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How To Save Money On Health Care (CNN Video & Text)
When Heather Staples’ 6-year-old daughter, Sophia, fell and cut her eyebrow, Staples knew her daughter might need stitches. But instead of running straight to an emergency room, Staples took a few minutes to compare prices at nearby emergency rooms.
“I have a high-deductible plan, so I knew that I would be paying for the charges out of [my own] pocket completely,” Staples says. “Price was definitely a concern of mine.”
Using a New Hampshire state Web site, she realized the closest emergency room would cost $500 more than an emergency room 20 minutes away. Since Sophia wasn’t in immediate danger, Staples made the drive, spending $1,200 instead of $1,700 to treat her daughter.
Staples knows a little something about bargain shopping. She helps large employers in her state purchase insurance. As health care costs continue to skyrocket, it behooves all of us to follow her lead.
Studies in various states have shown wildly different prices for the same procedure.
Live in southern New Hampshire and you’re having laparoscopic knee surgery? You could go to Dartmouth South and pay about $5,300 or to St. Joseph’s Hospital and pay about $10,500.
