10.14.26 SPEND LESS On Medical Expenses and When Shopping Online

All right.

So we got a lot going on in the medical field that is obviously not your friend.

Number one, and I covered this recently, how much health insurance costs are going up in '27.

And it's gonna be really hard for individuals buying coverages, small business.

Even big companies are cutting back benefits for '27 and increasing the employee share at most big companies.

Tough, tough on that side.

So where can you make a difference in cost? One thing, if you have to take a ultra-high-cost prescription med that's brand name only, no generic, a big re- relief valve for people has been buying those drugs mail order from Canada.

A lot of brand-name prescription drugs are a teensy tiny of the cost from Canada what they are here in the United States.

And so a lot of Americans have been ordering from, takes a little work, but finding legit pharmacy to order from in Canada, and you're getting the identical brand-name drug, but for a t- a tiny amount of the cost.

And this is important 'cause a lot of these brand-name drugs, life-saving drugs that can cost them thousands of dollars a month, without which they'll die.

It's that simple.

Well, now the US government has made the decision to choke that off and force people to go without or to pay the huge price that those drugs sell for in the United States.

So I've taken a position on this that I know is crazy, but if the individual needs the drugs, is physically able to, or a family member, you actually fly four times a year to Canada, buy the drug, and bring it back.

There's no prohibition on that like there is on mail order.

We're talking about drugs that, that the cost per month can be in the thousands, but having to fly four times a year up and back to pick up the meds would still generate a big, big savings.

Most people aren't gonna do that.

They'll just go without the med.

And again, that could be a life and death decision.

So there is this way around it by going in person to get the drugs.

Now, I'm gonna talk about something else.

I've railed on hospitals over and over and over again, how hospitals are responsible for the greatest share of the increase in healthcare costs in the United States, and all the ways they've done that.

But there's something I've not talked about, and that is comparison shopping.

If there's a non-emergency thing, you need to have a procedure, a surgery, whatever, shopping for it.

And hospitals have to file with the feds what their price lists are, but they're very reluctant to share them, be the nicest way to say it, with consumers.

And there's a nonprofit that has compiled a database where you as a consumer can see what the hospital price list they try to keep secret from you, what they actually are.