needed procedure, and then
the site adds information about accommodations for the provider’s facility.
Another very futuristic, forward looking service, most helpful for treatments
and procedures that are not covered by your health care plan.
What’s it going to cost?
guroo.com – Avoid
sticker shock. This site uses information that has been compiled from hundreds
of millions of medical claims to give you an indication of what the average
costs of specific medical treatments will be in your area. It also gives the
low to high range of costs so that you can do your research and know generally
what a treatment or procedure should cost.
Well, that’s my baker’s dozen websites and apps for you. We
hope that you never need medical care and that you are always in the peak of
health. But when the need for care occurs you can use these tools to make the
best possible decisions and possibly significantly reduce the cost of care.
Do you know of similar sites or apps that swing the balance
of power to you, the patient? Let us know so that we can share the information
and make all of us smarter, savvier consumers of health care. Thanks for
reading.
Sincerely,
Alan Leafman, President
(800) 955-0418
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