Health insurance can help pay for the cost of your medical care. However, if you have high deductible health insurance, you have to pay for a lot of your medical bills out of your own pocket, before your insurance company will start helping you. People with this kind of health insurance need to be very aware about what the price of a specific medical procedure will be, to be certain it is something they can afford. Now, there are websites that can help you find where to go to get the best price.
High deductible health insurance is a consumer driven health insurance plan. It allows the consumer to be in control of their health care costs, and their choices of providers. People who cannot get health insurance from their employer can often be accepted for a high deductible health insurance plan. This plan can be used in conjunction with a health savings account. How does this kind of insurance work? The consumer pays for the cost of all medical care and services out of pocket up to a certain dollar amount. After that amount has been hit, the insurance company will start covering the costs of medical care received after that point in time. Customers do not have to pay a co-payment when visiting a doctor, but will have to pay for the cost of the visit, if they have not yet met their deductible. In general, this is a plan that people who are usually healthy can benefit from.
If you have this kind of health insurance, you will want to find the lowest cost available for the medical care you require. Now, there are websites that can help you find that information. We live at a time when health insurance is going through some major changes. One of the unexpected results of these changes is that it is becoming more common for people to comparison shop online for the medical procedures they need. You can find out what a particular procedure will cost at one hospital, and compare it to the price at a different hospital. You can also find the cost of the procedure for people with insurance, and the cost for people who do not have any health insurance at all.
Need help finding a good price? Try using google. Type the words “cost of mammogram” or “cost of colonoscopy” into the google search engine. This is going to bring up a list of links that will tell you what it costs at different health care providers. When I used google, I found a website called costhelper.com which has compiled information about the cost of everything from back surgery, to genetic consultation, to breast augmentation, to tattoo removal, and more. Another helpful website is PriceDoc.com which has a large group of doctors connected to it, and clear information. The cost of different kinds of cosmetic surgery can be found here, but so can other things. MyMedicalCosts.com is another good place to try, if you happen to be someone who knows a lot about medical terminology, and can understand the differences between each procedure listed on the website. You might be able to save some money!
Image by Vinish Saini on Flickr