Getting back on your feet, after experiencing illness, or constantly fighting a chronic condition can get quite expensive. If money is an issue, you should start cutting down on your health care expenses before your run out of money! Here are five simple tips you can use to save money.

Switch to Generic drugs, if possible 

Well known pharmaceutical companies tend to overcharge you for the drugs they produce. Drug stores, in their turn, tend to overcharge you again for the drugs made by famous pharmaceutical companies, saying well these are the best we have, and high quality cannot come cheap! And while this may be so, if you feel you are spending to much already, you should ask your doctor to put you on generic drugs instead. These generic drugs contain the same substances as the ones made by the most famous producers in the pharmaceutical industry, but their brand is not that well-known. And, of course, they are much cheaper and will help you get back on track with the expenses.

Go for OTC drugs!  

Also ask your doctor for a prescription for over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Many of the drug you already use now may be sold as such, in drugstores, and you just didn’t know about it. Let’s take, for example, pain killers. Drugstores have different prices for the same pills depending on how much people living near by afford to spend. You may find the same pain killer at the price of 12 dollar in one drugshop and at the price of 19 dollar in another one, not that far away. You should just look around or ask someone close to you do it, if you don’ t feel up to it, just yet.

Don’t be ashamed to ask for Discounts! 

Many drugstores offer discounts to their regular customers. So, if you buy something from a drugstore more than once, ask for your discount. It may not be much at first, but over a couple of weeks, you may notice the difference in your health expenses. Worse case scenario: the drugstore will not give you a discount just yet. At least you gave it a try and the drugstore owner knows now that you need a cut in your expenses.

Get frequent check-ups for chronic conditions 

If you know you have high blood pressure or diabetes, for example, you should have doctor¢s appointments as frequent as your condition requires it. If you get worse, the medical care will get more expensive.

Take better care of yourself 

Elders may say that a healthy way of life keeps the doctor away! And they would be right! Sleep at least 7 hours every night, eat moderately three times a day, have enough exercise for yourself, be positive about your life no matter what and chances are you will remain in good health! Doctors around the world – no matter their specialities  – agree on one thing: it is much easier to prevent an illness that to treat it and to heal it. And, may we say it, it is also much cheaper to prevent!