You’ve no doubt heard it a million times: it pays to shop around.
It’s great advice, whether you’re looking to spend a few dollars or wanting to purchase big ticket items. From clothes to jewellery, cars to electrical goods, beauty, technology, accommodation, sporting equipment and airfares, you can save yourself money by taking the time to shop around, get quotes, or ask for a better price.
But what you may never have thought of (because I know that we certainly hadn’t), is that it also pays to shop around for your medical specialist.
Newsflash: You Can Choose Your Specialist!
The standard procedure for seeing a specialist is to visit your GP first, who will then provide you with a referral to a relevant specialist. Usually it’s somebody they have worked with, or referred clients to before.
If it is an urgent matter, they may ring around specialists while you are still there to try and get the earliest appointment possible.
And that’s it. You get your referral and dutifully trot off to the specialist chosen by your doctor.
But did you know there can be a vast difference in price?
Recently, the hubster needed a procedure to remove a skin cancer, which required a skin graft. He was referred to a specialist, and the quote came back at $4500.
Needless to say we were quite shocked, because this particular procedure did not even require an overnight stay! This was simply the cost of the surgeon, the anaesthetist, and the use of the operating rooms.
So the hubster phoned a couple of specialists recommended by friends – and came back with a quote which saved us over a thousand dollars. That’s a lot of money in anyone’s book!
All it took was a phone call to the GP to explain the situation, and he was given a referral to the specialist with the best price.
We saved over $1000 for the price of a couple of phone calls.
It just goes to show, it pays to shop around – even when it comes to your medical treatment and care!
Did you know you could shop around for a specialist?!