How to recession-proof* your health

*This list is incomplete, but it’s a start.

Credit: Josh Appel on Unsplash

Welcome to Solicited Advice, our weekly column that celebrates the helpfulness in health. Because in a world where strangers at the grocery store love to tell you that a specific brand of magnesium will indeed “cure” what ails you (it probably won’t, so sorry), we’re all about passing on our lived experience in a way that makes your life a little better. Are we experts? Nah, not really. But we’re great listeners who have perfected the art of pillow screaming. Let’s get into it!

Finances have always been a challenge for me — especially after becoming disabled — but it’s obvious the money crunch is only going to get worse. I’m curious if you have any recession-friendly health tips to share?

Jess: One of the harder lessons for me to learn after growing up poor and spending most of my adult life below the poverty line is that it can sometimes be better to spend money while you have it, versus tightly gripping it out of fear of the future. And in this particular landscape we’re living in, it’s quite possible the value of the dollar will continue to drop, meaning $5 today is worth more than $5 a month from now. So, coming from that perspective, a few tips: 

• Get really clear about your finances. Even if you think you already know the answers to these questions, take another pass at it. What is your bare minimum survival number? Can anything be cut, if needed? Audit your life similarly. What are your bare minimum survival needs? Can anything be cut, if needed? 

• Is there anything you can do to increase your income? Often, especially with health conditions, this answer is “no,” but it’s worth considering — even $50/month from online surveys can be helpful. 

• If you’re carrying any consumer debt — as so many of us are — look into a balance transfer with a 0% interest card. It’s a little tedious to find a good one and do it, but it’s worth it. Then save those cards with the higher rates for emergencies. (I would be cautious about closing them, though — unless you need to for self-control purposes or they have an annual fee — because closing cards can ding your credit score.)

• I also find it really helpful to think through the bad and worst-case scenarios. I know a lot of people think that increases anxiety, but for me it’s helpful because then when things happen, I already know what I’m going to do. And that also means I know what kind of preparations I need to make, which lets me know what I need to either budget and save for, or find another source of income for, or if I need to sell something, etc. 

• If you’ve been putting off any health care needs, and you have any ability whatsoever to get them handled now — do it. 

• If you’ve been putting off any health-related spending and you have the ability to do it now — go ahead and make a little stockpile. 

• Talk to your providers about self-pay discounts and other options they may have available. A lot of places offer discounts for self-pay or income-based, etc. There are also different ways to code visits to make them more affordable sometimes. At my med check the other day, I spent about 20 minutes talking to the front desk about how we want to set up my upcoming annual physical since I’m self-pay. We were able to figure out a way to do it at a much better cost, and I’ll still get the things I need. Sometimes there’s nothing that can be done, but sometimes there is. 

• Look into CareCredit if you don’t already have it, and see which of your providers accept it. CareCredit offers 0% financing for set terms, and then whatever isn’t paid off starts earning interest. They don’t do the math for you though, so you’ll need to determine what your monthly payment needs to be in order to pay it off in the allocated time. 

• Is there any way you can combine expenses with someone you trust? Whether that’s consolidating your streaming services (harder these days, but not necessarily impossible) or sharing memberships, trading books back and forth, etc.

• Look into other resources available near you — whether that’s Medicaid, housing assistance, food pantries, community gardens, mutual aid groups — find resources before you’re in crisis. During the 2008 crisis (which was much longer than just 2008 😅), we qualified for assistance through an Obama-era program to help people avoid foreclosure, and we also received $200/month in food stamps for our son for about six months. And we got really good with coupons. 

• A tangential point — work through any internal ish you have about receiving help or “taking things other people might need more.” I get it, I really really do, and also — you are just as deserving of support. 

• If you aren’t already friends with your library, get friendly. Most libraries have more than just books now, and you can rent movies, shows, music, and a lot more. A lot of them also offer free events, computers, and resources that can help. Several libraries also offer memberships for $10-15 for people who aren’t local to them, if you want to broaden your options. 

• Look to the internet and your friends for simple, easy, cheap recipes. Experiment when you can and start replacing some of the higher cost foods with alternatives, where possible. 

• Prepare yourself mentally for the suck. Whether you’re used to being poor or tightening the belt is new to you, recessions are hard and it’s natural to have a lot of feelings and concerns. 

And, finally, a tip I haven’t tried but I’m keeping in my back pocket: Apparently, a lot of veterinary medicine like antibiotics can be substituted for human medicine. I am not a doctor or a scientist, this is not medical advice, and I’m not telling you to ingest horse paste. I’m just saying it might be worth looking into. 

Kat: “It is so freaking expensive to live with a chronic health condition,” I say to myself at least 3-4 times a week. My biggest piece of advice — especially when the economy seems uncertain — would be to prioritize your health needs by specialty. The way I think about it is: You can’t tackle every single diagnosis and its subsequent treatments and appointments at the same time. I tend to pick the body part or symptom that is impacting my quality of life the most, and then prioritize those specific expenses. 

If you live in the U.S. and have a health care plan, I recommend you spend some time doing in-depth research on your coverage to figure out which types of appointments are free or are lower cost compared to other specialties. For example, my insurance plan 100% covers one cardiology visit, one physical, and one OB-GYN appointment per year. So, at the very least, that’s three touchpoints I can have with a health care professional that doesn’t cost me anything additional on top of my monthly premium. It’s also possible that your plan still includes a specific number (or even an unlimited amount) of free or lower-cost telehealth visits that were set as a precedent at the beginning of the pandemic.

My next tip would be to consider if there are any cheaper ways for you to pay for or receive your prescriptions. Aside from using GoodRx to save on actual costs at the pharmacy, you might consider asking your provider to prescribe you a three-month supply vs. your typical allotment (as long as it’s not a controlled substance). This would allow you to frontload costs (see Jess’ tip above!) if you have concerns that money is about to become much tighter than normal in the near future, and would make it so you’re not stopping your meds cold turkey (which, unfortunately, is a very real choice people have to make in a recession). Some folks are also good candidates for Optum Rx, which is a by-mail program that delivers meds to your home via free standard shipping (my dad swears by it and he’s the best!). Not only would enrolling save you energy physically and mentally, it would also save you on the gas or public transportation fees that you’d normally spend to travel to the pharmacy.

And lastly, know your financial rights as a patient, especially as it pertains to medical bills and collections. Here’s a list of resources from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s website. I know it’s a lot of information if you don’t know a ton about this side of managing your health care, but learning as much as you can makes you not only more knowledgeable for yourself, but for the people you care about whose wallet might be hit even harder by tight times.

Ash: Honestly? I’m taking notes from the other BFFs as I figure this out for myself, too!

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