Comments on: Negotiating Your Medical Bills

By: Beth

Beth — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 19:14:40 +0000

My husband is uninsured and was recently rushed to the ER. He was in the hospital from 6-25-0 to 6-27-09. He was supposed to be in ICU,but they had no beds. He spent from 9:30 PM on 6-26 to late afternoon in the ER. I went and got an itemized bill and the first thing I saw was that they charged $562.00 for acetaminophen. Also when I asked what was cheaper the ER or the ICU, I did not get a direct answer. I was told that my husband would get the same care as if he was in the ICU and there would be no additional charge. They sent down a nurse from the ICU the first night and they charged me all most $1,500.00 for her services. Also on 6-26, an intern messed up his ventilator and my husband was not getting enough air. Because he was strapped to the bed, he was unable to let any one know about the problem. No one came to check on him for two hours. Two hours that he said fe felt like he was drowning. I feel that their is gross negligence there.

There are lump sum amounts for pharmacy (however most of the drugs are itemized) and a lump sum for supplies. Pharmacy charges are over $2,000.00 and supplies are all most $2,00.00

Also, the paramedics did not pass on the correct information about what was wrong with him and they never came out and asked me about it. There for there were procedures done that did not need to be done.

Our total bill is all most $27,00.00 dollars. My husband is also unemployed at the moment and all we have is a modest saving account and a couple of small IRA.

I have done a lot of research about getting help, getting medical records and going over them with the billing office and medical records records dept.

If any one knows of any place that might give me more information (especially about what the billing codes mean) i would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you

By: DR DAS, MD

DR DAS, MD — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:26:10 +0000

I am in Chicago, 773-262-9700

By: ALAN

ALAN — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:40:07 +0000

A few years back my wife needed some high dollar dental work. She went to one of those Medical Building full of Doctors of all kind. You know the type, wood paneling, fancy chairs. She left with a quote of the needed services. I then called and faxed a few other dentists in the area, who were not located in such plush areas. One replied back with a bid for the work and saved us over %2500. He was great, took our cash at each visit and got the job done well. He was located in a rougher area in an old house. His waiting room was somewhat like a jail cell, but for that kind of money it was OK.

Last year I found a bargain on some 8ft tall bookcases ($5 at a State Surplus Sale) that I wanted to donate to a school. As I was unloading, I fell out of the back of the U Haul. Flat out on the hard pavement where I really racked up my back and neck.
I went for chiropractic services that was cheap and did a great job. He allowed me to decide when I felt I needed to come in for a visit, instead of telling me I had to be there 3 times a week. But again, with no insurance all visits came out of my pocket. I made him an offer he could not refuse. I paid for 10 visits upfront using a credit card and he gave me a 20% discount. So it went from $400 down to $320 and we were both happy. I saved 80 bucks and he had cold hard cash up to 60 days before he preformed the service.

My heart Doc is a great guy and helps direct me toward cheaper services. Up to even telling me NOT to go to the Hospital that he has invested in, because they charge more than another place. He has made me a deal, if I will pay by Credit Card at each visit, he will only charge me HALF. We discuss each test and we decide if it is worth the cost and why.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:23:15 +0000

Hi
Where are you?? Thank You from every one you help! I just wonder how hard it is to find a Dr. like you? Do you have a directory of Drs that are like you?
Thank You
Debbie

By: saladdin

saladdin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:12:52 +0000

Thanks for that.

saladdin

By: jennifer

jennifer — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:44:32 +0000

I found out that you could negotiate your rates when I was unfortunate enough to have the same procedure 2x in about a month in the SAME hospital, just a different wing–SAME doctor. When I went in the first time, the out of pocket cost was around $200, When I went in the next time, they asked for $600. I was so doped up, I just stared at the check in lady and said ‘What? Why? I just did this a few weeks ago and it was $200′ She went somewhere and came back and asked me if I was unable to make the payment? I told her I just couldn’t understand why I was paying double. (being dopey really helped with this!) She asked me how $465 sounded. Is that not just crazy? How did it sound? Well I took it and then when I felt better I dealt with the discrepency and got the difference refunded. Apparently the hospital rarely (as in 1% of cases) gets payments in full, so they are just happy to get paid at all. I read an article AFTER my surgeries that said you can negotiate–better late than never!

By: carla

carla — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:29:48 +0000

There needs to be a blog specifically dealing with health insurance. Though I have insurance through my employer, my out of pockets costs are still pretty high (”serious illness”) and I’m always on the phone with the companies to work something out.

There has to be a better way!

By: SarahJane

SarahJane — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:41:37 +0000

You might actually want to read your insurance contract (if you have one). Your insurer may NOT have negotiated payment at all and may already have warned you that they will pay only a percentage of the medicare rate. And therefore, your doctor is being underpaid NOT overcharging – don’t be afraid to negotiate but realize that the doctor does need to be able to pay her bills.

Also, don’t be afraid to appeal claim denials that you feel are unfair. It may only take a short letter requesting a medical review of your situation. Insurers have been known to deny claims based on UCR or medical necessity just because they think the consumer won’t complain.

Full disclosure: I am a state health insurance regulator. I read health insurance policies to ensure compliance with state laws.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:31:30 +0000

Brandon, you may be entitled to the insurance company’s rate even if you’ve exhausted your benefits, so your chiropractor may be contractually obligated to offer that rate, rather than just being nice. Or he might be nice. Either way, it’s a good outcome for you.

By: CK

CK — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:40:33 +0000

If you offer your Dr. the Medicare rate they may laugh at you or punch you in the nose. The Medicare reimbursement rates are ridiculously low, hence many Docs don’t take Medicare or at least won’t take new patients on Medicare.

By: DR DAS, MD

DR DAS, MD — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:33:12 +0000

I am an MD doing family practice for the last 20 yrs. Evening hours, no appointment necessary, no insurance needed, and its only cost you $15 (YES $15) for visit, and I have a full house, not a rich doctor, but no hassels and I am very happy, all my patients follows my instructions carefully, no-one looses a paper to come back to duplicate, and I do not recv any calls from any third party insurance. So at the end of the day all my payments are 100% and tomorrow is a new day….Dr Das, MD

By: Brad Harbach

Brad Harbach — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:23:46 +0000

One tip for those who have recently lost their job or suspect there is potential that they could lose their job in the near future: Go complete all of your FREE preventative treatments that your current insurance plan allows for and take care of any major problems that could require expensive surgery now in case you should find yourself jobless and without insurance in a few months.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:19:41 +0000

We have insurance, but our chiropractic coverage is limited to a certain amount of appointments per year. If we run out of appointments, he will still give us the post-insurance rate and write off the rest. That is very nice.