Rebates on Home Healthcare Products
Taking care of another person, even someone you love, can be stressful on your emotions, your body, and your (or the other person’s) pocketbook. Even if you have great insurance for medicine, the cost of incidentals - everything from blood pressure monitors to incontinence products - adds up.
Drugstores and grocery stores sometimes offer one-check rebates on these products, but such rebates provide reduced costs only on single purchases and only on things bought at a particular store. In contrast, The Caregivers Marketplace, owned by healthcare marketing company Hamacher Resource Group, works with manufacturers and retailers (such as Kmart) to offer regular rebates to people who buy products for aging or ailing dependents. Free online enrollment (here) allows caregivers to submit receipts for eligible products purchased at any store. Rebate amounts range from $0.25 to $20.00 per product, but most are $1.00. The number of rebates per person per product and per person is unlimited (unless you’re claiming you’ve purchased more than you could possibly use), but you have to purchase at least five products before you can submit receipts. The organization also sends members a newsletter about issues that face caregivers.
Though the program is marketed toward those who care for aging relatives and the rebate form asks what illness the person for whom you are caring has, rebate eligibility is not limited to those caring for someone else. Many of the products are mobility or home diagnostic products, but others are products anyone might use - Nature Made vitamins and Cottonelle wipes, for example. The Caregivers Marketplace came to my attention when rebates for diapers became available. (Unfortunately, they’re for Huggies diapers, a brand our family doesn’t use.)
I confess I haven’t tried the program. I don’t have enough receipts to submit. However, I could not find any complaints about it from those who do use it. If you buy a lot of non-medicinal healthcare products, check out their list of items on rebate - it may be worth your time.
Image courtesy of sstrudeau
