It happens to a lot of us: you trip and injure yourself, or wake up with a sudden, ominous pain. You get the medical attention you need, and then you’re hit with an outrageously large bill.
The statements pile up on the kitchen counter, the numbers growing bolder, redder and more intimidating with each passing week. You’re feeling better, so you try to ignore them — who really has an extra $1,200 for a sleepless night under fluorescent lights and a dose of Benadryl or penicillin?
Paying Too Much for Health Care
People in the United States spend more on health care than nearly any other developed country — roughly $10,000 per person, to be exact.
When you finally muster the courage to tackle those sky-high bills, the amount due can seem impossible to manage. Fortunately, there are several strategies to lower your medical expenses, even for care you’ve already received. You can end up paying significantly less for the identical treatment, whether it’s an expensive operation like surgery or an existing balance on your account.
Spending a little time and effort now could save you thousands and prevent a negative mark on your credit if you don’t have five-figure sums ready to go.
If you’re dealing with medical charges, here are 10 strategies to reduce what you spend on personal health care.
If you already have a bill:
1. Haggle Over the Medical Invoice
Even people comfortable with negotiating elsewhere often don’t realize that medical bills are among the most negotiable obligations you’ll encounter.
If you’re staring at an intimidating total, you likely don’t owe the full amount listed. You can bargain over the cost of treatment with both the provider and your insurer, and there are several tactics you can use.
If you explain that the charge is unaffordable, you may get a reduction if you can pay a substantial portion — or the entire bill — immediately and in cash. Don’t shy away from aggressive offers — ask whether the hospital will forgive 70% of the debt if you pay 30% right away.
Even if they decline, a low opening bid often lowers the final settlement. And given the sky-high markups, 10–20% off may be trivial for the provider but meaningful for your finances.
If you don’t have a lump sum to offer, you can typically arrange a payment plan. While this might not cut the total much (if at all), it prevents a collections hit and creates a manageable repayment schedule.
It helps to start negotiating early in the day and a few weeks after receiving the statement, according to Money Talks News’ interview with board-certified physician Steve Neilman.
But don’t procrastinate — you don’t want the account sent to collections.
2. Avoid Paying With a Credit Card
It might be tempting to swipe your card when the balance is huge, but that’s exactly why you should avoid using credit for medical bills.
Interest can tack hundreds (or thousands) onto the original charge. The bill is already large enough.
Instead, consider an installment arrangement with the hospital — many facilities won’t charge interest on repayment plans — rather than building up revolving debt that just feeds a credit card company’s profits.
3. Confirm Your Insurance Was Applied Correctly
Another option is to hold the provider accountable by scrutinizing your bill and the codes for each service to make sure they align with your insurance coverage.
An error — or even intentional upcoding — can cost you a lot if a procedure is labeled incorrectly.
Your insurer relies on CPT codes to determine reimbursements. Your plan spells out which procedures under which codes are covered and at what rate. If the code is wrong, an item billed at $842 might actually be $40 under your policy — or covered entirely.
Also, don’t be afraid to file an appeal for denied claims. If a service should be covered, it’s worth contacting your insurer to find out why it was rejected.
4. Verify You Were Billed Only for Services You Received
Request an itemized invoice and check every line. You may be astonished by what’s inflating the total.
Confirm that you were actually given that $25 aspirin you’re being charged for. Consumer reporter Caroline Mayer notes patients are sometimes billed for meds they brought themselves.
Duplicate charges occasionally appear on medical statements as well. (You probably didn’t have your gallbladder removed twice.)
Were you recorded as an inpatient or outpatient? If you were only kept a few hours or a single night, you may be able to contest your status with your insurer or the facility, since inpatient designation greatly increases costs.
For that reason, keep meticulous records of your encounters with medical staff from the moment you enter the facility and document all billing conversations afterward.
5. Enlist Help to Negotiate Medical Bills
Administrative errors like those above are so common that services such as Copatient exist solely to help you haggle down medical charges — and they find savings in about 80% of cases they review.
Copatient combs through your paperwork to spot mistakes and overcharges and takes a small share of what they reduce. If they don’t save you anything, you pay nothing.
