Bulletin
HEALTH
1 Free yoga. Yoga
provides many benefits
for people over 50. New-bies can try a free week of
classes in September and
October. To find a participating studio near you,
visit yogamonth.org/yoga
monthcard/.
sion protection and better
lubricants are helping
to keep many drivers
behind the same wheel for
250,000 miles or more.
2 Members only? Not
when it comes to buy-
ing pharmaceuticals at
low-price warehouse clubs
Costco and Sam’s Club.
They fill prescriptions for
anyone.
13 Cheapest to insure.
Buy a minivan, pickup truck
or SUV and you’ll likely save
on car insurance. All of the
20 least expensive vehicles
to insure in 2012 are one
of these types, according
to Insure.com. Expensive
sedans from Audi and
Mercedes had the highest
insurance costs.
3 Find health care. No
health insurance? Go to
findahealthcenter.hrsa
.gov to locate a federally
funded health center that
provides medical and dental care with sliding-scale
fees based on your ability
to pay.
4 Eye care. If you’re 65 or
older, you may qualify to
have a volunteer ophthalmologist perform a
comprehensive medical
eye exam and provide up
to one year of care at no
out-of-pocket cost. Visit
EyeCareAmerica.org.
6 No copay. The health
care law provides for free
preventive tests by participating Medicare providers. Included are wellness
visits, mammograms,
colorectal cancer screenings, bone density scans,
Pap smears and other
tests. Check with your
Medicare-participating
doctor. Search for the official handbook Medicare &
You, which provides details
on tests.
CARS
8 Over-oiled. Getting an
oil change every 3,000
miles is so 20th century.
Newer models use synthetic oils that last 7,500
miles or more. Go to check
yournumber.org for the
recommended oil change
interval for 2000 models
or newer.
10 Choosing colors. Cars
that are black, white or
silver can fetch about $300
more in trade-in compared
with similar models in
red, blue, green or yellow.
(Those three colors—black,
white or silver—are also
preferred by car thieves.)
14 Fuel saver. When
you’re running errands,
drive to the farthest destination first so your car can
warm up for maximum fuel
efficiency. Starting with
closer stops hurts your gas
mileage.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ELWOOD SMITH
5 Dental checkup. Treat-
ing common problems like
toothaches at an E. R. can
cost 10 times more than
preventive care. Contact
a local dental school
or nidcr.nih.gov/ to get
information about free or
low-cost care.
7 Join a clinical trial.
You may get free medical
care, often at top facilities,
and possibly access to
experimental treatments.
There are risks, of course,
and participation may take
months. If you’re interested, go to clinicaltrials.gov.
9 Battery buster. Summer’s heat, not winter’s
cold, is the leading cause
of car battery failure. To
minimize problems, clean
corrosion from terminals,
tighten cable connections
and add distilled water, if
necessary, to “unsealed”
batteries. Get your battery
tested if it’s older than
four years.
11 Inflate and save. In
warm weather, tires can
lose air at a faster rate,
reducing gas mileage by up
to 4 percent. It’s best to
keep them inflated to the
manufacturer’s recommended pressure.
15 Maximize gas rewards. Grocery chains
like Safeway, Kroger and
Winn-Dixie offer gasoline
rewards programs. Get
friends and family to share
the card so points pile up
faster.
16 Cost estimator.
Repairpal.com gives free
quotes for car repairs
based on surveys of thousands of shops.
12 Don’t trade too soon.
The rule of thumb for trading in a car for a new model
used to be 60,000 miles.
But cars are better made
today. Competition among
manufacturers, anticorro-
17 Complaint Dept.
To learn what owners say
about problems and
repair costs for particular
car models, go to car
complaints.com.
