How to Save Money on Your Medical Bills

[jcarpenter]

Like most people, I’d prefer to save money on medical bills by not having them. Unfortunately, that’s not always possible. If there’s one thing I can guarantee you, it’s that there’s no guarantees. One morning, I’m taking a guided tour of the Hoover Dam and eating out in Las Vegas with my family. After night falls, I’m at the ER with who knows what.

It felt like a bad episode of a TV show where the doctor comes into the room, nonchalantly tells me that there is something terribly wrong with me and he can’t figure out what it is. He’ll try to save my life, but there are no guarantees. Talk about a sucker punch to the belly! One moment, I’m shopping for souvenirs and the next I’m dying?

Well, thanks to God above, the doctor didn’t kill me that night. Although secretly, I was wondering if he was trying. The cost of one night in the Critical Care ER Unit? $20,000 - Ouch. I’m not sure which was more shocking - the feeling of impending doom or the medical bill when it arrived in the mail.

According to my insurance, you have to be pre-approved to be admitted to the hospital. I can tell you that calling the insurance company was the farthest thing from my mind! So how can you save money? The most important way is to find out the “rules” of your insurance company,, before something happens.

Do you have a network of doctors? What is the cost to see a doctor in the network? How much for a doctor that is out of the network? How much is the deductible and if you go to an in-network doctor, does the deductible apply? It’s also very important to see if you need preauthorization for services or Emergency Room care.

Knowledge is your weapon for saving money. When you know the rules, you can navigate your medical bills to your advantage. I definitely won’t rule out telling my husband he has to wait until January to get pregnant with our next child so I’ll have all the medical bills in a single year (although he would probably have something to say about that).

After you get all the info, remember that when you go to a hospital - or sometimes even urgent cares, there will be more than one bill. You’ll get a bill from the lab, the doctor, the hospital, the woman you threw up on. They all want money. And just because the hospital is a ‘participating provider’ doesn’t mean that the lab or the doctor is. So be aware of this when you are scheduling appointments.

If you find yourself in a situation like I was (and I pray you never are), then you will probably be at the mercy of your insurance company. Call your insurance company and talk to them, if they can’t help you over the phone, you can write a letter. Ask how you can file an appeal, it’s basically a letter protesting their decision to deny or reduce your benefits. After all, if you are seriously ill, and were somehow able to get to a hospital that is in your network, how are you to know that the doctor you seen was not in your network?

. There’s been several times when our insurance company denied our claim for no apparent reason. Most of the time they say the doctor was “out of network” when in fact, it was on their website that the doctor was a member of their network.

In these instances, a simple letter with your claim number, date of service, name and address, along with a description of the error that occurred, will often get the medical bill paid by the insurance company instead of you. A letter will take less than ten minutes of your time and it will be well worth the effort. I’ve saved thousands of dollars simply by checking for errors and appealing any that I find.

There‘s also the option of paying by cash. I have some friends who were given 70% off the cost of having a baby just because they were having trouble with their insurance company and they paid cash instead. It never hurts to ask doctors in advance if they offer any discounts for paying with cash. You could also go to their office after the fact, like my friends did, to work out payment terms.

If you are having a service performed, you can save hundreds by shopping around. It’s no different than car insurance, you’ll call ten dentists and get ten different prices. You can save hundreds of dollars just by checking prices. That being said, I wouldn’t just pick a dentist (or any doctor) just based on how much he charges, you do want to be taken care of properly. When I check prices, I check the dentist as well.

Those are the best ways I’ve found to save our money on medical bills. I’ve saved the most by checking our bills for errors. And if you’re wondering if we had to pay the entire $20,000, we didn’t. But I did learn a $20,000 lesson - everything can change in a moment, so it’s best to make the most of the one you are in.

[makingchristian]

I saw a urologist (sorry if that's TMI) about 1 1/2 years ago. I paid him off after getting a bill from him 6 months after originally seeing him. Now, a year after paying off the bill, they sent me a new bill for over $400! What? I didn't see that one coming. In this instance it isn't the insurance company's fault, it's the doctor's! And I am going to write a letter if they contact me again. I think your suggestion of writing is wise, as it creates a paper trail. Thanks for the advice. And I never thought of calling around to compare charges for different medical services. Hmm. Pretty smart!

[Gary Barzel]

There‘s also the option of paying by cash. I have some friends who were given 70% off the cost of having a baby just because they were having trouble with their insurance company and they paid cash instead. It never hurts to ask doctors in advance if they offer any discounts for paying with cash..

You can also speak to your doctor and explain him your financial situation. A lot of times they will work with you and set up a payment plan to let you pay in installments.