Bills & Access
Deciding what to spend on your health
A rough ranking of where money produces the most health, based on what the evidence actually supports.
Renata Fiore
17 articles by Fiore
Bills & Access
Workplace health benefits people never use
Employees routinely pay for services their employer already provides, because nobody reads the benefits document.
Bills & Access
Choosing between public and private treatment
Paying privately buys speed and choice rather than better outcomes, and the transfer back is where problems arise.
Bills & Access
End-of-life planning and its practical costs
The documents are cheap, the conversations are free, and the absence of both produces the largest costs.
Medication & Pharmacy
Talking to a prescriber about cost
Cost-related non-adherence is common, harmful and almost entirely fixable, and the conversation is the barrier.
Bills & Access
Caring for someone else and what it costs
Unpaid carers absorb an enormous economic burden, and a substantial proportion do not identify as carers or claim anything.
Bills & Access
Medical debt and what to do about it
Medical debt behaves differently from other debt, and the options are wider than the letters suggest.
Food & Budget
Feeding a household on a very tight budget
Practical measures for genuine constraint, including the support that exists and goes unclaimed.
Bills & Access
Travel health without overpaying
Insurance exclusions, vaccination costs and medical repatriation are where the money is, and preparation is cheap.
Bills & Access
Emergency funds and health shocks
The financial risk from illness is mostly about lost income rather than treatment cost, which changes how to prepare.
Food & Budget
Alcohol: the cost in money and health
The health guidance has tightened, the household spending is larger than people estimate, and both respond to the same changes.
Bills & Access
Sick pay, time off and money while ill
The financial consequences of illness are frequently larger than the medical costs, and the entitlements are widely unclaimed.
Bills & Access
Getting an appointment when you cannot get one
Access problems have specific workarounds, and knowing the routes available changes how long you wait.
Medication & Pharmacy
Buying medicines online safely
Legitimate online pharmacies exist and are regulated, and the counterfeit market is large, sophisticated and dangerous.
Bills & Access
Health insurance terms that actually matter
A small number of definitions determine what you will pay, and they are the ones nobody reads before signing.
Dental & Vision
Dental insurance, plans and paying out of pocket
Dental cover works differently from medical insurance, and the annual limits are the detail that matters most.
Bills & Access
Understanding a medical bill
A substantial proportion of medical bills contain errors, and almost nobody checks them before paying.