Bargaineering » Health Care

How to Get Ripped for Free Without a Gym

Guest Contributor — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:24:21 +0000

Editor’s Note: I met one of the guys behind GymJunkies.com out at a conference earlier this year. I thought it would be great if they were able to put together a guest post where they explained how you could get a good workout without spending much, or any, money at all. Here’s a guest post on how you can get in shape without the help, or membership costs, of a gym.

This is a guest post from Vic Magary of GymJunkies.com . Vic does some pretty crazy workouts and shows you how to lose fat with high intensity circuit training.

I’m fond of saying “getting in shape is simple, but simple doesn’t always mean easy”…

While most trainers and diet pill companies are promising you an overnight fix or a magic bullet, I prescribe a different medication – short, but intense workouts coupled with a straightforward nutrition plan (none of that calorie counting bullshit). You’ll start to see results in seven days. By the end of 31 days, family members might not even recognize you

How to Get in Shape Without a Gym

Globo-gyms across the world have lulled us into believing we need their fancy machines and treadmills to get in shape. Most of us end up spending the $49 per month membership fee only to never step foot in the gym. So I’m proposing an easier home and outdoor solution anyone can use to get a great workout.

These workouts are all designed to jack your heart rate through the roof. This accomplishes two things – it increases the amount of calories you burn while you’re working out and your body continues to burn calories the next 18-48 hours after your workout. This is something long slow runs on the treadmill and elliptical machines just don’t do.

How to Workout Outdoors

If you love the outdoors, or just need to get out of the office more often, outdoor workouts will really amp you up.

Here’s an intense workout you can do in the park:

Workout 1

Bodyweight Squat – Do as many squats as possible in 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat this cycle for 2 minutes.
Find a tree or pull up bar and do a pull up ladder. This means you do 1 pull up in the first minute, 2 pullups in the 2nd minute, 3 pullups in the 3rd minute and so on. See how many minutes you can go on for. If you can get in the 8-9 minute range you’re in pretty good shape.

Workout 2

Picnic Table Jumps – Find a picnic table at your park and jump onto it as many times as you can in 20 seconds – take a 10 second rest after each 20 seconds and repeat this for 2 minutes. If you can’t jump onto the picnic table, try making it easier by jumping on to the seat part. Or just find a wooden stump or bench that you can jump on to.
Push Ups / Plank Superset – Crank out as many pushups as you can in 30 seconds and then follow that by doing a regular plank for as long as you can. Do 3 sets of these.

Workout 3

Do 100 burpees for time. Bring your stopwatch or your cellphone and time how long it takes you to complete 100 burpees. If you are out of shape, start with 30 burpees. Return 2-3 weeks later and try the workout again, you’ll see that your time will have improved (if you have been keeping up with your workouts).
You can probably complete the 100 burpees in under 20 minutes. It’ll make you wonder why you thought your 20 minute treadmill run was hard

You can get 8 more videos of home workouts on my site here.

How to Make Your Own Equipment

Remember in Rocky IV when Rocky trains for a fight against Ivan Drago by running in the snow, pulling a sled, sawing a log, moving rocks, and doing pullups in the barn? (if you forget, here’s a video montage to remind you of American ingenuity) Well, you can use that same creativity to supplement your workout.

If you want to throw some equipment into the mix, I highly recommend making your own. You can make a sandbag for under $20, and you’ll be able to do every worthwhile exercise known to man.

Plus this “underground” style training is a lot of fun and just flat out makes you feel manly.

Here’s a workout I did with some home equipment. This will give you some ideas…

What You Need To Do Now

Whether you have open space to workout in, or you are cramped up in your tiny one bedrooom apartment, there’s NO EXCUSE for not getting in shape. I just gave you three workouts that can be done in under twenty minutes at your park.

Getting in shape doesn’t have to be fifty minutes of boring cardio. Try something new, and keep your budget inline while doing it!

If you want more workout advice, come read my blog or follow me on Twitter @gymjunkies.

