Biggest Budget Buster ever....

[disfan07]

Medical Bills

Thats all i have to say after seeing two of my hospital bills that had us paying $10,000 AFTER insurance adn hospital discount!!!!

How many other people have expereince the medical bills budget buster????
What have you done in your everyday life to save and offset the medical expenses??

 

[badblackpug]

Review your insurance options. Can you find a better plan? Or a second plan? Fortunately, we both work for the health system that takes care of all our medical needs. The only OOP expenses are $5 office visit co-pays and $50 ER visit co-pays.

 

[barkley]

honestly-i pay more each month so i can pay less.

the employer i retired through offers a few different plans and i opt for the more expensive one that has a lower amount i am obligated to pay for bills.

i know people who think i'm nuts paying over $100 more than i could with a lesser plan-but when i look at one $40,000 bill i only had to pay $25 for vs. $8000, and a recent $32,000 group of bills i will only pay around $500 for vs. as much as $10,000-it will take a WHOLE lot of months of that extra $100 for me to be losing money.

one thing we do to save/offset on the items we do have to pay more for is to make sure we get all we need to be seen for/might need to be seen for done after the deductable is covered. with the new year approaching soon we've got appointments set for almost one a week through christmas-eye exams, mammogram, orthopedist, follow up general practitioner...even though we just replaced dh's sleep apnea machine mask this past month i'm calling them on 12/15 because our insurance allows us to replace one every six months at their cost-might as well get a spare for free vs. $150 if we have'nt met the deductable or are'nt at the right time calendar year wise.

i am also dogged about reviewing medical bills and insurance payments. i can't count the number of times i've found that someone who is contracted with my insurer such that they absolutly are precluded from billing me for a service/appointment will try billing me. thousands of dollars of bills and when i call them up and point it out they sheepishly admit they are'nt supposed to and remove the charge (i suspect they figure they might as well give it a try and a certain percentage of patients just roll over and pay).

you can also ask the hospital if they will take an additional discout if you pay in full in cash. since it costs them to do billing, and additionaly if you use a credit card they can be open to making a futher price reduction.

 

[TiggerStac]

I'm with you on this one. both hubby and my insurance plans are 80/20 plans. He use to have an hmo option, but they dropped it. we both work for large nationwide companies, he's in automotive and I'm in healthcare. His is less expensive than mine and his out of pocket max is less than mine so we go w/his....our bills were crazy this year, as I had a newborn who ended up in the NICU. Our max out of pocket is 8500...we met that.

 

[labdogs42]

Don't pay those bills until you check with your insurance company. I know when I had my c-section, the hospital billed me for about $17,000. I didn't owe a dime and I knew it. I called my insurance company AND the hospital and the hospital claimed they sent that bill before they got paid by my insurance. I think they were really trying to get paid twice. My dad tipped me off to this lovely trick that hospitals pull. Make sure you actually own that money before you pay them a dime.

 

[Bearshouse]

We get the best plan my Dh's work offers. It is $100 more a month but the max out of pocket is $4000 less. We always hit max out of pocket sometime in March. But then that is the joys of having a disabled child.

I remember when our son spent 67 days in the NICU (nenonatal intensive care). Total bill before hospital discount and insurance paid was $250,000. We paid $4,000 for max out of pocket.

Bearshouse

 

[FINFAN]

I know...DD was rushed to ER last week ( she is 4 states away at college)and so far she is ok, but we are waiting to see what our cost will be. Ambulance, ER tests, medications...even the phone calls back and forth. Trying to get from Chicago to Flrida last minute airfare...theres another budget buster ...we are supposed to go to WDW over Christmas, but I believe that just got blown out of the water again! It was a rescheduled trip from summer due to illness. Sigh...I feel for you. What is your OOP maximum after deductible is met? It is also possible that you are being charged higher than reasonable and customary? I agree, look into it. And to answer your question on how do we handle it? We basically arrange a payment plan with the hospital if we owe them...usually no more than $100 a month is what we can pay.

 

[MrsPooh]

I feel your pain. For most of our married life dh has worked for companies that do not offer insurance. I always choose the best insurance option from the company where I work - which is also always the most expensive. Most of time the companies I've worked for over the years are small and only have one option.

I was on home heath care for just over three months. At the time the best insurance option offered by my employer was a PPO plan. Home health care was covered at 80/20 after we paid a large deductible. My home health care bills including the meds, machine rentals and once a week nurse visits averaged out to about $300 or more per day That means our 20% was over $60/day for over three months after we met the deductible.

Then I was remained on expensive meds for another five months. Just one of the meds cost $45/pill and I needed two/day in addition to four other meds. Despite demands from me and my dr, the insurance company would pay for only 15 pills/months so we had to pay out of pocket for 45 pills per months at $45/pill plus co-pays on the other meds.

We also owed $500 for each of the multiple ER bills, 20% for a radiology bills, a so many other co-pays it was crazy.

I am alive but we'll be paying off medical bills for many years to come.

