Signing up is hard to do

Thirteen years ago, when we paid off our mortgage, I was surprised to find at how hard it was to make that final payment—not financially or emotionally, but technically. We had the money, and we were ready and eager to hand it over, but getting the bank to accept that final payment was way more complicated than I expected. It took a whole series of transactions online, by phone, and in person at our local branch to get the job done.

Right now, we're having similar problems with another big life transition: Brian's retirement. Specifically, the process of switching over to a new health care plan.

The problems started in January, when Brian chose February 11 as his official retirement date. I got straight to work trying to sign us up for new coverage on Get Covered NJ, only to run into a snag: because it was January, the state was still in the middle of "open enrollment." If I signed up for a new plan during that period, it would automatically start on February 1, while Brian was still employed—and double-dipping on coverage is a big legal no-no. So I had to wait until February 1 to sign up for a new plan that would start on March 1.

Once I'd done that, I still had to take care of all the other details associated with changing coverage, like choosing a new primary care doctor and transferring our prescriptions. To do that, I needed to set up an online account with the insurer. And here I ran into my second snag: Because our new insurance plan was with the same provider as our old plan, I already had an account on their website. I could find no obvious way to add my new plan to that account, so I struggled through the maze of customer support and eventually learned that I'd have to wait until the new plan took effect on March 1 (today) to create an account for it.

So, this morning, right after breakfast, I settled down for what I figured would be a busy day of paperwork (or, since it was all going to be online, pixelwork). I punched in all my details—name, date of birth, member ID—and tried to create an account. And ran straight into snag three: I couldn't create an account using my email address because I already had one linked to my old account. I could still log into that old account, but it only had information about the old plan that had just expired. And because it was Sunday, I couldn't call or chat with customer service to fix the problem. Until the customer service lines open tomorrow morning, I'm stuck in limbo.

Annoying as that situation is, it seems positively straightforward compared to the problem I'm having with the website for our new dental savings plan. I registered on that insurer's site as soon as I bought the policy—or at least, I thought I had. But when I tried logging in today, using my email address and the password I'd selected, it told me either my username or my password was wrong. Okay, no big deal: I just clicked on "find my username" and entered my member ID, name, and date of birth to get my official username. Then I entered that username and the password I'd selected...and once again, the site told me that one of the two was wrong. So I took a different tack and asked to sign in without a password, using my username and date of birth to receive a login code. And I got the same error again. It told me that either the username it had just given me or the date of birth I gave it to get that username was wrong. I must have gone through the same cycle four or five times—check the username, enter the username and password, enter the username without the password—before I gave up. So that's yet another customer service call I need to make tomorrow.

Naturally, all this left me feeling a bit disgruntled. But as I was about to make some snarky remark to Brian about how much technology has "simplified our lives," I thought, well, wait a minute: would this actually have been any simpler before the Internet? And as it happened, I already knew the answer, because the last time I'd signed up for private health insurance was in 1995, before any of this stuff could be done online. To get my policy back then, I had to make an appointment to meet in person with an insurance agent, drive to his office, look at a list of plan options he presented to me, flip through a bunch of paper books to compare them, fill ou the enrollment forms for my chosen plan by hand, and pay my first monthly premium by check. The whole process was a much bigger hassle than this year's online enrollment, even with all the glitches. It just didn't feel like a big hassle back then because there was no simpler alternative. 

This little glimpse back down memory lane has helped me put my #firstworldproblems in perspective. Yes, it's annoying that these websites are so hard to use. But it's also kind of amazing that they exist at all. Looking at the situation through 1995-era Amy's eyes, having to wait until Monday to call customer service—from my own home, most likely in my pajamas—doesn't seem like such a big deal.