How to Get Ripped for Free Without a Gym from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Negotiating Your Medical Bills

Jim — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:36:39 +0000

If you have medical insurance, you should receive an Explanation of Benefits from your insurance company every time you visit a doctor. Have you ever looked at one? It’s amazing. You’ll see the how much the doctor billed you, how much the insurance company negotiated as an allowable rate, and the difference can be staggering. The catch-22 in all this is that if you don’t have insurance, you’d have to pay the standard rate unless you negotiated with the doctor… and negotiating with the white coat can be hard. Fortunately, it’s not as uncommon as you think, according to a New York Times article, and here are a few tips I’ve researched from the interwebs.

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind as you approach this:

It never hurts to ask. I never thought to do this because I was always covered by health insurance, but millions of people aren’t or are covered by minimal benefits and they negotiate all the time. Hospitals are more like street bazaars than retail stores.
Medicine is business. It may feel personal to you, since it deals with your body, but it’s still a business. A doctor is like any other freelance profession, they need business and they are willing to work with you to get your business.
Relationships matter. Doctors don’t do it just for the money, otherwise they’d be lawyers (just kidding!). They need to earn money to pay for insurance and to maintain their practice but they aren’t about to turn someone away because they’re financially strapped.
They are people too. If you’re experience financial hardship, because you lost a job or lost your medical insurance, explain that to the doctor or hospital. They are likely to give you a break on their standard rates because they’ve already given discounts to faceless insurance companies, it’s not a huge leap to offer it to an individual.
Insurance is a pain. It’s generally accepted that insurance companies hate to pay out claims, the same goes for benefits. Their systems are usually esoteric, control codes are cryptic, and hospitals spend millions a year submitting claims and maintaining the computer systems to support that process. If they can go outside the system, preferably with cash, then they are willing to help you out.

Here are some ideas on how to negotiate:

Use Medicare as a starting point. Research how much the procedure would cost to a Medicare patient using the HHS.gov’s Hospital Compare tool and negotiate from there. You know they are willing to perform the procedure at those rates so it’s not an unreasonable starting point.
Explain your financial situation. If you can’t afford the procedure, tell them. It’s better to swallow your pride and get a procedure your body needs, plus it’s nothing new to the doctors, especially in these economic times.
Pay cash. As I mentioned before, dealing with insurance is a pain for doctors and hospital administrators too. If you can pay cash, it can cut down on that expense and they won’t have to worry about collecting on the backend.
Consider a payment plan. If you can’t pay the entire fee at once, consider a payment plan to spread the cost over several months.
Make sure the procedure or test is necessary. A lot of doctors recommend diagnostic tests or certain treatments without them being absolutely necessary (potentially for insurance and CYA reasons), be sure to confirm how important the test is.
Going during the slow season (if you can). If it’s a procedure that you can put off, try negotiating an off-peak rate as you would a vacation. There are slow seasons in any business and you can take advantage of it by getting your procedure done then for a discount. Also, if your schedule allows, offer to fill in last minute cancellations.

Finally, where you go for treatment can have a significant impact on your costs. Most people intuitively know that you don’t go to the emergency room if you have pinkeye, but a doctor’s visit may be overkill too. If you have a common ailment, consider going to a clinic rather than a doctor to reduce your costs.

Bargaining Down the Medical Bills [ New York Times]
5 Ways to Lower Your Medical Bills [ US News & World Report ]

(Photo: brykmantra)

Negotiating Your Medical Bills from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Flexible Spending Account Ideas

Jim — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:22:04 +0000

It’s December 18th, I have $131.81 in my Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to spend it on. This is doubly difficult because last year I smashed a year of spending in three months (only $300) as I overfunded my FSA when I started my new job and I spent down my former job’s FSA, all in about the same two or three month period. So, what can I do? I took a look at the list of eligible FSA expenses and broke them down into a bunch of categories: Procedures, Nice To Have Items, Stock-up-able Items, and Useless (And Perhaps Funny). (I pulled the list from some page I found)

Procedures

First and foremost, consider getting a general medical check-up or eye exam or dental check-up. All the out of pocket expenses related to these are covered and if you haven’t done it this year there’s certainly no reason not to. So, when you get a dental cleaning and you pay a few bucks for the co-pay, that’s covered. This should be idea #1 when spending down your FSA (as long as you haven’t procrastinated like me, but I’ve gotten all checked up earlier this year).