Patient advocates and lawyers can also help untangle complicated medical statements. Shop carefully so you don’t end up giving all your savings to those advising you.
You can also seek grants from groups such as Modest Needs or in-hospital charity programs, or try crowdsourcing platforms like GoFundMe or YouCaring to cover outstanding balances.
Again, act promptly — certain assistance programs require applications within a limited window after the bill was issued.
If you’re trying to prevent future medical costs:
6. Confirm You Actually Need Emergency Care
As someone who never skips an annual checkup, I’m not suggesting you avoid necessary care.
But there is such a thing as overutilization. I learned this the hard way after an ER visit for suspected appendicitis left me with a $1,500 bill — it turned out to be severe gas. I should’ve paid attention when the triage nurse asked me to jump; when I could, she rolled her eyes and sent me to wait four hours.
Lesson learned: avoid the emergency room unless it’s truly urgent. If your symptoms aren’t acute, seeing your primary care physician will usually be far cheaper — especially if you lack insurance.
If it’s a real emergency, provide your own transport to the ER if it’s safe to do so. An ambulance trip alone can exceed $1,200 without insurance, and still costs an extra $50–$100 even if you’re insured.
If you’ve been told you need an expensive operation, a second opinion could actually save you money.
Although you’ll pay for another consultation and any repeated tests, a second opinion may spare you thousands in surgical and hospital fees — and possibly spare your life.
7. Compare Prices Before Choosing Care
It can be hard to know which office or hospital will charge less for a routine exam or common procedure.
Thankfully, data tools are making price differences visible. Check out this useful resource that shows how much local hospitals charge for a procedure compared with others nearby and the national average.
There’s a lot of variation. I was shocked by the colossal gap between for-profit and nonprofit hospitals — sometimes as much as 1,200%! With even “affordable” care costing so much, you want to know this information before an urgent midnight hospital visit.
For relatively minor surgeries, think about having the procedure done on an outpatient basis. Jeff Rice, CEO of Healthcare Blue Book, notes a patient once saved about $5,000 on knee surgery by choosing an outpatient facility.
8. Cut Drug Costs by Choosing Generics
Let’s be clear: generic medications are therapeutically identical to brand-name versions. There’s no reason to pay a premium for a brand.
Generics can also be free or heavily discounted at stores like Target and Publix, and Walmart has many generics for $4 in participating locations. Here’s a helpful list of low-cost and free prescription options.
9. Use a Health Savings Account
It’s smart to earmark funds specifically for the medical expenses you’ll face over your life.
If you have a high-deductible health plan, consider opening an HSA through your insurer or bank. That way you’ll have money set aside solely for medical costs.
HSAs can be invested, letting your balance grow tax-free; contributions are pre-tax or tax-deductible, and withdrawals for qualified medical expenses are tax-free.
10. Practice Prevention
Preventive care is essentially free.
It’s not glamorous advice, but eating well and exercising regularly reduces the likelihood you’ll need medical care in the first place.
Take advantage of checkups covered by your insurance. Your annual physical may be inconvenient, but it increases the odds of catching expensive (and scary) health problems early.
Check your benefits for coverage of chiropractic care, acupuncture or massage and use what’s available.
Living healthier doesn’t have to be overwhelming or costly, and you don’t need to subsist on kale forever. There are many apps that make healthier living simple and fun.
At the Savinly office, we like Standapp, which nudges you to stand every 20 minutes while seated. Standing two minutes for every 20 minutes sitting can counteract the harm of prolonged sitting — not hard, right?
You can even earn money for eating better and exercising with apps like Pact, which reward you for tracking meals and visiting the gym several times a week.
I’ve used Pact for years and make about $50 annually for habits I’d do anyway. It’s a nice incentive when motivation lags.
You only get one body, so treat it well — and you’ll have more money to enjoy across a longer, healthier life!
If you want more tips on how to reduce healthcare spending, check out resources that explain ways to save money on medical care.
Jordan Ellis is a regular contributor at Savinly. He also writes about travel and food.
