How do you save money on health insurance?

[Frugal]

I have learned to save some money (although of course, not as much I would like to, which would be to cut the cost entirely!), by raising my deductible when I knew I had no hope of paying enough to reach a lower deductible anyway.

I also file appeals when my insurance company denies a claim that their contract says they have to pay.

How have you tried or learned through experience how to save money on health insurance?

[walker.kenny]

To save money there are two options:
1) Cut down your expenses
2) Increase your income.

[joeedward]

Prescription Drugs

Health care costs in the United States keep rising and everyone needs to start managing this as a major expense. Like most of you, my prescription costs keep going up. My copays are rising at an alarming rate. In fact, my top tier prescription drugs now have a copay of $75 and I take 2 of these. These costs are $2,300/year alone and this doesn’t include other occasional prescriptions. Through some research I found a few strategies to lower my prescription costs.

My Example:

I spoke with my insurance company to go over a strategy to lower my costs. First, I signed up to purchase my meds through an online retailer that my insurance company will allow me to fill for 90 days and pay just two copays instead of three. Which will save me four copays per year each and gas money. Second, I was able to switch to a generic on one of my top tier drugs with a copay of $20 instead of $75. Finally, I identified generic drugs for my children which they take as antibiotics when the are sick. I usually can get these at a big box retailer for under $10 which is lower than the $20 copay.

Results:

* Buying Online and Switching to One Generic: $1,710
* Generic Antibiotics (3 per child): $90

[Alan_MoneySanity]

This is a big problem for many people. High deductible plans will cut the bill - but you need to make sure that you still get preventative treatment, exercise and eat right.

[Cyrus1]

Yup i thing taking insurance is good and cheap way for get safe your money
and your future also...

[thefrugallery]

Increase your deductible (which others have already suggested). We have a $5,000 per person deductible and never use our insurance. We keep it only for true emergencies or something catastrophic. Once a year I go to Planned Parenthood for a full physical and pay out of pocket. If we get strep or an ear infection we go to a Walgreens or Walmart clinic and pay $50 or so out of pocket to get it taken care of. Even with all of the expenses coming out of pocket, this is much cheaper than going through insurance.