Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Swine Flu Pandemic

Now I know there is a scare over the Swine Flu. There is a lot of people making a mad dash to the hospital. But it does not mean you should make a rush to the hospital. Quite the opposite, you need to avoid the hospital emergency rooms. They will take you to the cleaners, even with insurance.

When you sign up for the appointment hospitals mainly work with contract service. Aside from the VA, almost all of the hospitals will bill you for the emergency room visit. Then they will bill you for the medicine, then the doctor. If you want to be able to take a hold of your destiny, you need to think unconventional. Hospitals are banking on you to have some kind of insurance and aliment.

After it is all said and done, you will be billed appox. $1000 for the common cold without insurance and approx$500, with it. There are other options however. There are clinics that only bill you by how much you make per year. If you only make roughly $20,000 per year, you might be able to get a reduction in payment on top of your insurance. I went to get a physical at Reno's WARC and it only cost me about $70. The average price of that at a hospital is about $300. You do the math: what would you like to pay?

With the swine flu you need to be frugal to get affordable treatment. If you show signs of the swine flu, you might want to seek treatment at the health clinic. If not and you want to get diagnosed, try going in for a physical. Who knows, it might save your life.