61–70 of 202 posts
It’s called a deductible. People don’t pay their bills anymore, unless they absolutely have to.
Generally this is true. For anything over a thousand, I try to negotiate. Most of the time they rather compromise than fight/sell it at a % to collections.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Generally this is true. For anything over a thousand, I try to negotiate. Most of the time they rather compromise than fight/sell it at a % to collections.
How exactly do you negotiate? After you get a bill, you call their billing number and just ask for a lower number?
For my health provider, I currently have an otherwise unmentioned number I can call for my medical bills that I can pay immediately, that gets me 25% off whatever the bill is. I would never have known about it, had I not said I couldn't pay a particularly large one.
This seems like a good thread to mention the book "Never Pay The First Bill" by journalist Marshall Allen. I've worked in healthcare for 20+ years. I've been on the collecting side of many bills, it's a good book for patients. Contrary to popular belief most hospital systems are not evil profit seeking corpratons but just trying to keep the lights on, it's still a business though and as a patient you have the right a…
I was roadtripping through Redding, CA several years back. While in line at a coffee, I ran across a young lady with a nasal infusion pump tube taped to her face arranging some paperwork. After chatting, she informed me she had Stage IV cancer and the hospitals and doctors were coming after her for every cent she had while she was dying, and it forced her into bankruptcy. The paperwork was for her bankruptcy hearing across the way.
This is what happens when for-profit health insurance and hospitals are allowed to exist because every other sensible advanced economy in the world has universal healthcare. The disconnect is American patients don't know how bad they have it: their financial liability is essentially unlimited, they pay far more, and have worse outcomes.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Generally this is true. For anything over a thousand, I try to negotiate. Most of the time they rather compromise than fight/sell it at a % to collections.
How exactly do you negotiate? After you get a bill, you call their billing number and just ask for a lower number?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been getting those separate bills recently and it's driving me nuts. For one small out patient procedure I have received bills from the hospital, the doctor, the anesthesiologist, anesthesiologist nursing company, and a random surgeon I have never met that the doctor asked in for a 30 second consult (I know how long the procedure took) while I was under. Seriously considering ignoring some of these whotf-are-you…
> Seriously considering ignoring some of these whotf-are-you bills out of spite. Then they will sell your debt to a collections agency who will make it their business to harass you to the maximum extent legally allowed (and sometimes more than that). This may include impacting your credit score - although I think some states at least have protections against that.
https://www.consumerreports.org/money/debt-collection/fight-... ("How to Fight Back When Contacted by a Debt Collector for a Medical Bill")
That has included me, in the past. It is stupid easy to accidentally have a debt to a hospital. For families, sensible privacy rules at clinics can mean that it is very hard to choke point bills to a single person. To the point that I asked every time if I owed money when I did checkups to be told that we did not. Only to later find that my family did, in fact, have a bill due. For a while. Recently I'm getting it wi…
One thing my mom has been dealing with recently is where the insurance EOB and the bill differs substantially. My mom called the hospital to ask for an explanation and poof the bill is magically lowered by a several hundred dollars. How the heck is this not criminal fraud? Why are people allowed to simply bill whatever they feel like it, and why is my mother getting 'balance billed' for random amounts? They're still…
Buried midway down, they mention that the commercial health plans available to people without conventional employers (Obamacare) can (and routinely do) set deductibles as high as $9,450. And that’s in addition to the premium-which, in New York City for example, starts at $618/month for the very worst plan for an individual. Sure, that’s subsidized for lower-income households — but who among those has a spare $10K lyi…
In several recent years, I would've been better off not having insurance and paying out of pocket because I never (or just barely) hit the deductible. Even when my deductible was lower, if you added up my premiums against what was covered I still probably overpaid most years. So all I've been doing is subsidizing someone else's bills while paying my own on top of it.
Yes, I know this is how insurance works, but it doesn't feel great to keep paying out so much money while getting nothing for it but vague promises they likely won't have to keep which expire every year.
That has included me, in the past. It is stupid easy to accidentally have a debt to a hospital. For families, sensible privacy rules at clinics can mean that it is very hard to choke point bills to a single person. To the point that I asked every time if I owed money when I did checkups to be told that we did not. Only to later find that my family did, in fact, have a bill due. For a while. Recently I'm getting it wi…
One thing my mom has been dealing with recently is where the insurance EOB and the bill differs substantially. My mom called the hospital to ask for an explanation and poof the bill is magically lowered by a several hundred dollars. How the heck is this not criminal fraud? Why are people allowed to simply bill whatever they feel like it, and why is my mother getting 'balance billed' for random amounts? They're still…
It may surprise you to learn criminal fraud occurs on a regular basis and the simple act of acknowledging it does nothing to address it.
> Why are people allowed to simply bill whatever they feel like it
Pretty simple economics: they have something you want (healthcare) which no one else can provide. Supply and demand - they dictate the terms.
This seems like a good thread to mention the book "Never Pay The First Bill" by journalist Marshall Allen. I've worked in healthcare for 20+ years. I've been on the collecting side of many bills, it's a good book for patients. Contrary to popular belief most hospital systems are not evil profit seeking corpratons but just trying to keep the lights on, it's still a business though and as a patient you have the right a…
A lot of this has changed with the No Surprises Act, that specifically covers Emergency situations and others where a patient would be "reasonably expected" to believe that a service was in network. Surprise billing protections apply to most emergency services, including those provided in hospital emergency rooms, freestanding emergency departments, and urgent care centers that are licensed to provide emergency care.…