I’m curious how much you pay for a doctor’s appointment. And for healthcare in general.
This is not because I’m nosey. Well fine. It’s a little bit because I’m nosey. I’m just really curious about how healthcare works for different families in different circumstances.
Here, I’ll go first.
We pay full price, out of pocket for doctor appointments (specific $$ amounts below).
Our family has chosen to have Christian Healthcare Ministries as our health insurance provider and it is perfect for us. We pay a tiny total of $135/month for this, which I feel is remarkable. We have a high deductible ($5,000 per incident). But we had the same super high deductible when we were paying almost $900/month for regular insurance too. So obviously, we really love the $135. :)
(How happy are we that I don’t have to put stickers over Bonus Boy’s face anymore!!!!)
With CHM, we don’t have a copay for doctor visits. We don’t have amazing benefits, dental, or vision coverage. Basically, we only have CHM insurance in our back pocket in case something major happens. Therefore, when we need to go to the doctor, we pay 100% out of pocket for the appointment.
BUT, the hundreds of dollars we save each month (around $765 to be exact – whoa!) more than covers all of those doctor fees. Plus it gives us a cushion so we can save for the deductible if we need it.
I love that instead of giving so much money each month to an insurance company (it felt like $money$ down the drain!), we can instead put that money toward our chiropractor, natural doctor, and wholesome food. We only go to a doctor when we really need to, trying natural remedies at home first.
How much do you pay for a doctor appointment?
Ah, so I haven’t even answered my own question yet. Our chiropractor costs $45 for a thorough adjustment and healthcare advice. Our natural doctor charges around $65 for a consultation, then we pay additional amounts for the supplements and remedies she offers.
Last time we went to our local Urgent Care for a check-up (Matt and I had to get a physical before becoming licensed foster parents) – it cost us $125 each. And that was apparently a discount because we were paying cash. Hmm. Then we got billed separately for the urine test. (I can’t remember how much those were.)
So all of these come out of our pocket each time we need them. Still, we save thousands of dollars every year going this route.
Do I wish we had a co-pay?
Sure, if the copay was $5 like it used to be. Remember those days? I remember those days!
At this point though, and you’ll have to let me know how it works for you, I don’t think a copay would benefit us. We really, really like paying such a low monthly premium. And since we rarely go to traditional doctors anyway, I don’t think having “regular” insurance would really help us much.
Fun times.
So, $45-$65 per visit.
That’s what we pay when we go to the doctor. Plus the cost of the supplements they recommend.
We go in phases of needing to go frequently and have periods of time that several months go by without a visit. It all depends on the need!
Oh, and last year when Elias suffered a terrible ankle injury during a basketball game, we got to drop a cool $850 for an ER visit with all the perks (like a wheelchair ride). Good thing we save almost that much every month on our insurance premium. Ha!
I’ve been thinking about all of this – the cost of a doctor visit, the cost of health insurance, the cost of supplements – as I have considered this:
Should we pay $37 for this health care option? —>
It may sound funny to think of this as a “health care option” but hear me out!
As this year’s Healthy Living Bundle sale time was approaching. I spent a few hours looking through almost every single product. We’re talking 46 eBooks, 32 eCourses, audios & workshops, 10 printable packs & workbooks, and 2 summits. Phew.
Why did I spend so much time on this? Because I can’t and I won’t promote a product or recommend that you purchase something if I don’t feel confident that it’s worth your time and money.
While reading through so many of the materials, watching the videos, printing the packets, exploring the eCourses – I found that I kept learning new tidbits that would really bless my family’s health. There I was, looking to see what I could maybe share about the bundle as I determined if it was “worth it” – and the entire time I found myself learning:
- Better ways to help my kids eat good food
- How to transition our baby to solid food in a healthy way (he has four cute little teeth now!)
- Tools to give my kid who hasn’t been officially diagnosed, but who probably has something like ADD, and needs some extra love and care when it comes to learning
- How to walk someone through a sugar detox
- Recipes my kids can use to learn to cook in our Instant Pot
- More about cooking great food with just 5 ingredients
- How to get a better night’s sleep
There’s much more, but those were some highlights for me.