Nice To Have Items

These are expensive items that don’t have a daily purpose but might be nice to have around the house such as a blood pressure monitor, ear infection monitor, and other personal test kits. Some items that aren’t explicitly listed under an OTC item are heating pads and ACE bandages, but I’ve claimed them before and they had been reimbursed.

This category of items I’d look into last after stocking up on stock-up-able items.

Stock-up-able Items

This category is exactly what it sounds like, all those OTC drugs you can stock up and use for the next year. These are your pain killers, allergy medicines (antihistamines), decongestants, anti-arthritics, antacids/acid-reducers, band-aids and bandages, contact lens solutions (I stock up on this stuff, I probably have around 20 bottles!), denture adhesive, ear and eye car products, eye drops, hearing aid batteries, lactaid/lactose intolerance, hemorrhoidal products, motion sickness pills, throat pain medications, condoms (whoo hooo party!) and wart removal.

This list can go on and on with tons of products you use and is always my first bucket. The warning I have is that you shouldn’t ever buy more than a year’s worth of any one product because you’re likely going to go through the exercise against at the end of next year. It was a mistake for me to stock up on 20 bottles of contact lens solutions before I thought about it because now I have enough solution for far too long (don’t worry, I checked the expiration date and I’m safe).

Useless (And Perhaps Funny) Items

Now, these are useless to me but they may not be useless for you. What fits into this bucket will depend on your situation but all the products that need a doctor’s note or handle a situation such as obesity or smoking addiction don’t apply to me. The ones that require a doctor’s note cover very specific conditions such as joint pain, dental flouride, OTC hormone therapy, snoring cessation, and other such conditions. The ones that don’t require a note but must be “medically necessary” are weight loss pills and smoking cessation products (patches, gum, etc.)

So, check out the stock-up-ables and stock up, then consider something “extravagant” like some blood pressure monitor or a an ear infection monitor; when thinking about how to spend down your FSA. I’m going to stock up on loratadine, the good stuff inside Claritin’s allergy medicine, some OTC drugs, and perhaps something extravagant to finish off that list little bit of cash. If you’re looking for ideas, drugstore.com has an FSA store that I sometimes search through when trying to figure out ideas.

Flexible Spending Account Ideas from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

State Healthcare Rankings Released

Jim — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 14:41:10 +0000

A nonprofit organization called the Commonwealth Fund released a study in which they ranked the various states (plus Washington DC) on how good their healthcare system was. Hawaii ranked first and Mississippi and Oklahoma came in tied for dead last; they also concluded that if every state could reach the mortality rates of Hawaiians, there would be 90,000 fewer deaths each year. I personally think that if I lived in Hawaiian, I’d probably live longer too because it’s freaking nice out there.

All kidding aside, the study looked at 32 factors ranging from percentage insured to number of adults who receive preventative care; even in the best states, the performance fell “far short of optimal standards.”

Maryland came in 19th with an average rank of 24.4, 16.6 behind the leader Hawaii with an average rank of 7.8. My state of birth, New York, came in 22nd with an average rank of 25, only 17.2 behind the pace. Poor Mississipi and Oklahoma scored an average rank of 47.8, a whopping 40 off the leader. A huge chunk of states fell within the 22 to 32 range, so there isn’t much of a difference with a lot of the states in terms of average.

Source: Yahoo Finance

State Healthcare Rankings Released from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Employer Trying To Get FSA Overspend

Jim — Mon, 21 May 2007 17:30:41 +0000

I was recently stumped by this recent reader question about Flexible Spending Accounts and was hoping someone here could shed some light on it.

