Whilst health insurance is the most effective way to afford treatment, there are many other ways in which you can lower costs. Here are just a few different ways to make medical treatment less of a blow on your finances.

Set up an FSA

An FSA (Flexible Savings Account) can allow you to save up tax-free earnings from your income to use for medical treatment. Some employers may offer FSAs to their employees – if not you can always take one out yourself and arrange payments into with your employer. FSA’s can be used not just to pay for your own treatment but for the treatment of family members too. You may also be able to use these savings for over-the-counter drugs and dental work. Make sure to take out a specialist health FSA that will roll your savings over from one year to the next.

Join Your Local Farm Bureau

Many state Farm Bureaus offer healthcare discounts to members along with various other discounts. Whilst these groups are set up mainly for farmers, any one is allowed to join and get the benefits. Joining these groups does involve a small monthly fee so make sure that this fee is worth the benefits that you’re receiving from the membership. Other groups such as driver associations and gym memberships may also offer similar discounts.

Consider Legal Compensation

In some cases, you may be able to fund medical treatment with legal compensation. If you’ve become sick or injured and it was someone else’s fault, you may be able to hire a personal injury lawyer to help make a claim. There are all kinds of specialist personal injury lawyers out there from car accident lawyers to work injury lawyers – you can even hire an e-cig lawyer if you’ve been injured by an exploding e-cigarette! Make sure to shop around to find the most reputable lawyer so that you’re more likely to win the compensation you deserve.

Shop Around for No-Interest Medical Loans

There are a number of lenders out there such as Carecredit that offer no-interest loans to spend on medical treatment. These could allow you to pay for expensive treatment in smaller instalments without having to pay interest charges on top. Just makes sure that you make your payments on time otherwise you could receive extra fees.

Get Treatment Abroad

When it comes to very expensive treatment, more Americans are taking the radical approach of going abroad to seek treatment. Some countries such as India and Cuba offer much cheaper treatment at the same level of quality. Seeking treatment abroad can also allow you to jump queues and get important treatment sooner. Aside from this it could also be a fun chance to travel – you could even spend your time recovering from treatment relaxing on a beach.