The Affairs Organizer Blog

Today’s Wall Street Journal article “Digging Out of Medical Debt” by Stacey Bradford offers good advice to ease the pain of medical bills via “avenues every financially-struggling patient should pursue”.  Here’s a summary:

(1) Check for Errors – the nonprofit agency Medical Billing Advocates of America estimates 90% of the thousands of inpatient hospital bills contain costly mistakes. “One of the most common problems is duplicate billing of services under different descriptions.”

(2) Stay on Top of the Insurance Company – make sure the insurance plan is paying its share. “If there is a dispute between a doctor and a health plan, the physician will eventually just bill the patient … find out if any bills aren’t getting paid and what the issue is, such as wrong billing code, and try to get it resolved as quickly as possible.”

(3) Negotiate – medical care is negotiable, especially “for patients who are paying out-of-pocket for services because they either don’t have insurance or have a high deductible health plan … physicians and hospitals don’t want to get stuck with unpaid bills so they often grant discounts to those who pay before they leave the office … when haggling with a hospital, ask for the rate Medicare pays, which could be 50% less than the full price.”

(4) Ask for Help – many hospitals have government funds to help patients who can’t afford their medical care. “To find out what help you might be eligible for, ask your doctor for information or contact a hospital’s financial counselor … there are many independent nonprofits that will provide financial assistance.” resource: http://www.patientadvocate.org/index.php

(5) Ask for a Payment Plan – “not only will the debt go unreported to the credit bureaus, but medical facilities also typically don’t charge interest, says Rod Griffin, a spokesman for credit bureau Experian. “

(6) Deal With Collections Agencies – “Hospitals are getting more aggressive about sending unpaid bills to collection … Even if (not) a mistake, you don’t necessarily have to pay the entire bill. Like doctors, collection agencies are often willing to negotiate.”