[EDIT, 3/2/26: After a frustrating half hour on the phone with the insurer, I'm no longer convinced doing things the old-fashioned way was harder. After working my way through the maze of the automated phone line and spending about 15 minutes on hold, I was informed that it was not possible to set up a new online account with my current email and my only option was to create a new email for this purpose. I gently (okay, maybe not so gently) pointed out that it can't be too uncommon for people to change plans, and it seems unlikely that the system simply doesn't allow for this possibility. The agent then put me on hold again while she presented this argument to the "e-services department," which eventually conceded that it would be possible to unlink my email from the existing online account so I could use it to create a new account. (Doing this would cut off my access to the old plan info, but that wasn't a problem because Brian still had an account linked to his email, so we could use that to deal with any lingering problems.) However, it apparently takes three to five business days to perform this apparently simple operation, so I'm now stuck in a holding pattern until Friday. The call then redirected me to a customer satisfaction survey, which I used to register my customer dissatisfaction. I even pressed the button to add an extra comment, gently (again, not that gently) suggesting that it would have been helpful to warn me about this "feature" when I first signed up for the new plan, so I could have dealt with it ahead of time.

On the plus side, one quick call to the dental plan provider was enough to unlock my account, so that shows competent customer service still exists somewhere in the modern world.]

[EDIT, 3/5/26: Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news: It didn't actually take 3 to 5 business days to uncouple my email from my old account. I got a call back within one day to say it was done, and I took the precaution of keeping the customer service agent on the line until I'd confirmed I was able to sign up for a new account. The bad news: Even with that account set up, I wasn't able to select a new Primary Care Provider online. I went through all the steps to do it and got a message saying, "Your PCP request could not be processed." So I got in touch with customer service again and they made the PCP selection for me—or at least, they said they had. It's now been two days and no PCP is showing up on my account. 

What's odd is that Brian made his PCP selection shortly after I did, using the phone system rather than chat, and his selection has already been processed. I just called Member Services again to sort this out, and as best I could make out from the agent's somewhat incoherent explanation, Brian's request somehow superseded mine. So this agent made the PCP selection for me again, and once again told me it would take 3 to 5 business days to go through.

So I'm now back in limbo, unable to transfer my medical records, see my new doctor, or get new prescriptions for any of my meds until this is resolved. In my ongoing battle with bureaucratic B.S., it's easy to see who's winning.]

How we became financially independent

This week, Brian finally did something he's been wanting to do for years: He quit his job. He is now officially retired, financially independent, a gentleman of leisure. Thirteen years after we officially set our sights on early retirement as a goal, we have now crossed that goal line.

How did we do it? Basically, by following the same plan that I outlined in that 2013 post and later expanded on in a 2016 article for Money Crashers: 

1. Cut your expenses as much as possible to maximize the amount you can sock away each month. (This step is what you've been reading about here for the past 13 years.)
2. Invest those savings in a mixed portfolio of low-fee funds. We've had some help with this step from a reliable finance guy who's sniffed out investments that earn us solid returns while minimizing what finance guys like to call "downside risk." (What exactly would be an upside risk?)
3. Stick with the plan until you've earned enough to retire. Technically, we reached this point a few years ago, but Brian needed a little time to get comfortable with the idea. Last year, he decided he was ready to take the plunge, and his official last day was Wednesday.

Before we could cross that finish line, though, there were a few t's to cross and i's to dot. The most obvious one: health insurance. Luckily for us, we live in New Jersey, which has a well-organized state health marketplace (Get Covered NJ) that makes it quite easy to shop for plans and compare costs. Even more luckily, New Jersey is one of the ten states that have stepped in to pick up the cost of the Obamacare subsidies Congress canceled last year. With our new, lower income (which is based on our taxable investment earnings, not the amount we withdraw each year to pay our bills), we qualified for a discount of over 80%, cutting our monthly premiums to just $318 for the two of us. Mind you, this is for a plan with a pretty hefty deductible ($2,100 per person per year), so we'll have to get used to paying out of pocket for a lot of costs that used to have only a nominal copay, such as prescription meds. But with all the practice we've had stretching our dollars over the past 22 years, I'm sure we can manage to keep those costs under control.

The health plan I bought doesn't cover dental or eye care (except for children, which we don't have). With a little searching, I was able to find a separate vision plan that wasn't too expensive (around $21 a month for both of us) and included our current eye doctor in its network. Based on our typical eye-care needs, which are a bit on the high side, it looks like this plan will save us around $300 a year. But dental coverage, at first blush, looked like a completely different story. There were dental plans available on Get Covered NJ, but most of them, once again, offered coverage for children only. The few plans I found that included adult care were not only expensive but had very low out-of-pocket maximums. (The worst of the lot capped payouts at a mere $1,000 per year, which was barely more than the annual cost of the premiums. It was practically guaranteed to cost us more out of pocket than it would ever pay back.) With such limited coverage, these plans would do little to nothing to protect us from ruinous costs, which is what insurance is supposed to be for.

