Ignoring your bills is not the safest tactic. Still many medical bills get to the point of collections.
Whether you just received the first bill, or you’re on the verge of being sent to collections, settling medical debt requires planning. However, with a little communication, some inquiry and negotiation, that large medical bill can be well on its way to settlement. These steps will help you mange any large medical debt you incur. Remember, your bill or statement should provide a number to call if you have questions. Find that number - it’s a great place to start.
Step One: Check Your Bill!
Errors, more errors and inflated prices! By now most people are aware that medical bills contain errors.
Unfortunately, you cannot tell if your bill contains errors by looking at the billing summary or statement. Call the provider billing office and ask for an itemized bill, a copy of your medical chart and pharmacy ledger (shows medications you were given while in a facility) to compare the charges. It may sound like a lot of work, but it could save you a lot of money if there are errors.
- Look for repeated charges. Double check to make sure there are no charges resulting from hospital/facility error (such as a repeated x-ray).
- Look for services and supplies charged to you that you did not receive. Many treatments have “usual and customary” charges, but that doesn’t mean that your case required them all.
- Be aware that amounts like $20 for an aspirin may not be errors, rather just the inflated price of healthcare. Still, it never hurts to ask.
Step Two: Negotiate, Especially If You Are Uninsured
Hospitals and facilities want to receive payment for their services quickly, so try negotiating. First, ask the hospital billing office if they will reduce your bill (to the Medicare rate or their lowest negotiated rate), or simply make them an offer you can afford. If you can’t afford to pay the full amount, ask to pay in regular monthly installments. If the hospital/facility is unwilling to negotiate, ask about assistance programs. Most facilities have patient advocates to help individuals qualify for charitable or discounted care, or in some cases, even government assistance. This is a hidden gem that most facilities don’t promote.
Step Three: Consider Your Options
Medical debt is often considered “unsecured” or forgivable. Credit cards are considered “secured.” Financial experts know medical bills can be negotiated down. Credit card debt cannot. Once you make the decision to borrow money to cover medical debt, it is no longer “forgivable.” Be sure that you can repay the borrowed debt, otherwise it may have a more profound impact on your credit rating than medical debt. For that reason, be cautious when placing medical debt on a credit card, prioritize your bills and make sure you fully understand your options for making payments.
Step Four: Get Your Settlement in Writing
Before you make any payments, get the agreement in writing. Have their business office fax, e-mail or mail a signed statement of the agreed upon settlement. A verbal commitment from a phone conversation will be difficult to prove if you are ever asked for more money, so have a copy of all the documents on hand. Once you have the agreement in writing you are ready to pay.
All the information on pharmaceutical patient assistance programs plus hundreds of other programs is available for free at http://www.needymeds.com. Each workday over 9,500 people visit our site. We have all the applications on the website.
Our information is ease to access, updated regularly, and free. We gather no information about our users.
You don’t have to pay to apply to these programs. Most are easy to apply to and respond quickly.
Rich Sagall, MD
President
NeedyMeds.com, Inc.
P.O. Box 219
Gloucester, MA 01931
richsagall@needymeds.com
The solution is to charge everyone the same price for the same service and give everyone price transperancy. It is a canard to assume that patients are really able to negotiate with hospitals though and in fact many of the new Health 2.0 companies like Athena health market themselves as being able to collect twice as fast. Many if not all hospitals will quickly send your bills to collection and once it is there you have NO ability to negotiate.
If you are low income most hospitals will have a program to help you with the bills but they often don’t tell you about it until it is too late. Even though your event happens in one hospital is is mind boggling how many different bills you receive. radiology, radiologist, physician, hospital, etc. They should send ONE bill.
I couldn’t agree more about sending ONE bill. But even if facilities, doctors and hospitals agreed to this, there is still no guarantee that confusions would be resolved. Most facilities that send one comprehensive bill still only send an overview. To get any detailed information, you often have to make the effort and call the billing department to request an itemized bill to see what you are being charged for. On top of that most explanations of benefit (EOBs) only list “medical services” which isn’t very helpful either.
As far as negotiating is concerned, Jennifer I do not agree with you. On the patient side, it is all about making an effort. If you ignore your bills, then yes - the hospital is going to send you to collections. We cannot forget that hospitals are a business, just like any other, trying to make money (whether that’s right or wrong is another story)!
However, if you call the hospital and attempt to negotiate your bill, they are often willing to work with you. Some facilities, due to insurance contractual agreements, cannot negotiated down the patient’s balance… that DOES NOT mean you have no ability to negotiate. Most hospitals just want to get paid and are therefore more than willing to set up payment terms. Many will provide you with a monthly payment agreement that has a really low monthly payment amount and zero interest.
Furthermore, if you are uninsured, you do not have a contract with an insurance company to cover your care. This means that the hospital isn’t legally bound to collect the full balance on the hospital bill from you. Call the billing department and ask for the lowest insurance negotiated rate on the services you received. If they will not give you the lowest insurance rate, ask for an uninsured discount. If they are completely unwilling to negotiate, make sure to ask for information on assistant programs. There is often a charitable fund set up to help cover costs of care and/or government assistance programs.