Old-fashioned bartering helps pare medical bills
— -- Cash, check or a cord of wood for that doctor visit? As health care costs climb, old-fashioned bartering has seen brisk growth since the economy soured.
Hillsborough, N.J.-resident Robert Josefs traded his website designing skills for nearly $1,000 in dental work last year when he had no insurance, and many other patients are learning that health care debts don't always have to be settled with sometimes-precious cash.
Health care bartering has risen dramatically since the recession began, as people lose their health insurance and consumer spending drops, said Allen Zimmelman, a spokesman for the Bellevue, Wash.-based trade exchange ITEX.
ITEX has seen its health care business rise 45% over the past year. The exchange, which has 24,000 members, now fosters about $1 million a month in health care bartering.
The website Craigslist says overall bartering posts have more than doubled over the past year as the recession took hold.
People who barter for health care say the practice allows them to stretch their resources or receive care they couldn't afford. But bartering can be tricky, and not every health care provider will consider it.
Some doctors are open to bartering directly with patients. Others do their trading through an exchange like ITEX.
These exchanges allow people to trade goods and services with other exchange members generally for barter dollars. They can then use those dollars to pay a health care provider who also belongs to the exchange.
There are about 400 exchanges in the United States, Zimmelman said. The website barternews.com offers state-by-state listings.
These exchanges charge membership and transaction fees, and they also help members deal with tax implications of bartering. Hotel rooms, restaurant meals and services like plumbing are among the more popular items traded.
Direct bartering depends on the patient having a service or good the doctor needs. That's a wide range at The Barter Clinic on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Floyd, Va.