I recently read an article dated May 10, 2005 about Flexible Spending Accounts. You stated that “If you leave the company at any time.., you aren’t required to pay back the amount you’ve already spent and your employer foots the bill.” Where did you get that information? My husband is leaving his job after 6 months and we have already used the money from his account. His company is trying to tell him that he has to pay this money back. Do you know if there is an official IRS regulation or anything else that we can site? We are afraid that they are going to take it out of his last paycheck. Can they do that? How can we stop them?

When I scoured the IRS.gov site about Flexible Spending Arrangements, I could only find the “use-it-or-lose-it” provision but not anything about paying back an FSA overspend. I could only recall from my own experience and those of people I’ve talked to about this as my backup but didn’t know if there was some codified rule out there I was just missing. The reader’s husband is leaving this Friday and was hoping to have some good ammunition to fight the company so if you know of anything, please do share either via email or in the comments below.

Thanks!

Employer Trying To Get FSA Overspend from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

State of the Union: Health insurance, tax breaks & Social Security

Jim — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 14:46:37 +0000

On Tuesday, during the President’s State of the Union address, President Bush is going to be discussing, among other things, three items that relate to some of the issues often discussed on personal finance blogs. Just wanted to give a heads up in case you were planning on watching the State of the Union and wanted a score card.

Health insurance deduction

In an attempt to help more Americans obtain health insurance, the President will propose a plan in which each citizen will be able to deduct $7,500 ($15,000 for families) from their taxes and employer paid medical insurance will become taxable. What this means is that everyone who doesn’t get insurance help from their employer will get that help from the government and everyone who does will now pay taxes (if their benefit exceeds the deduction) on what is now a tax-free benefit. Personally, while I may find myself owing a little more in taxes, I think it’s better for the country as a whole to have more individuals covered by medical insurance.

Making tax breaks permanent

President Bush would like to make permanent those tax breaks currently set to expire in 2010 such as the lower rates on income tax, capital gains, and dividends. I think that some of those breaks unnecessarily benefit the wealthy (not many low income earners find themselves investing in stocks, they’re investing more in groceries).

Social security shortfall… your poor ugly stepsister/brother

While there were no hints as to what they were going to do, apparently the President will ask Congress to work with him to try to solve the shortfall issue – though Democrats have called his individual accounts plan a “non-starter.”

Source: CNN Money

State of the Union: Health insurance, tax breaks & Social Security from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Cut Health Care Costs: Check Who Takes What Insurance

Jim — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 13:44:32 +0000

Ever go to a store, pick up a whole bunch of stuff, and then find out they don’t take credit cards? Yeah, I think that’s ridiculous too (but entirely their right, I would just put the stuff back and leave) Well, at hospitals, some of the specialists won’t take some of the insurance types because insurance companies are a pain in the ass to deal with (imagine how hard it is to get insurance companies to pay the people who pay them, now imagine getting them to pay you when you don’t pay them… now imagine doing that all freaking day). So, the fifth tip in CNN Money’s Fifty Ways To Cut Your Health-Care Costs is to double check with all the specialists you’ll be working with do accept the insurance that you have and that they are in your network. It’s best to do this before you get treated but when that can’t be helped, you should ask when you’re there.

Source: CNN Money

Cut Health Care Costs: Check Who Takes What Insurance from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Spend $200 in FSA in Two Days

Jim — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:40:08 +0000

When I signed up for my new health insurance with my new job near the end of August, I elected to put $200 into my flexible spending account. Without reading the fine print, I didn’t realize that the plan year was January to January and that my election wouldn’t be prorated for the remaining three months of the year. I also didn’t realize this whenever I reviewed by first paystub either. I did realize it about a week ago, which was not enough time to schedule any doctor’s appointments but was enough time for me to go on yet another medical supplies binge – something I did about three months ago before I quit.

I have more than enough standard medical supplies (pain relievers, hydrogen peroxide) as well as some of the more exotic non-OTC drug related products like an Omron blood pressure monitor and some electric heating pads. So, what is left?

