One of the biggest issues today facing small business owner is the high
cost of health care. Carol Coots has recently started her business,
Medical Consulting from A - Z, offers some tips on how to fight the
high costs of medical care. Click here to read more about Carol and
her 1st year in business!
In the United States today there are millions of people without health insurance. As the insurance companies want to make a higher and higher profit, it keeps the majority of uninsured people today from getting health insurance due to the costs. Many businesses have had to either drop the health insurance or make the deductibles in the range of $1000, $5,000 or even as high as $10,000 and place more of the cost on the employee
If you can place pre-tax money into a health savings account to help pay for your medical care this can help alleviate some of the strain of medical care. Many people do not understand how these medical savings accounts work. You have to estimate your medical care cost at the beginning on your “open season” at work which allows you to make changes to your benefits.
What to be careful about is estimating too high, as if you do not use everything by the end of the calendar year, you lose this money. Another aspect to keep in mind with this type of plan is that the money is taken out of your paycheck each month where your employer has divided the total amount you request for payment for your medical bills by be the total number of paychecks you will receive in a year. You also have to usually have to pay for your co-pay/co-insurance or deductible first and you get reimbursed for the cost. This type of plan will lower your federal and state taxes based on your income.
Does the average individual have other options? If you are
in financial hardship, let your physician know personally, as the office staff
may or may not have the ability to give you a discount after filling out
paperwork to justify the hardship. Do not be embarrassed to ask for help, as
many providers will work with you, if you ask. If you do not have health
insurance or have a very high deductible and need medications, find out the
name of the medication manufacturer from your pharmacy and look the company up
online, as many of these companies have free or discount medication available.
Ask all of your physicians for samples of medications. There are options that
can help pay for medical care if you just ask for help.
Carol Coots is also a woman entrepreneur in her first year of business. She can be contacted at medicalconsultingfromatoz@yahoo.com . Carol also has the honor of being the first person to write a guest blog for this blog, Women Entrepreneurs - The First Year.
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