Has anyone ever negotiated a hospital bill?

[Mreader]

My husband had a stent put in. He did not have to stay overnight in the hospital, but was there for a few hours. We have insurance, but our portion has still totaled 6K. I was really shocked. I was wondering if anybody else had something similar happen and if anyone had been able to get a discount on the bill.

I’ll spare the rant about the state of healthcare in the USA…

 

[YadaYadaYada]

I have, but at the time we qualified for financial assistance from the hospital because I wasn’t working. Mind you we did not qualify for any other assistance but the hospital had a very generous policy where even if you made a respectable income you could still get some of your bill credited.

It can’t hurt to ask. Short of that I would ask for a detail accounting of all the charges and go over it with a fine tooth comb.

 

[mayaINaU]

My husband had a stent put in. He did not have to stay overnight in the hospital, but was there for a few hours. We have insurance, but our portion has still totaled 6K. I was really shocked. I was wondering if anybody else had something similar happen and if anyone had been able to get a discount on the bill.

I’ll spare the rant about the state of healthcare in the USA…

I have not, but there are services where a coding expert will go over the bill and see if any mistakes were made/if there was upcoding/etc. Usually there are mistakes or questionable charges. Some of them charge by taking a percentage of the amount they are able to get back for you. I echo advice to get a detailed list of charges, including all the billing codes. You could just look over the details yourself first and see, for example, did he really receive every service that they list giving him? Was he really seen by every physician that they say visited him? Did the physician really perform all the services that they billed for? For example, how long did they spend with him and does that seem to correspond to the visit code they used? The hospital bill would include hospital-employed physicians, but you might get a separate bill if there are contracted physicians at the hospital too. Also make sure that none of the physicians that you saw, if this was otherwise in-network facility, are charging you as out-of-network. I am taking that this was a planned procedure and not an emergency? Review the No Surprises Act info sheet here. Some states have additional consumer protections as well. Try contacting your state insurance commissioner and filing a complaint.

 

[HockeyMama]

I have not, agree with above and wanted to add: if it's all correct (you may have a high deductible plan which is making this worse), you can ask for a prompt pay discount and/or a hardship discount. You can go all the way up the chain in the billing office. Don't be embarrassed to start high, like 50%.

 

[Karl_K]

Document everything.
A friend of mine called and they knocked off a large part of his bill, he paid the balance. 6 months later he was getting calls from a collection agency for the part they said they knocked off his bill.
Cost him $1000 for his lawyer to get it off his credit report and get the collection agency off his back.
Ask them to send you a bill reflecting the new balance for your records before paying.

 

[Mreader]

I have not, agree with above and wanted to add: if it's all correct (you may have a high deductible plan which is making this worse), you can ask for a prompt pay discount and/or a hardship discount. You can go all the way up the chain in the billing office. Don't be embarrassed to start high, like 50%.

Our deductible is $1000 which I already paid and met due to all the crap we had to do prior to the procedure. So this is the 20% of the procedure which totaled up to be over 100 K supposedly! It’s nuts!

 

[Ibrakeforpossums]

Yes to all of the above. Document every call, name and last initial, date and time.
Years ago I got something like 20% off my late husband's bill for prompt payment.
If this is thru an employer plan try to get HR to help.

 

[HockeyMama]

Our deductible is $1000 which I already paid and met due to all the crap we had to do prior to the procedure. So this is the 20% of the procedure which totaled up to be over 100 K supposedly! It’s nuts!

Oh golly co-insurance is even worse! You get through your deductible and you still have so much to pay! I practice medicine in the US but I'm from Canada originally and it still boggles my mind (I've been here over 25 years). I'm sure non Americans are reading this thread in horror.

 

[Snowdrop13]

Nightmare! Hope you can sort it out. I can’t imagine what you guys in the US go through. This would be free where I live.

