quote:How much do you like your credit?
Have any of you experience success in negotiating medical bill? We got hit with a medical emergency and starting to get all the bills from Urgent Care and Texas Childrens.
Any suggestions or an approach at trying to get the amounts we owe reduced?
quote:This! Most of the medical cost problems we see today could be solved by posting the prices up front in a standardized manner.
Medical billing has become legalized fraud and extortion.
"come in here so we can help you"
how much will this cost? (while in pain)
"youll have to wait for the bill"
quote:Not everyone walks in knowing exactly what is wrong with them. The amount will also be based on how much the insurance company pays, remainder to the patient. Nine times out of ten, patients' complaints should be directed at their carrier and not their physician or medical provider.
Medical billing has become legalized fraud and extortion.
"come in here so we can help you"
how much will this cost? (while in pain)
"youll have to wait for the bill"
quote:Bill was introduced in the Texas House last year regarding this. Never made it out of committee.quote:This! Most of the medical cost problems we see today could be solved by posting the prices up front in a standardized manner.
Medical billing has become legalized fraud and extortion.
"come in here so we can help you"
how much will this cost? (while in pain)
"youll have to wait for the bill"
quote:What type of insurance do you have?
what about having a child? I want to get a head of this so that I am not charge $100 for a roll of TP and the like.
quote:
Medical billing has become legalized fraud and extortion.
"come in here so we can help you"
how much will this cost? (while in pain)
"youll have to wait for the bill"
quote:Blame politicians and regulators. You think we like having to work in this type of system? Makes every day a ****ing nightmare.quote:
Medical billing has become legalized fraud and extortion.
"come in here so we can help you"
how much will this cost? (while in pain)
"youll have to wait for the bill"
A couple of years ago, every other member of my family had strep coming on, so I was told to get tested (by my kids pediatrician) so they could get me on meds early if needed. I called my insurance to ask how much I should expect to pay for a strep test, and insurance said "we can't tell you without knowing how the doctor will code the visit/diagnosis". Okay, I thought. So I called the doctors office and got passed around until I finally got the lady in charge of that sort of stuff and she flat out said they wouldn't know how to code it until the visit was completed. I asked her if she could just give me the information as if I were to come in, take a strep test and have it show positive and she refused.
So at that point I asked, point blank, if she was basically saying that I cannot know how much I owe until after I am already legally obligated to pay it and she said "yes sir, that's correct"
WTF?
Who would ever buy a car and just "find out" how much it was when they got their first bill? Or a house, or anything else.
Made me so mad. I get that there are cases of ignorance (i.e. "what, it is expensive to go to the ER for a headache?") but it is legitimately frustrating that you can't possibly find out what you are agreeing to before you have agreed to it.
Absurd, actually.
Maybe this was a bad experience with a stubborn, or perhaps incompetent, office manager, but it doesn't sound like an isolated thing based on other people's stories here and elsewhere.
quote:Go ahead figure out your maximum out of pocket cost for the year, because you're going to hit it.
HSA/HDHP
quote:Exactly what we just went through trying to find out the cost of an optional procedure.
I called my insurance to ask how much I should expect to pay for a strep test, and insurance said "we can't tell you without knowing how the doctor will code the visit/diagnosis". Okay, I thought. So I called the doctors office and got passed around until I finally got the lady in charge of that sort of stuff and she flat out said they wouldn't know how to code it until the visit was completed. I asked her if she could just give me the information as if I were to come in, take a strep test and have it show positive and she refused.
quote:i assume this will really be my wife's insurance? She has HSA/HDHP through CFISD, my employer requires your spouse to be on their qualifying employer plan if offered.quote:Go ahead figure out your maximum out of pocket cost for the year, because you're going to hit it.
HSA/HDHP
quote:Yep. Luckily, it should be a lesser amount of total out of pocket since she isn't on the family plan.quote:i assume this will really be my wife's insurance? She has HSA/HDHP through CFISD, my employer requires your spouse to be on their qualifying employer plan if offered.quote:Go ahead figure out your maximum out of pocket cost for the year, because you're going to hit it.
HSA/HDHP
quote:quote:Not everyone walks in knowing exactly what is wrong with them. The amount will also be based on how much the insurance company pays, remainder to the patient. Nine times out of ten, patients' complaints should be directed at their carrier and not their physician or medical provider.
