6 Ways to Reduce Healthcare Costs

Medical claims for the Exchange’s health insurance plan topped $211.8 million last year, a 3 percent jump over 2015.

The key drivers of the hike were treatment of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart failure, irregular heartbeats and diabetes.

Plus, we’re spending the most money on drugs, such as metformin for diabetes, to treat those conditions and fight pain.

Here are six ways to control the Exchange’s healthcare costs and your own:

1. Adopt a healthier lifestyle.
2. Use preventive services in your insurance plan, covered at 100 percent with no copay and no deductible.
3. Use urgent-care facilities rather than expensive emergency rooms—unless it’s a real emergency.
4. Use the mail-order program or CVS pharmacy for maintenance drugs you take regularly for high blood pressure and other conditions. You’ll pay less for 90 days worth of a medicine than for a 60-day supply.
5. Use generic drugs, which cost less than brand names and have the same quality.
6. Participate in Aetna’s disease management program, if applicable. Aetna is the third-party administrator for the Department of Defense Nonappropriated Fund Health Benefits Program.