It Pays to be Persistant

If you read my previous blog, you would have seen how a simple trip to the ER for what turned out to be nothing generated $2398 in bills. If you haven't read it, you can read it below.

Well after a few more phone calls questioning coding and such, I was able to reduce the $2398 down to $728.45 !!! This took a lot of my time and I am sure no insurance company would even question the bills. Most people, after they got the statement showing what their insurance paid, would not question it either. And that is a problem.

I was miscoded, charged for a service that I was told was at no extra charge, and charged for an ER visit that was unnecessary. Only by being proactive and questioning the why of all these charges was I able to get the hospital to eliminate the unnecessary charges and reduce reduce the remaining charges to something more appropriate for the level of treatment I received.

The cost of medical care is out of control. Insurance costs are out of control. And the two are tied together. If hospitals or medical  providers submit the kind of inflated billing that I received, with all the errors, and insurance companies do not or will not challenge them, then the whole system feeds on itself and the consumer pays. Either in higher insurance premiums or higher medical costs.

So, the next time you get a bill from the hospital, call immediately and request a detail billing showing all procedures, services and  supplies, right down to the aspirin and tissues. with all the relevant coding. There are several sites online where you can look up what the codes mean and you can also check to see what the average prices are in your area. You might be very surprised at what you find.