here are four mistakes that can take a big financial toll when it comes to medical bills. 1. you don’t review your bills. medical bills are notoriously riddled with errors. if you pay your bills without reviewing them with a fine-toothed comb you’re very likely to pay more for your medical care than you should. the solution: be on the lookout for additional hospital days duplicate or excessive charges charges for doctor visits or tests you never got or any number of items that don’t jibe with the care you believe you received. address any errors right away with the billing department or office manager in your doctor’s office or the hospital where you received care. 2. you don’t confirm that your insurer paid. another form of medical billing error often occurs in the form of doctors or hospitals failing to bill your insurance company or doing so improperly. if you have more than one type of insurance it’s very common for confusion to occur about which company should pay first and which should pick up the remainder of the bill. before you pay medical charges make sure that your health care provider has properly billed your insurer and that your insurer has in turn paid what it owes. 3. you accept defeat without a fight. it’s a huge mistake to assume that being denied coverage by your insurance company means the decision about whether or not your care will be paid for is final. as a result of the health reform law you have the right to appeal coverage denials by your insurance company. if your insurance company does not rule in your favor your plan is required to explain why and provide you with information about how to obtain an independent review of your case (this doesn’t apply to grandfathered health plans). bottom line: if you don’t fight back you’re probably leaving money on the table. 4. you don’t negotiate. here’s a fact that makes many patients uncomfortable: you need to haggle with your doctor over the cost of your care. prices for medical care are not set in stone and you can save yourself a lot of money by asking for a break. this is particularly important if you’re without insurance or if you have a high-deductible health plan that requires you to pay thousands of dollars before insurance kicks in to help pay the bills. many health insurers offer members a pricing tool that can be found on the company’s website. and online tools such as healthcare blue book are available to those without insurance or with a health plan that doesn’t offer the service.
how can i reduce billing errors and keep medical costs down?