Category: Health Insurance

It looks like this page may be out of date. Please visit NerdWallet’s health hub for our latest content. If you’ve ever suffered a life-threatening allergic reaction, you may well feel that the EpiPen cost is justified. But if you’ve been prescribed the medication as a precaution — something you might need — that $600-plus […]

Eating healthy isn’t always easy, but committing to a healthy diet can be one of the smartest decisions you ever make. Why? Not only can eating well make you look and feel better, it can also save you money on future health costs. But even if you intend to “eat healthy,” knowing exactly what that means can […]

Millions of diagnostic exams are performed in the United States each year, but they’re not simple or cheap. In fact, planning and paying for these often-essential procedures can be confusing and expensive. Most of the time, a doctor will recommend a diagnostic test — such as a MRI, X-ray or echocardiogram — so he or she can better understand […]

Most people don’t like going to the dentist. If you’re heading in for a root canal, you could be feeling double the dread if you don’t know how much it will cost. It’s understandable to worry about whether you can afford a root canal, but this isn’t a procedure to skip because of cost. You might […]

By Eric Toya Major medical expenses can cause tremendous financial hardship. In fact, a 2013 NerdWallet study found that medical bills are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy. All medical bills can potentially be overwhelming, but the difference between emergency and anticipated expenses is your ability to plan for the latter. It pays to think ahead […]

It’s the kind of surprise nobody wants: staying on top of your medical expenses only to find you’ve accidentally used an out-of-network doctor and now face a huge bill. The situation is common enough to have a name: surprise medical billing. It happens most often when patients go to a hospital in their provider network where […]

Mental health care is just as important as medical care, and avoiding mental health treatment due to cost is as risky as avoiding medical care. Since the passage of the mental health parity law in 2008 and the Affordable Care Act in 2010, most people with health insurance now have mental health coverage. This is […]

Flexible spending arrangements (FSAs) can help you spend less on health care, but only if you use yours correctly — by spending all the money in it before a year-end deadline. FSAs are tax-advantaged accounts that can be used for medical expenses only; they’re sometimes also called flexible spending accounts. They’re different from health savings […]

President Barack Obama’s signature health care law has been around since March 2010, but even if you know the Affordable Care Act by its nickname, “Obamacare,” you might not know how it affects you. So what is “Obamacare”? The goals of the law were to increase access to health care, lower the overall cost of care, […]

At NerdWallet, we adhere to strict standards of editorial integrity to help you make decisions with confidence. Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners. Here’s how we make money. By Martine Brousse Learn more about Martine on NerdWallet’s Ask an Advisor. In recent years, it has become common for medical […]