Review: Health Care on Less than You Think

Here's one of the most boring and dry personal finance books you will ever find -- and one that most Americans need to read. The book: Health Care on Less Than You Think: The New York Times Guide to Getting Affordable Coverage (tt).

Health Care on Less Than You Think: The New York Times Guide to Getting Affordable Coverage (tt) is about what you think it would be about -- how to save on health care. But it offers a great deal more than that. I'll get to that in a minute.

First, the book contains some startling facts about health care including:

• A University of California study projects that by 2013, one in four American workers under the age of sixty-five -- nearly 56 million people -- will be uninsured.

• Nearly 20 percent -- 8.4 million -- of the 45.8 million people the government says have no health insurance are children, accoding to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Almost half of the personal bankruptcies in the United States stem from overwhelming medical bills, according to research by Harvard Law School and Harvard Medical School.

• In 2005, for the first time, the cost of health insurance in the United States for a family of four surpassed the total before-tax income of a minimum wage worker.

Then it tells you what to do to select an affordable and competent health care plan. Topics covered include how to:

• choose among the health plans and minimize costs based on location
• shop for coverage when your job does not provide insurance
• assess whether health savings accounts help your budget
• track down the biggest savings on presecription drug costs
• master your insurer's fine print and win battles over payments
• manage Medicare and long-term-care insurance to protect your retirement savings

Overall, it's a comprehensive guide on the issue of getting, managing, and controlling costs on a good, solid health care plan.

Generally, I liked this book, not because it was entertaining, but because it contains good information that pertains to most Americans. It's a dry read (imagine reading about health care for 200 pages!), but an important subject. It could have been covered in fewer pages as it goes on and on a few times, but otherwise, it does a good job at covering an important topic.

The Free Money Finance rating for Health Care on Less Than You Think: The New York Times Guide to Getting Affordable Coverage (tt) (based on my 0 thru 10 rating system) is: 6 Stars.

And before I end this post, I wanted to highlight some of my previous posts listing ideas on how to save on health care costs:

• 16 Ways to Slash Your Health Insurance Rates

• Some Insurers Pay You to Get Healthy

• Another Way to Get an Incorrect Medical Bill Corrected

• Ask for Free Drugs

• A Third Way to Get an Incorrect Medical Bill Corrected

• Check Your Medical Bills, Part 2

• Comments: Money Saving Tip: Ask for Free Drugs; Get Coupons

• Comments: Money Saving Tip: Ask for Free Drugs; Real-Life Example

• CPT Codes Can Save You Money on Medical Bills

• Don't Pass Up Generic-Drug Savings

• Five Ways to Cut Your Health Care Costs

• Go Overseas for Major Medical Procedures and Operations

• How to Get an Incorrect Medical Bill Corrected

• Lose Weight

• Save on Prescription Drugs

• Seven Steps Retirees Can Use to Control Health Care Costs

• Watch Medical Bills