Toward the end of the year, when you may have used up your deductible, it's a good time to look into health care services you have been putting off. | Adobe Stock
Toward the end of the year, when you may have used up your deductible, it's a good time to look into health care services you have been putting off. | Adobe Stock
• Most Americans who get health insurance through their employer have an annual deductible.
• You can save money during the last few months of the year by taking advantage of your health insurance if you've already met your deductible.
• Most health insurance plans cover allergy testing and treatment.
Many people try to save money by shopping on Black Friday, but another way to save during the holiday season is by taking advantage of your health insurance benefits if you've already met your deductible.
Dr. John Stewart of Arizona Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers said people who want to get allergy testing have a few choices.
"There's two options," he told PHX Reporter. "They can have it done via a blood test. We don't offer that in the office, but we have labs that can run that for people. With the modern-day skin test, we have the allergens in a well and a little plastic piece that we dip into those wells. It gets imprinted on the forearm and we label them as grasses, trees and weeds. It's labeled a scratch test, but it's imprinting on the arms. Then, 25 minutes later, we read the results. It's not invasive; it doesn't hurt."
Most insurance plans cover allergy testing and treatment, so your costs could be little to nothing, according to Family Allergy. Also, winter is a good time to prepare for spring allergies, because if you learn that you need allergy shots for treatment, you can begin the shots before your deductible resets at the beginning of the year, saving you money while you begin to build your body's defenses against spring allergens.
However, if you take over-the-counter allergy medicines, be careful of the results from the skin test, Stewart said.
"It's a quick and easy test, but that one is definitely sensitive to the effects of allergy medicines," he said. "If you take an Allegra or Benadryl or something along those lines, we're definitely going to see a muted response. But if those people are on medicines or they're on immunosuppressive agents, the RAST test or the blood test is a good alternative for them. It shows immune complexes in the bloodstream. They can stay on their medicines, and it takes about two weeks to get the results, unlike 25 minutes for the skin test. But it's another option."
The Kaiser Family Foundation's 23rd Employer Health Benefits Survey found that workers who had health insurance coverage through their employers in 2021 had a general yearly deductible for individual coverage that needs to be met before the plan paid for most health services. For workers at smaller companies, the average individual deductible was $2,379. At larger firms, the average deductible was $1,397.
If you have already met your annual deductible, Stamford Heath suggests scheduling appointments and tests before the end of the year, saving money by having those appointments covered by your insurance. For example, get your annual physical and refill any prescriptions. For those over 45, get a colonoscopy, or a mammogram for women over 40. You can also use your benefits to take care of labs or other diagnostic tests.
If you would like to learn more about allergy symptoms and potential treatments, take this Sinus Self-Assessment Quiz.
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