Health insurance costs are continuing to rise and it is getting more and more difficult to find affordable health insurance these days. However, many of these costs may be unnecessary and perhaps it is time to take a good look at just what we are paying for. For example, it has become common practice for advanced medical scans, such as CT and PET scans, to be carried out almost as a matter of routine and these costly procedures are often having to be carried out, and paid for, not once but twice because many hospitals are using outdated equipment or poorly trained and unqualified technicians. And it is not only the insurance companies who are concerned. Doctors too are increasingly expressing concern at the frequent use of these scanning machines which use radiation at far high doses then we have grown accustomed to and are still wary of in standard chest x-rays. Perhaps the time has come for patients to question whether these expensive diagnostic tests are always necessary. You never know, it could even end up saving you a lot of money on your health insurance.