With the economy not fairing so well, many people are finding themselves without jobs and thus without insurance. Others simply can’t pay their insurance bills because they don’t have enough money. This is leaving a lot of families in a pretty tough situation. A family can hope that they just don’t get sick until things get better financially, but it doesn’t always work-out that way. There will be a point where you need to see a doctor. You could go to the ER and end up with a bill of several hundred dollars, but there are some better alternatives out there.
Many “big-box” stores are opening “nurse-in-a-box” or “doc-in-a-box” operations in their stores. These are very much like urgent care centers that will diagnose your illness and let you know if it’s something that can be easily taken care of with a prescription drug, or if it’s something more serious that you’ll need to go to the hospital for. Typically these places are staffed by nurse practitioners or doctors, and each visit, regardless of what you’re going for, will end up to be around $59.00. It’s not the most affordable thing in the world, but it sure beats a $2000 from a trip to the emergency room!
If you’re given a prescription, Wal-Mart, Target, and a number of other prescription plans are offering 30-day supplies of certain generic prescription drugs for just $4.00. Some 90-day supplies are also being sold for $90.00. Prescription drugs are no longer a huge-bill waiting to happen, most of them have gotten a lot more affordable. If you get to the drug store and find out that the cost is very prohibitive, call the doctor and ask if there are any alternatives that could be used that will give the same result, but without the large bill to go with it.
Ignoring your health concerns because you don’t have the money is something you should never do. You never know if your current symptoms might be pointing to a much larger medical problem that really needs to be addressed. It’s almost always better to catch medical issues early on in their progression, so if you have real health concerns, you should get them addressed.
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1 users resposed " How to Get Medical Help If You Can’t Afford a Doctor and Don’t Have Health Insurance "
August 13 2009
I couldn’t agree more, I am in a similar situation now.
Dr Chiang of Boulder City NV has been my treating physician. I became unemployed and after cutting off my cable TV (with the exception of internet due to my working part time as a freelance web designer), lowering my food costs for my wife and I to $40 per week, and switching to public transportation or walking , we were finally, or at least we thought, able to afford our prescription medications (my wife has asthma and I suffer from high blood pressure).
Dr Chiang’s office has now resorted to the unthinkable… I am only able to afford to visit every 4 months or so, the cost aprox. $70 per visit for each of us so aroung $150 each time we need to see the doctor, My wife and I saw him about 60 days ago and I got my prescription refilled.
I ran out of my blood pressure meds yesterday and called the pharmacy for a refill, the pharmacy says the refill is denied. If I want a refill I need to see the Dr.
GREAT! I can’t afford the Dr’s visit without choosing which utility, eith Gas and Phone OR Lights I wish to get shut off (already one month behind on all. Why are there not laws to prevent Dr’s from using our staying alive as leverage to extort each and every one of us for a country club payment!!?
Anyway, If anyone knows how I can get around the need for a prescription in order to get my blood pressure pills please reply.
Thanks
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