 

[Avondale]

I’ll spare the rant about the state of healthcare in the USA…

I can't help in any other way, sadly, but I can have that rant for you inside my mind. You are not alone in your resentment. It is absurd.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

i feel so sorry for all you US peeps
almost 20 years ago Gary got i think 3 stents, i think they said it was like $50k - but of course it was free
our system is by no means perfect, you have to hope the drugs that will fix your illness are fully funded by the govt drug agancy but we only have to get a vet's bill for the cat to know what drugs would be costing us without the govt picking up the tab
So yes @HockeyMama it does boggle our mind and to me so much of it seems to be a big insurence rout

@Mreader good luck with the bill and i hope hubby is feeling better

 

[smitcompton]

My husband had a stent put in. He did not have to stay overnight in the hospital, but was there for a few hours. We have insurance, but our portion has still totaled 6K. I was really shocked. I was wondering if anybody else had something similar happen and if anyone had been able to get a discount on the bill.

I’ll spare the rant about the state of healthcare in the USA…

Hi,

I have. A Chinese immigrant family came to me very upset over a bill from a emergency room hospital visit for their 1 yr old baby. They had a detailed bill and I became rather incensed at this bill myself. So I volunteered to try to do something.

At the time the mother of the child was away. The father saw a welt on the babys leg and got worried and so took him to the emergency room. The Drs looked at the baby and did keep him overnight. No diagnosis was made. Finally, a doctor said there is nothing wrong here, this is a mosquito bite. He was discharged. The bill was $3000.00 and they were responsible.

I wrote a letter, showing the ridiculousness' of the whole situation and told them we would not pay the bill, and believed it was their inability to diagnose correctly that was the problem. This was 25 yrs ago

The hospital forgave the bill.

I would write and tell them the charges are ridiculous. Sound reasonable and point out how unreasonable the charges are. Tell them you will have great difficulty paying the bill, and while you could pay XXX, you would like them to forgive the balance. Address the letter to an executive in the department See what happens.

Annette.

 

[missy]

Not exactly the same but I refused to pay a hospital facility fee which was an outrageous add on. We fought it and they removed it from the bill under the no surprise act.

Good luck @Mreader the state of healthcare is abysmal imo. You have to not only be a constant advocate for yourself and loved ones but then there are the outrageous fees (and this is with insurance)

 

[Mreader]

Not exactly the same but I refused to pay a hospital facility fee which was an outrageous add on. We fought it and they removed it from the bill under the no surprise act.

Good luck @Mreader the state of healthcare is abysmal imo. You have to not only be a constant advocate for yourself and loved ones but then there are the outrageous fees (and this is with insurance)

I know. I don’t have the actual bill yet, but this is the EBO available online that says what our cost is vs what insurance paid. Thanks for the support. I’m definitely going to ask for an itemized list.

 

[monarch64]

I have, but it’s been years. I negotiated with my orthopedic surgeon and got a fair amount off my bill for paying cash. The same surgeon had also done my mother’s surgery on her broken ankle. My mother has been a phenomenal quilter for years and years; she made a quilt for my surgeon who knocked another $800 off the bill.

I would ask how much they’ll take off for paying cash if you’re able to do so. Cash is still king at a lot of doctor’s offices. And if you have anything else to bargain with see if they’ll accept that as payment also. Good luck!

 

[LilAlex]

...but our portion has still totaled 6K...

Do you know your "out-of-pocket maximum" for the year -- and are you close? I think the sky's the limit until you get there. Could be $2K or $10K and could be per insured or per family, or some combination of that. We have been stung by this. You still have half a year to get all your colonoscopies, etc., now that you have likely gotten close to your out-of-pocket maximum.

 

[Mreader]

Do you know your "out-of-pocket maximum" for the year -- and are you close? I think the sky's the limit until you get there. Could be $2K or $10K and could be per insured or per family, or some combination of that. We have been stung by this. You still have half a year to get all your colonoscopies, etc., now that you have likely gotten close to your out-of-pocket maximum.