Right now, my best bet is to get some more contact lens solution (despite having so many bottles already), some first aid kits (always good to have one in the car), and maybe some more NyQuil. Anyone have any good ideas?

Spend $200 in FSA in Two Days from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Cut Health Care Costs: Check For Billing Errors

Jim — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 19:43:05 +0000

Ever go to the grocery store and get double billed on a box of macaroni and cheese? How about seeing an appetizer you never enjoyed on your restaurant bill? Those are like three dollar mistakes if you ever miss them. Now imagine if you missed a three hundred dollar procedure on a hospital bill (which are ridiculously obfuscated with codes and acronyms and written in some sort of alien shorthand), that’s a lot of missed appetizers and boxes of mac and cheese. Medical billing errors happen and they’re the subject of the fourth tip in CNN Money’s Fifty Ways To Cut Your Health-Care Costs.

They estimate that as many as 80% of hospital bills have errors and that amounts to a 25% increase, on average, in how much they’re charging. Personally, I think this is absolutely ludicrous considering they have computers but when you consider nurses work in shifts of twelve hours plus, three days straight (I don’t know the typical hours of anyone else in the medical profession, but I bet it’s ridiculous) it’s not surprising to see key-in errors (especially if they have to convert from English into alien short hand). So, they recommend that you keep a log of every test and medication you get and check it against your file, which can be ordered from the billing office. Request fixes via certified letter and make a copy of everything.

If you want to know more, check out this article on fighting medical billing errors.

Source: CNN Money

Cut Health Care Costs: Check For Billing Errors from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Cut Health Care Costs: Pay Now, Pay Cash

Jim — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 12:34:17 +0000

This is part of a series taking a look at CNN Money’s Fifty Ways To Cut Your Health-Care Costs and this is the third tip in the series. Again, related to the first tip of negotiating your health care bill, this tip recommends paying up front, in case in order to get them to slash the bill some more. Pam Deloney of the American Private Physicians Association believes that by paying in advance and in cash, you can usually negotiate your bill 10% lower because they won’t have to spend the time and the money on the collection side. They estimate that doctors lose thousands on unpaid bills and credit card processing fees – so cash can usually save you some money.

Source: CNN Money

Cut Health Care Costs: Pay Now, Pay Cash from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Cut Health Care Costs: Know Real Costs

Jim — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 19:29:15 +0000

This is part of a series taking a look at CNN Money’s Fifty Ways To Cut Your Health-Care Costs and this is the second tip in the series. This one is related to the first tip of negotiating your health care bill, they recommend that you request the costs for some of the common medical procedures so that you have more ammunition when you go to bargain with your doctor. Shopping for health care is like shopping for groceries, you should have a general idea of how much a gallon of milk costs so that when you see it on sale for $10, you don’t get suckered in by the “sale.” The difficulty with medical costs is that it usually happens when you’re not well and you, hopefully, don’t buy much health care so you aren’t aware of how much a procedure should cost. Money recommends that you ask your insurance company as they will probably be able to help you the best.

Source: CNN Money

Cut Health Care Costs: Know Real Costs from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.

Cut Health Care Costs: Bargaining With Doctors

Jim — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 13:29:05 +0000

This is part of a series taking a look at CNN Money’s Fifty Ways To Cut Your Health-Care Costs and this is the first tip in the series: ask your doctor for a good deal. I was surprised, but not entirely surprised, that the rates doctor’s charge weren’t absolute and that they had the discretion to change their rates. I was surprised only because I never thought to bargain with a doctor, even though when you think about it… they’re a business like any other. Where this makes the most sense is when you have a high deductible or have no insurance whatsoever and are paying out of your own pocket. In those situations, you can probably explain to your doctor and they’ll usually be sympathetic.

Here an interesting statistic:

According to a 2005 Harris Interactive poll, about two-thirds of adults who negotiated for lower prices with a hospital or dentist succeeded, as did three out of five adults who bargained with their doctor.

Source: CNN Money

Cut Health Care Costs: Bargaining With Doctors from personal finance blog Bargaineering.com.