10 Ways to Save Money on Your Healthcare Plan
After rent or mortgage payments, the next largest monthly expense is often health insurance. The average American pays $321 every single month for their healthcare plan or $700+ for a family plan. While these insurance plans are much needed to keep your health in check, we’ve compiled a list of ways that you can trim your healthcare expenses one step at a time.
1. Contribute to a HSA
If your health insurance plan has high-deductibles you might be eligible for a Health Savings Account (HSA). Similar to a 401(k), a HSA is funded with pre-tax contributions. This means that whenever you need to visit the doctor or pay for a subscription you won’t need to pay tax.
The funds in your HSA will never deplete, so this is also a perfect health plan for your retirement. By making payments to your HSA through your entire working life, you could build up a huge balance – tax-free. Also, if you aren’t sickly person you’d be able to save the majority of the fund for your retirement. But, if you need to visit the doctor in the near future, your HSA will leave your bill tax-free, too.
2. Join a Health-Sharing Ministry
Another way to cut the costs of healthcare insurance is to join a health-sharing ministry. Despite leaving you technically uninsured, this type of plan is actually exempt from paying Affordable Care Act penalties for not having an insurance plan.
These plans are quite similar to normal healthcare insurance except they are Christian-based. However, some plans won’t cover things like birth control, depending on the views of the church. A health-sharing ministry is more affordable than regular insurance though, as medical bills are shared by the community instead of paid by a single person.
When you visit the doctor, get a bill for a self-pay rate instead of a usual insurance rate. Self-pay is often lower than what insurance companies are billed, and these savings benefit the whole church group.
