Medical Bills

[NYCDiane]

Back in September, I had 2 surgeries (one major, the other "regular") at the same time. I'm just now starting to receive all the bills, etc. My insurance covered a great amount of it but I'm stuck with about $4K of what they didn't cover.

I can't pay this all off at once and want to pay it off monthly. The woman in billing tells me that if it's not paid in full within 9 weeks (impossible), they send it out to a collection agency I don't want that to happen and I'm actually wondering is that standard practice when it comes to medical bills???

 

[Kellydelly]

Back in September, I had 2 surgeries (one major, the other "regular") at the same time. I'm just now starting to receive all the bills, etc. My insurance covered a great amount of it but I'm stuck with about $4K of what they didn't cover.

I can't pay this all off at once and want to pay it off monthly. The woman in billing tells me that if it's not paid in full within 9 weeks (impossible), they send it out to a collection agency I don't want that to happen and I'm actually wondering is that standard practice when it comes to medical bills???

When my daughter was hospitalized for 2 nights a while ago (4 yrs), we ended up with a bill from the hospital for around $700. I spoke to someone in customer service and she offered to break up my payments over 12 months (it may have been even longer, I remember thinking she was being very, very reasonable!). I told her I could do it in four payments. I have never heard of having to pay off a hospital bill within 9 wks, I thought they were usually happy to work out payment plans, and not 9 wk long ones . I hope the person you spoke to was incorrect.

 

[kydisneyfans]

My wife does billing/coding. Her practice also has no problem making payments over a year. They also are generous when it comes to giving a discount if paid off quicker.

In many states it is illegal to send a bill to collections when reasonable payments are being made in a timely fashion.

 

[Duchie]

That does sound unreasonable to me. I had an emergency surgery this summer and ended up with a similar bill after insurance. The business office at the hospital told me right up front that they would spread the payments out over 12 months for me no problem, I would call back and ask to speak to someone else to see if you get a different answer.

 

[lilpig]

You need to call back and talk to a supervisor. Most places will work with you longer when the bill is so large. They usually dont want to send it to a collection agency because they pay them. Also find out what your state laws are regarding collections of medical bills and make sure by checking your EOB that all their charges are your responsibility. My mom had this situation a few years ago and I had her do these things and it worked for her. ( I have a small background in medical billing) Good Luck and I hope this helped.

 

[bumbershoot]

...make sure by checking your EOB that all their charges are your responsibility....

Yes yes a million times yes. Be sure to get on the phone to your insurance people with all your EOBs and bills (if any EOB has more than one provider on it, make a copy of that and circle the provider that matches a bill, on the other copy circle the other provider and match it up with its bill, etc), a new notebook and good pen, and talk with them to make SURE that you're being charged correctly by the providers.

Specific example of provider sneakiness: I once saw a general practicioner for general reasons, and she was contracted with my insurance company as a preferred provider. Which I knew meant she had to take what the insurance company gave her, plus my copay, and be happy with that and only that. She sent me a bill for what copay and insurance didn't pay. I immediately got on the phone to my insurance company, who put me on hold and immediately called the GP's office, and the bill was erased. HOW MANY people did she scam out of extra money in that way?

So make SURE.


What sort of provider is saying this about the 9 weeks? With a surgery, surely you're not getting just ONE bill. I'd expect a hospital bill, surgeon, possibly another one from the hospital for nursing care or assistants, a bill from the anesthesiologist, and maybe more. So there shouldn't be just ONE bill.

Break it all down, write it all down, get super-organized. If that's not your strong suit, or you're still recovering, get a close friend or relative that you think IS organized, and ask them to help. Not only do you want to make sure the billers have it right, you don't want to miss anything.

And when you DO make a payment, request a receipt, and put it in with the EOB and bill for that provider (I have notebooks and a 3 hole punch to keep this sort of thing organized, and once I have bill, EOB, and receipt together I staple them on an edge before putting them into the binder, to show that it's done).

Also know that many states (maybe all?) have laws about billing in a reasonable amount of time. At least in WA I think it's 6 months. DS was seen and had labwork done, and the bills came in, they were paid, and about 8 months later the lab sent something else through to insurance. INsurance denied it b/c it was too late, and told me that I was NOT responsible for it, because it had been billed too late. So make sure you don't fall prey to a provider billing too late, but acting like it's your responsibility, if your insurance company doesn't agree. They know the rules and must abide by them.

 

[DisneyHeather]

That seems crazy to me. When I was pregnant I was hospitalized overnight a couple weeks before he was born and then when I had him it ended up having to be a c section. The hospital has been great working with me on payments. They dropped about $2000 off of what I owed and are now taking $26.04 payments each month which will make it take much longer than 12 months to pay off. I'm also not being charged interest. I figure when I get my debt that has interest paid off I'll start paying more to the hospital.

I would call back and speak to a supervisor.

 

[luvdzny]

I don't know if all states are the same, but in WI most of our providers give us 12 months from the date of service to pay. If the balance cannot be paid in full in that amount of time it will be monitored by a collection agency. In other words it is handled by the agency but it does not show on your credit history unless you start missing payments.

 

[disfan07]

Call your hospitals billing department....you should be able to set up a payment plan

We have about $8000 in medical bills from the same hospital/foundation from the past 6 months. We are on a monthly payment plan with them and it is a no interest payment plan.

And are you sure it is actually what you are responsible for? I would double check.

Also, you should be getting more than one bill from surgery. We got multiple bills from each of my surgeries.

