Most of us do not check our health care bills too carefully. We do as we are told by the doctors and hospitals and pay our insurance deductibles and copays largely without questioning the bills. It can be difficult to make sense of the bills, let alone to figure out if a health care bill is correct.
Bram Sable-Smith reports for Kaiser Health News on a billing expert who saved her family a lot of money by questioning her husband, Dr. Bhavin Shah’s, medical bill. The hospital charged Shah more than $3,000 out of pocket. It took more than a year for the hospital to recognize that the procedure it claimed to have performed had never been performed and correct its bill. It could afford to delay as it pays no penalty for billing errors. During the hospital’s extended bill review time, Shah’s bill was sent to debt collections.
Here’s what you can do to ensure you are not overpaying for your medical care in hospital
- When you receive a bill, immediately call the hospital and ask for an explanation of all the charges. Make sure that the bill is itemized, with standardized billing codes.
- Focus on the services with the biggest charges and compare the charges for those billing codes with charges for the same billing codes at other hospitals in your area. All hospitals are required to disclose this information. You can visit fairhealthconsumer.org for information on typical hospital charges in your area. You can also check Medicare’s online tool. You should be able to see whether your bill is comparable to bills at other hospitals or completely out of line.
- If your hospital charges a lot more than other hospitals, contact the hospital and challenge its charges. Also, complain to your health insurer. Or, if that doesn’t work, complain to your state attorney general’s office.
- Ask for your medical records. You might find that the medical records do not show evidence of services for which you were billed.
- To protect your credit score and avoid more hassle, ask the hospital to hold off sending the bill to a debt collector while it is being disputed.
And, if your income is low, keep in mind that non-profit hospitals are required to offer some charity care.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Hospitals find a lot wrong with Medicare Advantage
- Coronavirus: Biden administration fails to disclose hospital bad actors
- One in four people with Medicare harmed in hospital
- Medicare hospital star-ratings are a farce
- Seven things to do before you or someone you love leaves the hospital
