295 | Emergency Fund for the Zombie Apocalypse

<ul> <li>This Friday's episode continues with the theme of looking back at how our perspective has changed since the show began. What has changed, have we pivoted, and what do we feel more confident about now than we did then?</li> <li>Last Friday Brad shared the saga of trying to find out how much a CT scan was going to cost him. In response to the story, members of the community reached out with their ideas for saving on the cost.</li> <li>One listener shared a link for <a href= "https://www.mdsave.com/" target="_blank" rel= "noreferrer noopener">MDsave.com</a>, a company that contracts with different healthcare providers to provide very specific pricing for a number of healthcare-related services and procedures that you pay in advance for.</li> <li>Using the CPT code for his procedure, Brad discovered there were no providers in his area, but there was a good number in Charlottesville about an hour away. Had he used this website, he could have paid under $300 for his CT scan. Without using it, his insurance company was billed $2,083.</li> <li>For prescription drug needs, there is a similar website called <a href="https://goodrx.com/" target="_blank" rel= "noreferrer noopener">GoodRX.com</a></li> <li>The healthcare system is broken. Price transparency in healthcare, like both of these websites offer, cuts the middleman out and lowers costs.</li> <li>Jonathan suspects that anytime you are using these apps you are sacrificing some privacy.</li> <li>If you have a high-deductible plan and rarely if ever reach it, you may be better with the discount as you cannot double-dip and need to choose whether you go through the app/discount card or your insurance company. However, prescriptions do qualify as HSA reimbursable expenses.</li> <li>Emergency funds are a part of every financial plan, with most stating a fully funded fund contains three to six months' worth of expenses.</li> <li>ChooseFI has pushed back a little on the standard emergency fund concept, asking if you really need one, what does it need to look like, an