How to Talk About Your Medical Bill

It can take time and research to figure out how to pay a medical bill. Your choices may also depend on your insurance company, how much money you have, where you live, and who gave you medical care.

In the end, your success will depend on your unique situation as well as how persistent you are and how well you can negotiate. Here are some ideas for what you can do:

Ask for a bill that lists each item. One of the first things to do is ask the health care provider for a bill that shows each charge. It should list everything that you are being charged for, with amounts and codes for each line. Check the bill for mistakes, like charges for services or medicines you didn’t get or for the same thing more than once.

Read through the list of benefits (EOB). An EOB could come from your insurance company. Even though it’s not a bill, you can look for differences between it and your itemized bill. If your insurance should have paid for part of your bill but didn’t, you should talk to your insurance company about it.

Look into financial assistance policies. Low-income patients may be able to get financial help from hospitals, clinics, and other medical service providers. Some states even require hospitals, whether they make money or not, to have financial aid programs. But you might need to ask if they are free. The National Consumer Law Center has written a guide to help people with less money pay their medical bills.

Call the provider to find out what your choices are. Even if there are no mistakes, you can still call the provider to talk about your bill. You can ask if there are any waivers, hardship or relief programs, or if you can get a discount if you pay the full amount or a down payment quickly. Some providers may also offer low-interest or interest-free payment plans.

If you don’t feel comfortable negotiating on your own, there are companies and people who will look at your bills and do the negotiating for you. But there may be a one-time fee or a fee based on how much you save, or both. Ask your employer or union representative if they can help you negotiate your medical bills. Sometimes this is possible.

Even though the negotiation process can be complicated, you can rest assured that a short delay won’t hurt your credit, even if the bill is sent to collections.

Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, which are the three biggest consumer credit bureaus, don’t put unpaid medical bills on your credit report until at least 180 days have passed since the bill was due. Even though paid collection accounts can still show up on credit reports, medical collection accounts that were paid by an insurance company will be taken off by the bureaus.

Read More: Read More: https://ajustsolutions.com/5-things-to-remember-as-you-negotiate-medical-bills/