But after looking a little further, I found an alternative that looked much more cost-effective: a dental discount plan. This isn't technically the same as insurance, which pays your bills (or a portion of them) for you. Instead, for a nominal yearly fee (around $125), you get charged a reduced rate for all care from dentists in the plan's network. If the plan's estimated costs for services like cleanings, exams, and fillings were accurate, it looked like it would save us about 65 percent on our average yearly dental costs. The only catch was that it would require us to choose a new dentist, since the trusted dentist we've been seeing for years isn't part of this or any other dental network. But after a little research, I was able to find a dental office with very good reviews from customers that's not only in the network, but also within walking distance of our house. Given how much we stood to save, it seemed like we should at least give the new dentist a try. If we didn't like her, we could always go back to our old dentist, and it would cost us nothing (since the savings just on that one visit would be enough to offset the signup cost).

In addition to the health insurance, there was one other workplace benefit we had to replace: Brian's computer. The laptop he's been using for the past several years belongs to Rutgers, and we knew he'd have to surrender it when he left. The last time we bought a computer, we chose a mini PC, which combined a low price with ease of upgrading. But Brian prefers the portability of a laptop, which he can easily haul into the kitchen for a video chat with his folks, set on the coffee table to stream a show on the TV, or take with him on a trip. So I did a search on Craigslist and found a lightly used Lenovo ThinkPad, which gets high ratings for repairability, for just $200. It's pretty basic, but more than adequate for his modest needs (email, Web surfing, streaming video and audio).

Although Brian is now officially retired, there still are a few more retirement-related tasks we need to clear up. For one, I've scheduled a couple of doctor appointments to take advantage of our current health insurance before it switches over at the end of the month. (One of these is with a dermatologist to see if I can find a cheaper alternative to the cream I'm currently using for my rosacea, which I've just learned would cost me about $100 a month to buy out of pocket.) Then, once the new plan kicks in, we'll need to officially select our new doctor and dentist and arrange to have our health records transferred to these new providers. And there's a bit of paperwork I need to complete to roll over Brian's 403(b) to a new IRA under the care of our trusty finance guy. 

But within a few weeks, we'll be officially set up to live a life of leisure. I'm already more or less retired myself, as all my long-term clients have dropped me one by one over the past few years and I've had no luck finding new ones. I've spent quite a bit of time over the past year or two scouring freelancer job listings and applying for suitable-looking jobs with essentially no results, and since we don't really need the money, I've decided to stop bothering with it. I'm happy to accept a new assignment if it simply falls into my lap, but I'm not wasting any more of my time looking for work. I'll leave it to the younger freelancers who need it more than I do.

Having reached this major financial goal, we don't feel any need to set a new one. All we have to do at this point is make sure our nest egg can carry us through the next 40 years or so. (We'll still have smaller, shorter-term goals, like gradually electrifying our home and, eventually, our car. But we've got ample cash in the kitty to dip in for those expenses as needed without cutting into our income.) So basically, we just need to stick with the same plan we used to get here: keep our expenses low, keep our investments sound, and keep on trucking. Which means that the posts you'll be reading on this blog in the future will probably be along much the same lines as the ones you've read here in the past. We'll still be doing all the same things to save money and care for the environment as we've always done; we'll just have a lot more time now to do them.

Money Crashers: 15 Ways to Save Money on Medical Expenses & Health Care Costs

The U.S. health care system is a mess. It's a chaotic hodgepodge of competing private insurers that all cover different things at different facilities. As a result, even with insurance, medical bills can often add up to thousands of dollars.

In my latest Money Crashers piece, I explore strategies can help you keep your health care costs under control. They range from choosing the right insurance plan to saving on prescription drugs to practicing preventive care. They're not a solution to our horrendous health care system, but they can help you survive in it.

