Right now, thousands of employees are being offered the chance to switch up health care coverage offered by employers. Open enrollment is the time for you to look at your health plan options, and decide what you want to sign up for in the coming year.

Many people just keep everything the same (except health insurance premiums usually go up). However, before you just stick with the same old plan, stop and evaluate your current coverage. You might find yourself deciding to change things up a bit. Here are some things to consider as you evaluate your health care plan, and decide what to do next:

(click here to continue reading…)

One of the most interesting health care financial products to be introduced in recent years is the Health Savings Account (HSA). A HSA can be a way for you to have more control over your health care dollars, while at the same time providing you with a way to reduce health insurance premium costs and gain a tax advantage. I recently opened a HSA, and I am quite happy with the results.

(click here to continue reading…)

The rising cost of health care and the increase in health insurance premiums have many turning to more unorthodox methods of accessing affordable health care services. One of the rising trends has been toward medical discount plans. These are plans that purport to offer you discounts on different health care services, for a fee.

Medical discount plans can be helpful in some cases, but you do need to be careful. A medical discount plan is not health/medical insurance, and you may not get what you pay for.

(click here to continue reading…)

This is a guest post written by Cynthia J. Koelker, MD, author of 101 Ways to Save Money on Health Care, Tips to Help You Spent Smart and Stay Healthy.

If you think your employer is paying for your health care, think again. You’re the one not receiving up to $10,000 per year so your employer can pay your monthly premiums. And the situation will only get worse, with higher deductibles, co-pays, employee contributions, prescription costs, etc. What will you do to stretch your health care dollar?

As a family physician I witness these problems every day. Patients worry about the cost of drugs, office visits, lab texts, X-rays, and hospitalizations. Every physician knows ways to decrease costs, but what doctor has time to explain, when we’re expected to see a patient every 10 minutes?

It’s much easier – and faster – to spend money than to think of ways to save. But if your doctor had time to discuss the situation with you, here are a few of the tips he or she would share:
(click here to continue reading…)

I bet your head is swimming right now with all the new acronyms you’ve been seeing after the first few days on the job. But as the old adage goes, these are good problems to have, especially in the current economy. One of the biggest decisions you’ll have to make in the first few weeks of starting work is what your health benefits are.

Some companies offer a few choices, some offer only one, some offer none. Regardless of your options, it’s important that you review them carefully because this will likely be one of the more importance decisions you’ll make this month.

(click here to continue reading…)

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

(click here to continue reading…)

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.

(click here to continue reading…)

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)

(click here to continue reading…)