If you’re suffering from a health catastrophe, your medical bills can pile up fast. Most Florida residents who can’t afford their medical bills will simply continue with the procedures and collect the debt anyway — because not doing so could mean the difference between bad health and good health, or worse, life and death. So, if you have accrued or are accruing a vast amount of medical debt due to no fault of your own, let’s take a look at several tips that can help you reduce and/or avoid that debt:

— Familiarize yourself with your health insurance coverage: By learning what health services providers are in your insurance network, you can avoid unexpected bills that aren’t covered by your insurance. Before any kind of non-emergency health procedure, confirm with your insurance provider that the medical facility and doctor are under network.

— Ask surgeons and doctors clear questions about how much your procedure is going to cost: A medical procedure can easily cost multiples of tens of thousands of dollars — even for a relatively simple operation like a hernia repair. It is important to find out what the costs will be, both costs covered by insurance, and costs that you will need to pay out of pocket. If the price is too high, you might be able to find another doctor who can provide the same level of service at a lesser price.

— Use preferred pharmacies only: A preferred pharmacy is inside a network of pharmacies that offers better costs for certain medication. Consult with your doctor and insurance provider to determine what pharmacies are “preferred” in your area. Going to those pharmacies can save you a lot of money on your health costs.

— Check how accurate your medical bills are: You would be surprised to discover that medical bills sometimes are thousands of dollars higher than they should be. By double checking your medical bills you can eradicate any unnecessary and inappropriate costs.

There are more things that Florida patients can do to reduce and/or avoid accruing medical debt they cannot afford to pay. However, if you are already in a devastating medical debt situation, you can contact a medical debt attorney to see what your options are for making medical debt disappear once and for all.

Source: Forbes, “7 Ways To Avoid Or Reduce Medical Debt,” Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell, Nov. 07, 2016