 
15 Ways to Save Money on Medical Expenses & Health Care Costs

 

One new Money Crashers article, plus a podcast mention

Just a quick post here regarding my latest Money Crashers article on emergency room costs. I've already covered the benefits of going to urgent care instead of the ER when that's an option, but when it's not, there are various ways to minimize the expense. Some are things you can do before an emergency occurs, like figuring out ahead of time which local hospitals charge least for different procedures. Some can be done during your visit, like refusing unnecessary drugs and equipment. And some are for afterward, like getting an itemized bill and checking it carefully for errors. Check them all out here: 13 Ways to Save Money at the Emergency Room (ER)

Also, the Faithful on the Clock podcast is making mention of one of my earlier articles, 7 Important Financial Tips from the Bible. Check it out if that's your jam.

Money Crashers: 3 new articles

A quick update here to tell you about my three latest pieces on Money Crashers. The first is about one of my favorite subjects, books — specifically, books to teach kids about money. I already have a piece on the best personal finance books for adults, and there's an upcoming one about the best books for younger children, but this one focuses on the tween and teen set: ages 11 to 20. 

These days, schools are teaching kids this age the facts of life about sex, but not about money, so it's up to parents to fill in the gap. My folks did this decades ago by giving me a subscription to Penny Power magazine, a version of Consumer Reports for kids. But that magazine is now sadly defunct, so books are the best way to go, and these seven books are the most-recommended of all. Together, they cover every aspect of financial life, from splitting the check at a restaurant from starting a business. With one exception ("Rich Dad, Poor Dad for Kids," which I included because of its popularity but honestly don't think much of), these are all books I wish I'd had the chance to read at this age.

Best Personal Finance Books for Young Adults (Teens and Tweens)

The second is on a topic I've frankly been a little behind the curve on: money transfer apps. The only one I currently use is PayPal, and according to my research, it's a good one overall — but there are lots of other options that can be better for specific uses, from splitting the check with friends to sending money overseas. No matter where and how you want to send money, there's bound to be an app here that works for you.

The Best Money Transfer Apps for Sending and Receiving Cash of 2022

And finally, there's a piece on the boring but highly necessary topic of health insurance. I've written on this subject before, but this piece covers the absolute basics: what health insurance actually does, what terms like "deductible" and "coinsurance" mean, what an insurance policy is required by law to cover, and what kind of limits insurers tend to place on their coverage to keep costs down. It goes into the many different types of health insurance in the higgledy-piggledy U.S. health-care system, from Medicare to HMOs, and answers some basic questions about what health insurance costs and how to get it. It's everything you always wanted to know about health insurance but weren't sure how to ask.

What Is Health Insurance and How Does It Work? 

Money Crashers: How to Get Affordable Mental Health Care

Just a quick post about my latest Money Crashers article,  which is about finding affordable mental health care.

This is a particularly timely piece, since the pandemic has taken a toll on everyone's mental health. And at the same time, it's also made it harder to get out of the house for treatment. All this is bad enough for people with health insurance (which can still be very restrictive about which therapists you can see); for those without any, it's even worse. 

So this article covers a variety of resources you can use to get mental health care on a budget. It includes in-person therapy, telehealth, free alternatives like hot lines and support groups, community mental health clinics, and the new therapy apps that I keep hearing ads for on podcasts.

Therapy Without Insurance – How to Get Affordable Mental Health Care

Money Crashers: 2 health care articles and one on debt settlement

Money Crashers has published three of my articles in the past week. The first is not so much a new article as a spin-off from an old one: my piece on debt settlement from last year. The editors decided to split this into two articles, one on when debt settlement is a good idea and one on the nuts and bolts of how to do it. So the old URL now directs you to the article on the "how," and the new one on the "why" is here:

When Is Debt Settlement a Good Idea – Disadvantages and How It Works

The other two pieces are on health care, and they approach it from two different angles. The latest one is on how to choose the best health insurance plan out of the array of options that your insurer or your state health exchange offers. I walk you through the various factors to consider — premiums, out-of -pocket costs, provider network — and how to balance them to choose the best plan for your family.