Medical billing has become legalized fraud and extortion.
"come in here so we can help you"
how much will this cost? (while in pain)
"youll have to wait for the bill"
quote:quote:quote:Not everyone walks in knowing exactly what is wrong with them. The amount will also be based on how much the insurance company pays, remainder to the patient. Nine times out of ten, patients' complaints should be directed at their carrier and not their physician or medical provider.
Medical billing has become legalized fraud and extortion.
"come in here so we can help you"
how much will this cost? (while in pain)
"youll have to wait for the bill"
Insurance companies set prices they are willing to pay, not prices for procedures themselves.
My main complaint is with for-profit emergency centers being intentionally opaque even when questioned.
For example, I burned my hand and needed a tdap shot and my hand wrapped up. I asked (while in serious pain) what the cash price would be, and they told me they didnt have prices or even estimates available until after it went to my insurance.
Their entire business model is built around gouging insurance companies and taking advantage of people in distress.
quote:You are missing my point, I will pay a premium all day, but I don't know whether or not i'm paying a premium if no one can tell me what I can expect to pay for specific treatment.quote:quote:quote:Not everyone walks in knowing exactly what is wrong with them. The amount will also be based on how much the insurance company pays, remainder to the patient. Nine times out of ten, patients' complaints should be directed at their carrier and not their physician or medical provider.
Medical billing has become legalized fraud and extortion.
"come in here so we can help you"
how much will this cost? (while in pain)
"youll have to wait for the bill"
Insurance companies set prices they are willing to pay, not prices for procedures themselves.
My main complaint is with for-profit emergency centers being intentionally opaque even when questioned.
For example, I burned my hand and needed a tdap shot and my hand wrapped up. I asked (while in serious pain) what the cash price would be, and they told me they didnt have prices or even estimates available until after it went to my insurance.
Their entire business model is built around gouging insurance companies and taking advantage of people in distress.
If you don't want to pay a premium to be seen immediately, then feel free to sit in the county funded ER with everyone else. Nobody forces you to use a particular ER. And, just to cut to the argument of "it's an emergency I need to be seen", insurance carriers are required to pay in-network rates for any true emergency that is billed to them under the ACA - no questions asked.
quote:and that'll be one of the many reasons we end up stuck with single payer at some point...
They don't tell you because in all honesty, they don't have a clue.
quote:We've taken a simple process and made it brain surgery.
It's because they do not know how it is going to be coded. Docs don't code their own charts and front desk people don't know revenue cycle management and carrier agreements or charge master values. Because of a multitude of regulations, your bill will typically travel through 3-5 companies before ever reaching your doorstep. The process is so broken up so as to protect against fraud (one reason at least), that we don't receive first ins payment until about 30-45 days after your visit.
They don't tell you because in all honesty, they don't have a clue.
quote:
It's because they do not know how it is going to be coded. Docs don't code their own charts and front desk people don't know revenue cycle management and carrier agreements or charge master values. Because of a multitude of regulations, your bill will typically travel through 3-5 companies before ever reaching your doorstep. The process is so broken up so as to protect against fraud (one reason at least), that we don't receive first ins payment until about 30-45 days after your visit.
They don't tell you because in all honesty, they don't have a clue.
quote:*ahem* The government has. Trust me when I say that those of us in the medical field, from top to bottom, do not like what has been done and understand a lot of the frustration that we hear. However, we have to adapt to what we are told to do and just like every other business, our increased costs trickle down to the patient. We don't like it, but it's what we have to do to survive as a business.quote:We've taken a simple process and made it brain surgery.
It's because they do not know how it is going to be coded. Docs don't code their own charts and front desk people don't know revenue cycle management and carrier agreements or charge master values. Because of a multitude of regulations, your bill will typically travel through 3-5 companies before ever reaching your doorstep. The process is so broken up so as to protect against fraud (one reason at least), that we don't receive first ins payment until about 30-45 days after your visit.
They don't tell you because in all honesty, they don't have a clue.
Pun intended.
quote:differences in types of insurance
i see some of yall talking about having to pay large bills for child birth. was that whole process not covered by insurance or were there issues? I believe i will pay a flat rate $150 or so for everything included in childbirth.