I think it is 10k but I need to double check.

 

[Lookinagain]

Do you know your "out-of-pocket maximum" for the year -- and are you close? I think the sky's the limit until you get there. Could be $2K or $10K and could be per insured or per family, or some combination of that. We have been stung by this. You still have half a year to get all your colonoscopies, etc., now that you have likely gotten close to your out-of-pocket maximum.

Agree, it's the deductible and the out of pocket maximum for the year. So once you hit that, then get everything done in the same year or you start all over the next.

 

[mrs-b]

We have. I went into hospital with a heart issues and they moved me, via ambulance, to their cardiac hospital. They never asked me, or asked if I wanted to go via ambulance, nor mentioned a fee. I would have gone in my own car. The bill for the transport was thousands. We just said no. They got what they could from our insurance then wiped the rest. I'm not going ot say "forgave"; the fault was not ours.

Our deductible is big - over 10k a year. The whole thing is immoral and this whole "up-costing because insurance will pay" makes me want to throw up. Where do they think insurance companies get their money from? Nobody's time and facilities are worth 100k for an overnight procedure. Ridiculous.

And agreed re getting all your other stuff done if your deductible has been maxed. Every November, my husband tries to subtly pressure me into getting new glasses!

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Getting HR involved if part of an employer health plan is not a bad idea although I don’t know if it would help since you have a deductible.

This is how I got rid of a 20k bill from Yale years ago, it’s a long story and my case was a bit complicated. We basically told HR that we were planning to get an attorney to fight the bill. It magically disappeared! Amazing how well a little bluff can work.

 

[tyty333]

My DH goes over hospital bills with a fine toothcomb. He has found things that were coded incorrectly causing insurance not to cover.
The "uncovered" procedures were then charged full price to us. He had to make several phone calls to the hospital/docs before they sent the correct code to insurance (which then covered it). Mistakes happen so keep an eye out.

 

[Ionysis]

I have worldwide health insurance with my work excluding only….yep the US of A.

And frankly I can understand why.

It would absolutely terrify me to know what could happen to your life if you were unfortunate enough to suffer from a serious medical issue without the right insurance.

I had two babies by c- section with four days in hospital, flat screen TV, full continental breakfast selection, three course lunches and dinners, a sofa bed for my husband and you could send the baby to the nursery for the night if you wanted to get some sleep. And out of pocket I paid the equivalent of $1.5 each time for a prick test on the babies which wasn’t covered.

The last time I was in the US I spent the entire time worrying about getting sick, mown down by a taxi, falling off a building etc. even though we HAD travel insurance because I was so scared what might not be covered.

You absolutely should ask for a fully detailed bill and chase down every single “declined” item - both with the hospital and the insurance company. I know it’s a total PITA but my American friends tell me they have saved tens of thousands doing that.

 

[Sunrises Sunsets]

We have. I went into hospital with a heart issues and they moved me, via ambulance, to their cardiac hospital. They never asked me, or asked if I wanted to go via ambulance, nor mentioned a fee. I would have gone in my own car. The bill for the transport was thousands. We just said no. They got what they could from our insurance then wiped the rest. I'm not going ot say "forgave"; the fault was not ours.

Our deductible is big - over 10k a year. The whole thing is immoral and this whole "up-costing because insurance will pay" makes me want to throw up. Where do they think insurance companies get their money from? Nobody's time and facilities are worth 100k for an overnight procedure. Ridiculous.

And agreed re getting all your other stuff done if your deductible has been maxed. Every November, my husband tries to subtly pressure me into getting new glasses!

The medical charges are a nightmare for many but bear in mind, you are helping to pay for all the people living off the public freebies. We have over 2 million people in the last few years receiving free health care along with all of those who have been on system previously. You are not funding only your care and Drs., providers and hospitals are working to make ends meet. The whole thing is so frustrating.