How to Choose the Best Health Insurance Plan for Your Family

And the other attacks the problem from the other side of the coin: what to do if you're one of the nearly 30 million Americans without health insurance. I outline the various places to get care without it — including subsidized health clinics, retail clinics, direct primary care, telehealth, free health screenings, Hill-Burton hospitals, urgent care centers, and hospital ERs — with their costs, pros, and cons. And I examine some other ways to save, from the common (discount medical plans) to the obscure (clinical drug trials).

How to Get Affordable Medical Care Without Health Insurance

 

Money Crashers: Short-Term Health Insurance Plans

Just a quick post to let you know about my latest Money Crashers post on the pros and cons of short-term health insurance plans. Spoiler alert: it's mostly cons.

Pros and Cons of Short-Term Health Insurance Plans – Is It Right for You?

 

Money Crashers: How to Get Help Paying Your Medicare Premiums and Other Costs

Money Crashers has just posted the third article of my four-part series on Medicare. I didn't set out to write a four-part series, mind you: I was supposed to write just one article providing a general overview of the program and how to enroll. But enrollment proved to be such a complicated topic that I ended up splitting it off into its own article.

Then I started on the first article, planning to include such information as what Medicare is, how it's funded, what it costs for users, who's eligible, what all the different parts are for, and how to choose coverage. But before long, it became clear that the material on Medicare costs was going to be long enough to make a separate article, so I split that one off as well.

In my first draft of that piece, I noted that out-of-pocket costs for Medicare are more than some patients can afford and included some info on programs to help with payment. But my editor decided that this, too, was a big enough topic to turn into a separate piece. So I went in, cut out that section, moved it to a separate article, and expanded it to provide more detail on these various types of programs: Medicaid, Medicare Savings Programs, Extra Help, and PACE.

This is that third article. The fourth of the series, covering the topic of how to enroll, is still to come, and it's a doozy. I mean, if you thought doing your taxes was complicated, you ain't seen nothing yet.

How to Get Help Paying Your Medicare Premiums and Other Costs

 

Money Crashers: How Much Does Medicare Cost?

Back in December, I had a piece published on Money Crashers that was meant to provide a broad overview of the Medicare system. However, this turned out to be a much bigger topic than my editors had anticipated, and so the single article ended up being split into four different pieces. The first piece, which you've seen, was about the Medicare system, the second was on how to enroll, and the last two were on costs — what they are and how to manage them.

Two of those pieces are still in the pipeline, but the one on Medicare costs has just been published. It's a more complicated topic than you might think, covering all the different parts of Medicare and all the different costs — premiums, coinsurance, deductibles — associated with each. It's not exactly a cheerful subject, but forewarned is forearmed, and one of the later articles will offer more concrete advice on ways to reduce the costs.

How Much Does Medicare Cost? – Parts A, B, D, Advantage & Medigap

 

Money Crashers: 4 new articles

Several of my new articles for Money Crashers dropped yesterday and today, covering a variety of topics. First up is a piece on home power generators — specifically, on whether buying one to deal with disasters like the recent crisis in Texas is a good idea for you. I explored this idea myself during a series of rolling (and totally unpredictable) blackouts in 2014, and I concluded that the answer was no; we didn't have a reasonable place to set up a portable generator, nor to store it and the fuel for it, and a standby one would be far too expensive a solution for what was, for us, a fairly infrequent problem. This article walks you through the same process I went through to reach this conclusion, covering the pros and cons of owning a generator and the questions you should ask to determine if it's right for you. I also discuss several alternatives to consider for getting through a blackout, such as the gas heater we eventually ended up with. (And in case you decide a generator is the right choice for you, there's a companion article to this one due out soon on how to buy one.)

Should I Buy a Backup Standby Power Generator for My Home?

The next two articles deal with the cost of long-term care and how to deal with it. According to HHS, Americans over 65 have a 70% chance of needing long-term care at some point in their lives, and the costs can be astronomical — anywhere from $1,603 to $8,821 per month, based on a Genworth study from 2020. The first of the two articles focuses on ways to reduce this cost, such as relying on family members for care (which can take a toll on their mental health and yours), government aid programs, relocation, and long-term care insurance. (This, too, can be quite costly, so the article also explores ways to keep the premiums down as much as possible.) The second article approaches the topic from a more long-term perspective, discussing how you can plan ahead to deal with your costs, using products like insurance, annuities, or reverse mortgages. Between the two, they offer a complete primer on how to protect yourself from catastrophic costs.