Unfortunately my dh had a major injury the same year and ran up large bills all by himself.

Of course, we were paying the employee portion of the insurance at about $500/month plus my employer was paying even more. I can't imagine what the bills would have been without insurance but even with insurance it was outrageous.

I'm sorry I don't have a good answer for how to pay them off but just know you are not alone.

 

[momx2]

Same thing most posters have said. Pay more up front for more coverage. I pay about $560 per month and my employer pays the rest, which is much more than I pay, for our family plan that is 85/15. We have $10 dr. visits/$50ER, if not admitted, $250 person/$500 family deductible, with $1,150 person or $2,300 family maximum out of pocket per year.

We have met that with family last year, with my DH's heart problem and DD's tonsils coming out and this year with just my DH. He was admitted to the hospital in Celebration, Fl. on the last day of our June vacation for one night. That maxed us on him.

He just recently spent 6 days in the hospital and had heart surgery with no ouot of pocket expesnes to us because he had met his $1,150 max. His hospital bill is at $125,000 and we still have bills coming in, but we owe nothing. I work for the state and make less money than I would in private practice and this is one reason why I do it, that and retirement.

 

[momx2]

I feel your pain. For most of our married life dh has worked for companies that do not offer insurance. I always choose the best insurance option from the company where I work - which is also always the most expensive. Most of time the companies I've worked for over the years are small and only have one option.

I was on home heath care for just over three months. At the time the best insurance option offered by my employer was a PPO plan. Home health care was covered at 80/20 after we paid a large deductible. My home health care bills including the meds, machine rentals and once a week nurse visits averaged out to about $300 or more per day That means our 20% was over $60/day for over three months after we met the deductible.

Then I was remained on expensive meds for another five months. Just one of the meds cost $45/pill and I needed two/day in addition to four other meds. Despite demands from me and my dr, the insurance company would pay for only 15 pills/months so we had to pay out of pocket for 45 pills per months at $45/pill plus co-pays on the other meds.

We also owed $500 for each of the multiple ER bills, 20% for a radiology bills, a so many other co-pays it was crazy.

I am alive but we'll be paying off medical bills for many years to come.

Unfortunately my dh had a major injury the same year and ran up large bills all by himself.

Of course, we were paying the employee portion of the insurance at about $500/month plus my employer was paying even more. I can't imagine what the bills would have been without insurance but even with insurance it was outrageous.

I'm sorry I don't have a good answer for how to pay them off but just know you are not alone.

OMG! Does your insurance not have a maximum out of pocket cap????

 

[dfchelbay]

Medical Bills

Thats all i have to say after seeing two of my hospital bills that had us paying $10,000 AFTER insurance adn hospital discount!!!!

How many other people have expereince the medical bills budget buster????
What have you done in your everyday life to save and offset the medical expenses??

Just a reminder to check the cap on what you're responsible for. It may be the $10,000.00, but the most I've ever seen when shopping for coverage is $5,000 annual cap that the patient is responsible for. On a happier note, all that you have to pay out of pocket (not pretax) can be deducted as a medical expense on your tax return...so that's a silver lining I guess.

 

[bumbershoot]

Request an itemized bill from the facility where you were, and from the providers that are billing you. Make absolutely sure you are only being billed for you, and for things that were done to you. Make absolutely sure it went through insurance, and that they did it right.

2 years ago DS got an ambulance ride to the kid's ER, and we spent about a year going back and forth with the ambulance company who offered, then took away, a discount, and I just wanted to understand why they had taken it away. The back/forth finally ended when someone at rural/metro finally grew a brain and offered the discount back. But at the SAME time, the insurance company lady really looked at the charges, and saw that the ambulance company charged FIRST (and billed us last!!!), which meant that the insurance computers didn't know that there was an emergency, and covered the ambulance as a non-emergency transport. She did a bit of switching in the computer, and got it properly covered (there was no overnight stay, but since he'd fallen and hit his head on a metal thing on the ground and had a change in demeanor, it WAS an emergency).

Make SURE everything is correct. Only then arrange for payments with the hospital. The two hospitals we've dealt with, well, one was lovely about it and the other was horrid, but even the horrid one (horrid "care" as well) was happy to let us make payments, and as long as the payments were absolutely positively on time, there was no interest. Of course, as soon as we missed it by a couple days the horrid one sent us to collections. The lovely one had a lovely grace period and when we paid it off I wanted to send them homemade cookies I adored them so much!

My point is, hospitals are generally fine with getting payments, and sometimes, if you have the $$ to pay right at that time instead of payments, will give hefty discounts.

i can't count the number of times i've found that someone who is contracted with my insurer such that they absolutly are precluded from billing me for a service/appointment will try billing me. thousands of dollars of bills and when i call them up and point it out they sheepishly admit they are'nt supposed to and remove the charge (i suspect they figure they might as well give it a try and a certain percentage of patients just roll over and pay).