And then I realized: The contents of this bundle, this package containing $3000 worth of health information and tools, costs less than one of my chiropractor appointments. I have learned so much already, and while I don’t need or want all of the products included – paying $37 to learn what I have learned and I’m learning is absolutely worth it.
Click here or on the image to see all the products in detail.
So I decided to tell you about it.
I’m not sure what you pay for a doctor visit, but I’m guessing the $37 price tag on this Healthy Living package is comparable or even much cheaper. I want to encourage you to check into this because well, where else can we pay just $37 for so much worthwhile health information?
Already bought a Healthy Living Bundle in the past?
Me too!! I have them all and seeing as they’ve been around since 2012, that means this is my 8th one. :) But each bundle is brand new and full of the latest and greatest. I guarantee you’ll learn something new (or if you’re like me, you’ll learn 7 new things in the first hours, ha!).
When the price is lower than a doctor visit and holds so much more information than I could ever get in one doctor visit – that’s when I know it’s beyond worth it to purchase. (Though it doesn’t take the place of a doctor visit if we need one. It had to be said.) ;)
And then there are these:
Really Cool Bonuses
All of this comes with your bundle purchase, which is so much fun and so beneficial.
These are legit bonuses! Totally free, physical items. We pay the shipping, and that’s it!!
I always get the Lymph Rub from TriLight Health because it is so good to have on hand to fight off illness! I like a lot of their other products too, and keep them on hand as ready-to-grab home remedies.
I already also ordered the bonus from Perfect Supplements, Earthley, and MadeOn. So many great free items to help keep our families healthy!
How much do you pay for a doctor appointment?
I’m thankful that we rarely need to go to a doctor, and that when we do, we have great options for natural care. (I’m also thankful for traditional doctors who are there when we need them!) I’m thankful for home remedies and natural home-care options. I’m thankful for everything I can get my hands on to read and learn and grow in ways of healthy living.
So, I’m thankful for this, and I recommend that you check it out and enjoy learning from it too! —>
This is fantastic. I just forwarded it to my husband to see what he thinks. My question is: do you vaccinate your children? That is just about the only thing that we do at the doctor but I know that a lot of people don’t. I’m wondering if that is expensive. Thanks so much!
Some are and some aren’t, but I have no idea on cost of those bc it’s been too long! I do know that in my area there are clinics that offer much less expensive vaccinations compared to what they cost at a regular clinic/doctor’s office.
I use CHM too! Just started but we love it so far.
Question though, how do you have $5000 per incident? I’m only responsible for the first $500 of each incident.
We are at the broze level, which is why our monthly premium is so low. Maybe you are at gold or silver?
I have a HSA. I pay a weekly amount $69 (my company pays other portion) for insurance and then put x amount in the HSA (health savings account) my deductible is $2700 per year per person / $5000 for family. I have to pay 100% of dr visits until I reach my deductible, then my insurance covers all costs 100%. I user money in HSA to cover medical costs. Average dr appt $104 for my child, upwards $200 for me. ( I am having to see a specialist for abdominal pain.)
We pay over a $1000/month for healthcare. We also pay (rounded) $500 for medical insurance. When we visit a doctor, it is a $45 copay. That may sound strange. $1000 for healthcare AND $500 for insurance. The way I see it, our food budget is our “health care.” By taking care of our health (eating right, getting plenty of exercise and sleep), we avoid the need for “Sick Care” which is what the current American medical system is. Just my $.02. Of course, if husband didn’t have good benefits through work, we’d totally be doing the medical cost sharing program like you do.
We are on COBRA and pay around $2,300 a month for a family of 4. This includes vision and dental. Co-pay is $35; specialist might be $50. There are random co-pays for radiology and labs.
Unfortunately, my husband’s current government job says we are required to choose one of their (expensive) insurance options and don’t let us opt out. Maybe it’s one of those things where you have to fight it? I miss the days when we were military and for about $400 a month, our family of 6 got 100% of everything covered, no copays, even prescriptions were $0.
We hardly see doctors at our home too…however, what gets us is dentist and vision care (4 of our family of 5 wear glasses or contacts) so we would be paying out of pocket for those too in this kind of plan. Right now my husband’s work provides us great coverage, but some day when he retires, we will need to look at other options, so this is very interesting. Thanks for sharing.