How to Lower Long-Term Care Costs (Nursing Homes & Insurance)

Long-Term Care Options and How to Plan for the Costs

Finally, an article on a topic dear to my heart: podcasts. I'm a regular consumer of podcasts, listening to one every day in the shower. (In fact, I now have so many I listen to regularly that during the winter, when I don't always shower every day, I have trouble keeping up.) Many of my favorite podcasts are about economics, but I know many other people would rather learn about money on a more personal level: how they can use it to their best advantage for particular personal goals. The podcasts in this roundup can help. Whatever your goals — getting out of debt, earning more money, choosing investments, retiring early — there’s a podcast out there that can help you reach them, and this article can tell you where to find it. 

15 Best Financial Podcasts About Money, Business & Investing in 2021

Money Crashers: COBRA Health Insurance Guide

Just a quick update here to let you know about my latest Money Crashers article. It's about COBRA, which I kind of doubt is all that useful for anyone these days, since an ACA marketplace health plan — even without subsidies — is almost always cheaper than paying for your old workplace plan without your employer's help. But there are some cases in which it could possibly be worth the money, and this article explains what they are, along with other details such as who's eligible for the program and how to enroll. Here it is:

COBRA Health Insurance Guide – Continue Coverage After Ending a Job

Money Crashers: Three unrelated articles

Money Crashers has popped up three of my articles in the past week, all on quite different topics.

Article #1 is the first in a series of pieces I'm doing on Medicare. Originally, my editor asked me for just one article providing an overview of this government program and the process of signing up, and as I got into it, I discovered just how ludicrously complicated it is. I mean, doing your taxes is hard, but at least there's software for that; for Medicare, all the government provides is a grotesque kludge of a website that has the information you need to navigate the system scattered across dozens of different pages with no coherent path through it.

So I ended up writing not one, but four articles that try to provide the kind of clear, comprehensive explanation the government so noticeably fails to provide. This is the first of the four: an outline of the ins and outs of the Medicare system. It explains who is eligible for Medicare, how the program is funded, what all the different parts of Medicare (Part A, Part B, Part D, Medicare Advantage, and Medigap) are for, and how to choose the coverage you need. In future articles, I'll tackle the topics of what Medicare costs, ways to reduce the cost, and how to enroll — a process that's far more complicated than you might expect.

What Is Medicare – How It Works & What It Covers

The second piece deals with a lighter topic: streaming video services. I originally wrote this piece years ago, but like many of my articles, it sat unpublished until this spring, when my editors discovered that it had suddenly become highly topical. So they told me to quickly bring the old piece up to date so they could get it up onto the site — and then, apparently, they forgot about it until this month, when I suddenly got notice that it had been published and I should check to make sure all the info in it was still correct. It wasn't, but I did yet another quick edit to bring it up to date once more, and the revised piece now offers a comparison of the top streaming services: what content and features they offer, what they cost, and what kind of viewer would get the most out of them.

Best Video Streaming Services of 2020 (On-Demand & Live)

Lastly, we have a piece on another topic that's become highly relevant during the pandemic: restaurant delivery. These days, ordering is the new dining out, but surprisingly, it's often more expensive than the old dining out — partly because of delivery and service fees, and partly because the takeout menu itself is sometimes priced higher than the dine-in one. In this piece, I outline ways to keep your takeout food budget under control, which fall into three main categories: placing a cheaper order, controlling delivery fees, and taking advantage of discounts wherever possible.

18 Ways to Save Money on Restaurant Food Delivery & Takeout

Money Crashers: Two health insurance articles

Money Crashers has popped up two of my articles in the past few days. Both deal with the topic of health insurance, but from very different angles.

The first article is a broad overview of the Medicaid program: how it works, who is helped by it, what its critics (on the left and right) have to say about it, how justified those criticisms are, and what could be done to make the program more sustainable in the future.