I *can* count the number of times, but it's still a common scam. If you see a preferred provider, that means they've agreed to accept what the insurance company pays + your set copay/coinsurance. They aren't allowed to charge the amount between their fee and what the insurance company allows them to charge. If that provider can't play the insurance game and didn't set their rates a bit higher so they get what they wanted to get, they aren't allowed to bill us the difference.

I had a pp try that nonsense, and I didn't call the office, but had the insurance company call them...took care of it inside of 5 minutes!

On a happier note, all that you have to pay out of pocket (not pretax) can be deducted as a medical expense on your tax return...so that's a silver lining I guess.

I think it's more complicated than that, as we don't know the OP's income. Unreimbursed medical bills have to be a certain percentage of income before we can deduct them.

 

[TiggerStac]

We get the best plan my Dh's work offers. It is $100 more a month but the max out of pocket is $4000 less. We always hit max out of pocket sometime in March. But then that is the joys of having a disabled child.

I remember when our son spent 67 days in the NICU (nenonatal intensive care). Total bill before hospital discount and insurance paid was $250,000. We paid $4,000 for max out of pocket.

Bearshouse

That's what got us this year. My youngest NICU stay at local hospital was about 20K for 6 days, then in boston for 4 was 30k. that doesn't include testing, doctors, my emergency csection , etc etc. ps...that's what the insurance paid, not what was billed. It's insane....

 

[Priorityonecb]

We pay for good coverage ahead of an emergency. Good thing, because our daughter has had three surgeries, a stay in the PICU, ER visit and subsequent hospital admission...all to the tune of around $400,000. We've paid less than $200 out of of pocket. I just had surgery that cost $3,000 a couple weeks ago and haven't paid a dime.

 

[neatokimmo]

You all are scaring me!

I have a high deductible plan. $7 per pay period. $4,000 OOP before 80/20 starts. I am given 1K on a visa to spend on medical things also. We used right at $400 this year, the insurance takes the charges, pretty much cuts them in half then I pay for it. So I'll get to roll the $600 to this year.

When DD had pneumonia in Feb, the after hours doc said they'd run a bunch of test on her blood and see what she had. I stopped him and asked if our goal was to determine if she needed an antibiotic or whether is was viral. Then I asked if it would be the same antibiotic no matter what she had? He said yes. So I asked him which one test would determine the need and tada, that was it.

I think a lot of times, you have to reign in docs. They are brilliant for their medical knowledge. If they were good with money, they'd be accountants.

 

[nskjerven]

My son's broken arm costs $6500 copay over $2500 that was an expensive day that the park on his razor

 

[eliza61]

I thought I read recently that medical bills were the number 2 reason for people losing their homes. right after losing their jobs huge medical bills are wiping people out.

Ironically I'm watching America's home extreme home builder and they are building a home for a women who had her whole family living in a trailer because she lost every thing to pay for her lukemia treatment. I swear that show is my weekly cry fest.

 

[Derby4me]

Honestly, this makes me MAD! I think it is UNREASONABLE that a family should have to struggle to pay their bills due to medical expenses. There is something just NOT right about that. GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

 

[katied]

We just had to review health plans again for open enrollment at my job for 2010. It's not pretty. My chocies are - $9,000/yr for a $10,000 deductaible, or $17,000/yr for a $1,000 deductaible, then 80/20 and a $8,500 out of pocket match. So, $9,000/yr for a $10,000 deductible plan is the best bet for us.

My company does not subsudize health care - so we pay what it really costs the company to puchase the policy.

It does put health care costs into perspective - we need to budget each year on $10,000 out of pocket in health care costs - and sometimes DH and I put things off if possible (like DH is waiting to have back surgery until next year, as we know we will exceed the $10,000 deductible due to some other reasons)

DS putting a rock up his nose at daycare one day cost us over $600.

The number one reason medical costs are so high is due to malpractice insurance rates, but that is not something Congress is actually looking to address.

 

[MrsPooh]

OMG! Does your insurance not have a maximum out of pocket cap????

My illness/treatment lasted over the course of 10 months with lingering problems following but nothing major after the 10 months.

When I became ill I was covered under my employers plan. After a high deductible we had an out-of-pocket max of $8,000. Two months into the illness my employer did a major layoff and since I was unable to work I was one of 25 who were laid off. My insurance coverage ended at the end of that month. Cobra was going to be $1,200/month which we couldn't afford with me not working.

Fortunately for us it was one of the few times in our lives that dh worked for a place offering insurance and because I lost my job we were able to pick up coverage through his employer immediately and had no time without coverage. Bad news was that this policy was also a PPO with a new $1,500 deductible and this time a $5,000 out of pocket max per family member or $10,000 total per family. During this time is when dh had his injury.

A few months later it was time for his employer to do their open enrollment and the new policy years began. New policy year meant a new deductible to meet and a new annual out-of-pocket max.

Yep, for one 10 month illness we had to hit three deductibles and then pay 20% three times working toward annual out-of-pocket maximums but at least we had coverage.