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Show High Cost of Staying Healthy The costs of our new, tremendously advanced health care have risen 48 per cent from 1950 to late I960 more than any other item in a family's cost of living and twice as much as the overall cost of living. A financial expert, writing in the February issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine, tells how you can help beat the high cost of staying healthy. Americans typically spend 5 per cent of their yearly income for medical bills. Every health service has gone up; the price affords in protection. The plan should make sure you get needed treatment, provide a partial regular budget for medical costs, and protect against the expense of serious illness. 3. Use community health services to help curb medical bills. These are listed with your local board of health. Free immunizations, for example, are provided in many .areas. 4. Work out a plan with your doctor and pharmacist to make provision for lower medicine costs, if these expenses are burdensome. burden-some. ' Many families should trim their expenditures for nonprescription nonpre-scription medicines and so-called "food supplements," some of doubtful usefulness. Get all the authoritative guidance you can, and conserve your medical budget for professional care. of medicines is another concern. Families now expect to pay $5 for a doctor, per call, plus $8 to $10 for prescriptions. These are medical costs every family must deal with. To meet them many must "cut to the bone," deplete savings, and keep other necessary spending to a minimum. Medical insurance helps, but, as one suburban father remarked, "All these high medical bills prevent us from accumulating college funds for our children." The facts of life are that progress in medical care has outstripped out-stripped progress in medical financing, says the magazine. But families can take steps to make medical bills fewer, smaller, and easier to pay. 1. Plan a realistic budget for medical bills. Consider, six per cent of take home income the minimum allotment for a family of four. Set this aside in a separate savings account, to build up a reserve.-2. Choose the most suitable medical care insurance for your needs. There are many gaps in what insurance |
