Consider Your Medical Bills Are Wrong
If you have any doubts about the accuracy of each medical bill you receive, it may be time to be more skeptical.
Only 33% of people surveyed by healthcare payments company Salucro Healthcare Solutions said they were very confident that their hospital or other medical bills were accurate. The aim of the survey was to show how billing and payment issues affect patient loyalty to a particular healthcare provider. But if you’re sick, you’re probably not comparing prices and convenience of payment methods too much – you just want to see a doctor and feel good again. In any case, 47% of the 1,000 people surveyed by the company reported billing or payment problems during their last “health care”.
In terms of confidence in the accuracy of the bills, Vice noted that 33% seems high given the number of people you can find with a simple Internet and social media search struggling with incorrect medical bills. They cited a 2018 Consumer Reports poll that found that two out of three adults with large medical bills reported at least one billing issue, with issues that ranged from improperly high fees to unclear statements and bills coming in. with delay.
Why Your Medical Bill May Be Wrong
At this point, you should be skeptical about almost all of the medical bills you receive. Sarah Cliff, who has thoroughly reviewed medical bills, noted that even if you visit an on- net emergency room , you may not be seen by an on-net doctor, resulting in a sharp increase in your bill. Or you might get double billed, which happens when a healthcare provider tries to charge you for something that your insurance company has already paid for. Or your treatment may be changed: your treatment will be considered a more expensive treatment or procedure. These questions may not be deliberate on the part of a doctor, but it is illegal for a medical provider to send you a bill that is not accurate. According to some studies, the percentage of errors in medical bills is as high as 80% .
What to do if you get a medical bill
Before you start figuring out how you will pay the medical bill that appears in your inbox, do the following:
Check invoice against the Explanation of Benefits (EOB ) first. This is a document that your insurance company sends to you that tells you what the insurance company covers and what costs you will be responsible for. Make sure the date and doctor are the same and the amount matches the patient responsibility line in your EOB.
If there is a mismatch – or perhaps you don’t have insurance, so you don’t have an EOB to compare invoices – you can call the billing department listed on your invoice and ask for a detailed list of fees. If something on this itemized bill does not match the treatment you received, you can dispute the bill.
How to dispute a medical bill
You may need to spend a lot of time on the phone trying to get answers to determine if your invoice was sent in error. But don’t give up until you get the answers you understand.
Before contacting Billing, Cliff recommends checking a database such as Fair Health or Healthcare Bluebook to see what is the normal payment range for the type of service you have received. From there, you can point to certain lines that seem overstated and ask the hospital or doctor’s office to review them. If service levels are on your bill, you can argue that any treatment you think has been updated should be reviewed.
The fact that you received an invoice in the mail does not mean that you have to send the payment immediately, even if it says “Due date” in flashy red text. Don’t save money on health care until you fully understand what your costs mean and why you are responsible for them.