How to keep health care costs down

Anyone can become a smarter health care consumer. Read below for some helpful tips! And if you’re a Health Tradition Health Plan member, you can become a super consumer in just 30 minutes! How? View the video Wealth Savvy: Getting the Most from your Health Care Dollars.

Choose the appropriate level of health care

Inappropriate use of health care raises premiums for everyone. For example, the costs of being seen for strep throat can vary widely, depending on where treatment is sought. In the examples here, the same diagnosis and treatment come with very different price tags (lab fees may be additional).

Convenience care clinic such as those at Walmart $45 – $60
Office visit $55 – $195
Urgent care visit $65 – $205
Emergency visit $100 – $402

And what if this sore throat wasn’t strep? Sore throats without fever aren’t typically strep throat, and can be treated at home at very little cost.

See our convenience care clinic locations, services and prices.

To see a doctor or not to see a doctor?
(That is a very good question.)

It’s not always easy to determine if you have to go in or not. Tools that help may include:

  • A nurse line such as the 24/7 Nurse Line, a Mayo Clinic Health System benefit through Health Tradition
  • A guide to self care such as the Mayo Clinic Guide to Self Care
  • Credible health and wellness websites such as MayoClinic.com

If you determine you need to be seen, you have options; listed approximately in order of cost per visit:

  1. Visit a convenience care clinic often located at a retail store such as Walmart or Target
  2. Call for a same-day appointment in your provider’s office, if available
  3. Schedule an appointment with your primary care provider
  4. See a specialist through a required referral from your primary care provider
  5. Use urgent care in urgent situations and the emergency room in life-threatening situations

4 ways to save on prescription drugs!

  1. Ask for generic prescription drugs to lower your cost. Generic drugs are proven to be chemically equivalent to brand name drugs.
  2. If you are prescribed a brand name drug, check online for coupons.
  3. If you are on a maintenance medication, ask your provider if it’s possible to write your prescription for a one-hundred-and-two-day supply for the same co-pay as a ninety-day supply. Do this and over the course of a year, you get a month’s worth FREE!
  4. If you are a Mayo Clinic Health System employee with Health Tradition health insurance, you can get a $5 per month’s supply discount on prescriptions that are filled at Franciscan Healthcare-owned pharmacies.

Health tradition members: access your plan’s list of covered medications.