What Is Medicaid – How It Works, Criticisms & Future

The second piece is about private health insurance — which, for most of us, means workplace health plans. It walks you through the complex process of choosing the right plan for yourself and your family, from the general (how health insurance and health insurance marketplaces work) to the nitty-gritty details of comparing types of plans, costs, and coverage.

How to Choose the Best Health Insurance Plan for Your Family

Hope this information is helpful for you during this season of peace, joy, and open enrollment.

Money Crashers: Subscription services and vet bills

Two more of my Money Crashers articles came out this weekend. The first is an overview of Walmart's new subscription service, Walmart+, which it rolled out this month to compete with Amazon's hugely popular Prime delivery service. (As of December 2018, it had 101 million members, nearly 1 out of every 3 people in the entire country — and that was before COVID.) However, just like Prime when it first got started, Walmart+ doesn't currently offer a lot of features; it's pretty much free shipping and nothing else, and even that's only available for orders over $35, which you already get on Amazon without a Prime membership. Walmart+ delivery can be faster sometimes, and you get a few other perks, like faster checkout in Walmart stores. But is it really worth $98 a year?

My new article compares the two services head-to-head, and, no surprise, Amazon Prime is the better deal for most shoppers. But there are a few exceptions.

Walmart+ vs. Amazon Prime – Delivery, Shopping & Entertainment Benefits

The second article is on a completely different topic: the high cost of veterinary care for your pets, and ways to keep it under control. As of 2016, dog owners were paying an average of $1,518 a year for vet visits, and cat owners were paying $972. (Cats have cheaper problems.) However, there are several ways to reduce the cost if you know how. Good preventive care can reduce the number of vet visits you make, and shopping around for providers and medications can reduce the cost of each visit. And for those bills you can't avoid, there are several programs that can pick up some of the cost, from pet insurance to charity aid.

17 Ways to Get Help with Vet Bills and Lower Veterinary Care Costs

Money Crashers: 7 Ways to Reduce Prescription Drug Costs Regardless of Health Insurance

Here's the companion piece I promised you to my earlier article on affording health care without insurance. This one focuses on the cost of prescription drugs, which often aren't covered even for people with insurance. In 2018, nearly 30% of American adults didn’t take their medications as prescribed because of the cost, and about 30% of them say their condition got worse as a result. My article covers better ways to save, including generic drugs, samples, price comparison sites, charitable pharmacies, state aid programs, and drug discount cards.

7 Ways to Reduce Prescription Drug Costs Regardless of Health Insurance

Money Crashers: How to Get Affordable Medical Care Without Health Insurance

Ten years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, there are still over 27.5 million Americans without health insurance. Some of them are trapped in the coverage gap caused when states refused to expand their Medicaid programs, making it impossible to get an insurance subsidy if your income is too low (because that makes tons of sense). Others have been caught by the family glitch that shuts spouses and children out of subsidies as long as the primary earner in the family has access to affordable coverage for themselves. And some probably could afford insurance, but weighing the cost, they've decided to take their chances going without it.

For all these folks, all health-care costs are out-of-pocket costs. Many of them rely on the emergency room as their primary source of care, since ERs must treat all patients regardless of their ability to pay. However, that doesn't stop them from sending a bill — and it'll be a big one, since the ER is just about the most expensive place possible to get treatment.

So, for anything that isn't a true emergency, it makes much more sense to look for other alternatives first. There are many cheaper sources of care for people without insurance, including free and low-cost health clinics, retail clinics, direct primary care, telemedicine, and urgent care centers. And these folks can sometimes lower their bills still more through medical discount plans, health-care sharing ministries, or clinical trials.

Yes, our health-care system remains broken. But until we can find a way to fix it, at least you can try to avoid letting it break you.

How to Get Affordable Medical Care Without Health Insurance

Money Crashers: Four new articles

Four more of my articles have just popped up on Money Crashers. They're not particularly connected to ecofrugality, but they might have some interest to some of you.

The first piece is for you if you've never had a 401(k) plan — or if you have one but don't really understand how it works. It explains the tax benefits of a 401(k), its limitations, and the advantages and disadvantages of using it for your investments. (Spoiler: Yes, you should definitely invest some money in a 401(k) if you have one, and no, you definitely shouldn't do all your investing this way.)