 

[Ionysis]

The medical charges are a nightmare for many but bear in mind, you are helping to pay for all the people living off the public freebies. We have over 2 million people in the last few years receiving free health care along with all of those who have been on system previously. You are not funding only your care and Drs., providers and hospitals are working to make ends meet. The whole thing is so frustrating.

That is totally untrue.

In the U.K. we pay our taxes and national insurance contributions to fund free healthcare.

In the US all you are doing is lining the pockets of insurance companies and their affiliates. You are helping no one.

 

[Melisande]

Well, you're also funding television advertising. We retired in Europe in significant part because we knew that long term we would not be able to afford U.S. healthcare. The copays on my husband's specialty medications were hundreds per month in the U.S. but free where we live because they are 'necessary to sustain life." And a highly advertised brand name medication to prevent aFib was 21 euros full price vs. $500+ per month on Good Rx.

But you live where you do, and I will say that high tech medicine in the U.S. is great. Check every detail on the bill is essential. And consider the consultants that will advocate on your behalf - their fees are pretty reasonable. When I worked in hospital billing an eon ago I never found a statement without a mistake.

 

[Sunrises Sunsets]

That is totally untrue.

In the U.K. we pay our taxes and national insurance contributions to fund free healthcare.

In the US all you are doing is lining the pockets of insurance companies and their affiliates. You are helping no one.

Unfortunately, it's totally true. Do insurance companies make a profit, yes. After all there are stockholders to feed which is another rats nest for another time.

There is a local clinic which opens it's door to the uninsured once a month. An employee shared how one family alone had many services in one day. It was a large family but someone has to pay the piper.

 

[Melisande]

To add, we do have private health insurance in Europe along with eligibility for the national healthcare system. We pay double the premiums of others because I still travel to the U.S. and need coverage there.

 

[missy]

The medical charges are a nightmare for many but bear in mind, you are helping to pay for all the people living off the public freebies. We have over 2 million people in the last few years receiving free health care along with all of those who have been on system previously. You are not funding only your care and Drs., providers and hospitals are working to make ends meet. The whole thing is so frustrating.

This is so true. I won’t go into details (though you might remember some of them from the other thread) but my parents who contributed to society for almost 9 decades were basically thrown out of the hospital and rehab because their insurance ran out. How is that ok? All their lives they worked hard and contributed to the community and now when they most need it they are left out in the cold. It isn’t ok

 

[Mreader]

Well, you're also funding television advertising. We retired in Europe in significant part because we knew that long term we would not be able to afford U.S. healthcare. The copays on my husband's specialty medications were hundreds per month in the U.S. but free where we live because they are 'necessary to sustain life." And a highly advertised brand name medication to prevent aFib was 21 euros full price vs. $500+ per month on Good Rx.

But you live where you do, and I will say that high tech medicine in the U.S. is great. Check every detail on the bill is essential. And consider the consultants that will advocate on your behalf - their fees are pretty reasonable. When I worked in hospital billing an eon ago I never found a statement without a mistake.

Wow I am incredulous here about everyone saying there are mistakes on every bill! I have been reading up on it and stats are saying up to 80% of bills contains errors. That is so messed up!!! Like I said I only have the EBO right now but will deffo be taking a look at bills.

20 years ago my DH was hospitalized without insurance and I remember the itemized bills and omg - $200 charges bc a nurse handed him a pill to take, hundreds in "physical therapy" which just meant that someone came by his room to walk with him (which he usually skipped bc I was there to take him on his walk). Sh*t like that. Unbelievable.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

I would start by talking to the hospital liaison and asking for help. A request made by the liaison goes further in my experience to resolve and help out with many billing or customer service requests.

You can also make a payment plan. I paid off my daughter's bill by doing this. I was super nice to the lady who set it up, did the bill paying by phone where I could speak to her each month. She credited the bill when I got close to paying it off which saved a lot of money.