|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
| |
Cutting Your Medical Bills When You Have No Insurance
According to the latest government census, there are 47 million Americans without health insurance. This number doesn’t even take into account those with limited health insurance. So while politicians tell us to be more active in our health care decisions and costs, in reality that is not so easy.
Pre-plan
While there are some emergency costs you can’t plan for, the majority of health care costs you can plan for in some format. The most important pre-planning you can do is to educate yourself on the procedures and costs. When a doctor recommends a course of action or procedure ask how much it will cost. Even more importantly ask about associated costs. Doctors, lab and hospital fees are all separate and need to be addressed individually.
If a costly procedure has been recommended, don’t be afraid to get a second opinion. Even if the second doctor still recommends the procedure, his fees or affiliated hospital fees could be less.
Negotiate
Pre-planning helps with negotiation too. The earlier you start negotiating the better. If you can pay the entire bill upfront, that will get you the best deal. Doctors and hospitals typically have to wait months before they get paid through insurance so if you can pay upfront, ask for a cash discount of at least 20%. If you can’t pay upfront ask for the self-pay prices and a payment plan.
Double check and Investigate
If you already have medical bills you are struggling to pay, double check them for accuracy. Since 9 out of 10 bills have some kind of mistake this is very important. Ask for a bill that includes all the CPT codes not just a summary of charges. Once you have the CPT codes, you can see what the average cost of that code is by visiting: https://catalog.ama-assn.org/Catalog/cpt/cpt_search.jsp a site maintained by the American Medical Association.
If you find errors or overcharges call and appeal your case. If all of this seems overwhelming and confusing, you can hire a billing advocate to help you. They have hourly rates or fees based on a percentage of what is recovered for you.
|
|
|