What Is a 401(k) Plan and How Does It Work? – Limits, Rules & Benefits

The second piece is about something pretty much everyone has these days: a credit report. And if you have a credit report, you could have errors on it that you don't know about. In a In a 2012 study, about 1 out of 4 Americans found inaccuracies on their credit report that could affect their credit scores. Luckily, most of the affected consumers were able to correct the errors and improve their scores as a result. Here's what you need to know about how credit report errors occur, how they can hurt you, and how to fix them.

How to Fix Errors on Your Credit Report for Free

Many families look to health care sharing ministries (HCSMs), such as Medi-Share, as an affordable alternative to traditional health insurance. HCSMs work on the same principle as insurance, collecting premiums ("shares") from all members and using the money to pay for the health care costs of those who need help. But make no mistake: HCSMs aren't insurance, and they don't offer the same benefits. This piece explores how HCSMs work, what they cost, how they differ from a regular insurance plan, their pros and cons, and when they can be worthwhile. (Spoiler alert: if there's any way at all you can afford a real insurance policy, choose that instead.)

Health Care Sharing Ministries: A Good Alternative to Health Insurance?

And now for something completely different: Academy Award parties. Many movie lovers delight in throwing Hollywood-style Oscar night parties, complete with real red carpets, signature cocktails, and lavish swag bags for guests. But what if you don't happen to have a Hollywood-style budget? No worries: just substitute planning and creativity for money. This article explains how to plan a truly fabulous Oscar extravaganza on a budget, including Oscar-worthy invitations, glam decorations, red-carpet attire, fabulous food and drink, award-related party games, and your own fabulous swag bags.

How to Throw an Oscar Viewing Party on a Budget  

Money Crashers: 6 Health Insurance Options If You’re Self-Employed

It's now been over 15 years since I first left my job to become a freelancer. It was an uncharacteristically daring move on my part, since freelancing meant an uncertain income and, more seriously still, no benefits — particularly health insurance. I think the only reason I had the nerve to do it when I did was that Brian and I had just become engaged, so I knew I'd soon be able to get health insurance through his job. I just had to sign up for pricey but short-lived COBRA coverage to see myself through the few months before the wedding.

Today, freelancers have a much wider array of options. Instead of having to pay through the nose for COBRA, freelancers can buy a policy on their state healthcare exchange. This is significantly cheaper even at full price, and cheaper still for those with low enough income to qualify for an ACA subsidy.

However, with Obamacare perpetually under siege, first from Congress and now from the courts, it's unclear how much longer freelancers will have this option. And even if it remains available, there's no guarantee it's the best or cheapest way to get coverage.

So if you're a freelancer, it makes sense to learn about all your options. In my latest Money Crashers article, I cover all the different ways freelancers have of finding health care coverage, including Medicaid (for low-income freelancers), Medicare (for those over 65), coverage on a family member's plan, and coverage through organizations. I also discuss the possibility of getting a part-time job that provides benefits.

6 Health Insurance Options If You’re Self-Employed

Money Crashers: How to Survive a Job Without Benefits

When I decided to quit my full-time job and become a freelancer, one thing that made it an easy call was that Brian and I had just become engaged. Within a few months, I knew, I'd be able to rely on his job for health insurance, so I wouldn't have to pony up for an individual policy—which, in the days before Obamacare subsidies, could be hugely expensive, particularly in New Jersey.

However, many Americans don't have that luxury—and their numbers are growing. According to a 2018 NPR/Marist poll, over 30% of all Americans who work full-time say their job doesn't provide health insurance. Retirement plans are even less common: 40% of full-time workers say their job doesn't provide one. And of course, all of us in the gig economy are on our own when it comes to vacation days and sick days. On the plus side, we can take time off whenever we want—we just have to go without pay to do it.

If you're in this position, my new Money Crashers article is for you. It provides info for freelancers and anyone else who doesn't get workplace benefits about how to supply your own health insurance, retirement funds, sick leave, and vacation leave. And if you're not in this position, you might want to check out the article anyway; the way the economy is changing right now, you could need this information soon.

How to Survive a Job Without Benefits: DIY Health Insurance, Retirement & Vacation