The following is a guest post from Squirrelers, a personal finance website dedicated to helping readers squirrel away money, grow net worth, and live well.  This is one of my favorite blogs, so take a look!

Would you like to reduce your healthcare expenses?

Heck yeah, most of us probably would. Even those who rarely get sick and are in peak condition still need to have checkups and other appointments.  For some folks, health care expenses can regularly be a big part of cash outflow, and represent a cost category that is a prime target for savings opportunities.

While thankfully such costs haven’t been sky high for me lately, I’ve still been giving thought to finding ways to reduce such costs going forward. Additionally, I know a few people who could use less healthcare-related costs in their lives right now.

To that end, I’ve come up with the following 10 tips to reduce healthcare expenses:

1. Use an FSA Account. We all have some medical expenses every year, with basics such as a visit to the dentist and optometrist. Many of us have more visits and additional expenses, such as prescriptions or maybe even medical procedures. If you have the opportunity to use an FSA account, you can save a decent percentage on the expenses, since funds are set aside pre-tax.  It’s smart to estimate conservatively, and project your baseline expenses for the upcoming year accordingly. Use the funds before year-end, to avoid scrambling
2. Know Your Insurance. It’s a good practice to read the terms of your insurance coverage, so you’re well-informed when you make choices for your health care visits and treatments.  Examples: visiting doctors that are in your network, knowing deductibles/out of pocket costs, understanding any pre-authorizations that might be needed.
3. Analyze Medical Bills before Paying. Errors could be made, so it’s important to review the charges on the bill you receive. With medical care often costing a relatively high amount of money, it’s important ensure that you’re being appropriately charged and are getting the full advantage of your coverage.
4. Ask for a Cash Discount. While I haven’t made this a practice, I’ve read enough about people getting discounts for paying in full, in cash. It seems to me like a viable option, and is worth considering. Remember, there are enough people out there that stretch out medical bills and try to avoid paying them that a lump-sum, cash-paying customer could be a welcome thing for medical practices. It sure doesn’t hurt to ask!
5. Eat Healthy Food. Of course, this also means limiting unhealthy food. But really, it’s important to eat and drink food that’s nutritious and a part of an appropriately balanced diet. Even if it means spending a bit more on fresh, healthy food, it can pay dividends in the long run. Taking care of your diet will help prevent problems that will cost you money later in myriad ways.
6. Sleep Well. We covered the importance of sleep for wealth creation in a prior discussion, and it stands to reason that lack of sleep can lead to more expenses as well. Sleep less over a long period of time, and you’re more likely to have health issues. Those issues will cost you money. Plus, people who sleep less than they need to can make sub-optimal decisions in many ways, including food purchases.
7. Talk about Cost with Your Doctor. Your doctor may prescribe an expensive medicine to you. Perhaps there is one of comparable efficacy, but at a lower price? Or, alternatively, maybe there’s a generic? If not, and your medicine has no real alternatives, maybe there is a patient assistance program for you? Again, it doesn’t hurt to ask questions. Don’t be shy, the doctor is a medical professional but is also a service provider to you.
8. Ask for Product Samples. Sometimes your doctor may be able to provide you with a sample unit of product to help you get started. Often times, this seemingly small “throw in” could end up saving you some money. You see a consistent theme – it doesn’t hurt to ask.
9. Floss. It’s easier and more common for people to just brush and leave it at that, but flossing is what dentists are often insistent upon their patients faithfully doing. Not only is it vital for healthy teeth and gums, but it’s something that can help your overall health as well. Poor dental health has the potential to cause ripple effect in terms of other health issues if left unchecked. This leads to more cost, of course.
10. Choose your Insurance Plan Carefully. This is almost like knowing your insurance as noted in #2 above – but knowing it from the perspective of a person choosing policies. Pay attention to the deductibles and coverage, and choose a plan which best fits your needs and your family’s needs. But do so by investing the time upfront into reading through the plan information when you have the opportunity to sign up or change health insurance.

What about you? I’m sure there are many other tips to lower health care expenses – exercise, preventative medicine, etc.  For example, regularly stretching and keeping flexible can help prevent injuries, downtime, etc.

Crystal’s Comments:  I really loved this tip list since I only give healthcare expenses any real attention every November when I have to pick my health insurance plan at work.  I personally only recently concentrated on #2 and #5, but I’ve always followed #4, #7, and #8 and have saved hundreds of dollars so far.

What are your thoughts on these tips, and do you have any others to consider?