Hernando Reporter

• Most Americans who get health insurance through their employer have an annual deductible.
• You can save money during the last few months of the year by taking advantage of your health insurance if you've already met your deductible.
• Most health insurance plans cover allergy testing and treatment.

While many people save money by shopping on Black Friday, another way to save money this holiday season is by making the most of your health insurance, if you've already met your deductible. Dr. Mariah Pate of Tampa Bay Breathe Free Sinus & Allergy Centers said that people who want to get allergy testing done have multiple options.

"Everyone thinks testing is this terrible procedure (with) hundreds of things on the back," Pate told the Hernando Reporter. "There's a couple of different ways to do allergy testing. The first is the skin test. It's become much more specific over the years -- a couple of scratches and pokes on the arm to see what people are allergic to. Another option is to do a blood test, which picks up allergen reactivity in the blood. It will depend on the patient and which test they're the best candidate for."

Dr. Mariah Pate | Tampa Bay Breathe Free

Eighty-five percent of American workers who had health insurance coverage through their employer in 2021 had a general annual deductible for single coverage that they needed to meet before the plan paid for most health services, according to the 23rd Employer Health Benefits Survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation. For workers employed by small companies, the average single coverage deductible was $2,379. Workers employed by large firms had an average deductible of $1,397.

Once your deductible has been met, Stamford Heath recommends making the most of your health insurance coverage and saving money by scheduling appointments and testing before the end of the year. Recommendations include getting your annual physical and refilling prescriptions. People over 45 can get a colonoscopy, and women over 40 can get a mammogram. Stamford Health also recommends taking care of lab work or other diagnostic testing.

Most insurance plans cover allergy testing and treatment, so once your deductible has been met, costs for allergy tests and treatments could be very low or even zero, according to Family Allergy. Winter is the perfect time to prepare for spring allergies. If you discover you have allergies at the end of the year and your allergist recommends shots for treatment, you can begin them before your deductible resets, which will save you money, in addition to beginning to build up your body's defenses against spring allergens.

If you're interested in learning more about diagnosis or treatment of allergies, please take this Sinus Self-Assessment Quiz.