Simple Ways to Cut Your Medical Costs

I just read that Americans spent more than $2.3 trillion on health care last year and that cost is expected to rise in the future. It's projected that in less than a decade, you will spend 20% of your annual income on health care! Although health care is a major topic in the Presidential election, things probably won't change much any time soon. AOL finance just had a great article on simple ways to slash your medical costs. Hopefully you find it as useful as I did. Here are a few of my favorite tips from the article:

Get prescription drugs at a big discount by checking out the drug discount programs at Wal-Mart and Target.

Ask for free samples before your doctor writes you a prescription.

Use generics to save as much as 52% on the cost of your prescription drugs.

Use a Flexible Spending Account if your company offers this benefit. All the contributions you make to this account are untaxed and you can use it to pay for things like eyeglasses, co-pays, prescription and non-prescription drugs, and even dental work.

Deduct your medical expenses on your tax return if your family's medical expenses are greater than 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.

Review bills carefully to make sure you are not overcharged. Request an itemized bill so you can see exactly what you are getting charged for.

Stay in your provider network. Going to a doctor outside your network can cause a LOT of out-of-pocket expenses (sometimes 30% of the medical bill or more) that would have normally been covered by your insurance had you stayed inside of their network.

For more tips or details, you can find the full article here: 11 simple ways to slash your medical costs