It took a year to receive all of the bills from my craniotomy in 2010. We got about 10 bills (hospital, surgeon, pulmonologist, cardiologist, pathology, anesthesiology, radiology, OT, PT) that totaled almost $400,000 in charges.

I would definitely call back and speak to someone else. 9 weeks is completely unreasonable for that size bill.

Heck, we get 6 months to pay for office visits and those are usually no more than a couple hundred dollars.

 

[Chaoster]

I don't know about your insurance. But when my wife was in the hospital last year the ins. covered the doctors and other providers that took our ins. The hospital would submit for example $25,000. the ins. would cover $21,000. We only pay $750 copay. $250 each night for $750 max. She spent 8 days in hospital. The trouble came when doctors not taking our ins. sent bills to us. Our ins. did not cover out of network doctors. I had haggle with the individual doctors office to settle the bills. If the bill was $1000, I asked if they would take $400. They usually do. I have not paid a full bill yet. I guess to them some money is better than none. I know with my ins. they don't get the full amount they submit anyway.

 

[sookie]

it really depends on the procedure.
For instance - if you had a surgery that was totally optional - then yes, a lot of the time they want you to pay your part almost immediately, mainly because they will usually depend on you to have planned on paying your copay before you went to surgery.
If this was an unplanned or emergency surgery, they realize that it was outside of your control and they will often work with you.

 

[bumbershoot]

it really depends on the procedure.
For instance - if you had a surgery that was totally optional - then yes, a lot of the time they want you to pay your part almost immediately, mainly because they will usually depend on you to have planned on paying your copay before you went to surgery.

Certainly their billing person would have gone through this with the OP ahead of time, though.

 

[sookie]

Certainly their billing person would have gone through this with the OP ahead of time, though.

you would hope. most of the time if this is pre-planned they will grab at least a portion of the expected co-payment in advance. but if they don't and it is something planned - then a lot of the time they won't see their money (not that the OP would do this - but that is the way it is in the medical field) if they already received the service. but if it is an emergency, really they have no option but to try to collect after the fact.

good luck op! i hope they work with you. maybe you can also look at some other options - i think i have heard some people on these boards talk about care credit which gives you 0% interest over a period of time!

 

[sl_underwood]

We have been there. Our daughter has a rare blood disorder and spent nearly an entire year in the hospital between chemo, setbacks, and needing to be in a sterilized environment. The hospital was not nice and they made no effort to help us by allowing us to make payments. They actually told us that since we had insurance they could not work with us. We ended up taking out a loan from our bank and paying it off so we wouldnt take a credit hit.

 

[Swan4Me]

What the heck is your insurance?

We have high deductable Ins
The most we pay out of pocket is $4500 a year.......it seems that is a lot leftover that isnt covered?

 

[disfan07]

What the heck is your insurance?

We have high deductable Ins
The most we pay out of pocket is $4500 a year.......it seems that is a lot leftover that isnt covered?

I don't know about the OP, but we have "great" insurance through my dads company (VERY large national company) and we have a "low" deductable (I think $500 Individual/$1500 family but our OOP max is $3000/individual and $8000/family)...so $9500 max OOP including deductable (not including copays and prescriptions...thats about another $7000-$8000 per year)

BUT, for us, copays are not covered in deductables ( I think its that way for most)...we pay probably around $4000 in copays every year

but OP...that does seem like a very high amount for you to be paying for 2 surgeries. Unless you have a very high deductable (I know some plans that have deductable over $5000). I would definitley check with your insurance company, the billing department, and recheck your EOB....was there something that was not in-network with your surgery?

The $8,000 from the past 6 months for us include: a liver biopsy, upper GI endoscopy, 2 ER visits, 2 MRIs, 30+ office visits, 2 holter monitors, and 1 stress echo

 

[Patience]

My daughter had surgery on her wrist at the beginning of November. The hospital contacted us two days before the surgery with an estimate of what our OOP expenses would be ($2500) and asked us if we wanted to pay it right then or if we wanted to be transferred to the billing department to set up a payment plan. We were expecting the bill so we paid it over the phone. The person I spoke to made it very clear that they would not do the surgery unless and until we either paid our estimate or had a payment plan set up with the billing department.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Definitely check your state laws! Most have some sort of protection for consumers with medical bills. In the state of Louisiana, so long as you pay at least $5 a month, a hospital can't send your bill to collections or let the bill put a bad mark on your credit for non-payment - with $5 a month, the bill is considered current.

 

[apnep]

I'm stuck with about $4K of what they didn't cover...I can't pay this all off at once and want to pay it off monthly. The woman in billing tells me that if it's not paid in full within 9 weeks (impossible), they send it out to a collection agency

Usually, if you call the billing department at the hospital, they will work a deal with you. They can even give you a discount too so don't let them harrass you! If you pay the bill in full they can give you up to a 20% discount. And I know that if you have a great deal of debt they can give you an even deeper discount. I have heard this about some friends of my mom.

My DH has been in the hospital, and DS for tonsils and each time I have called to settle, they give us a discount for paying in full and that has been with different hospitals. I can't see why they would be sending it to collections if you are paying monthly on it. I would call back and ask to speak to a supervisor.

Good luck with your back and your bill.

 

[MK2010]

Definitely check your state laws! Most have some sort of protection for consumers with medical bills. In the state of Louisiana, so long as you pay at least $5 a month, a hospital can't send your bill to collections or let the bill put a bad mark on your credit for non-payment - with $5 a month, the bill is considered current.

This is the same in Tx. also! My daughter spent 3 days in the hospital at the beginning of Dec. We haven't started paying yet because we're waiting on all the bills. (We'll have to make a payment by the end of this month.) We'll pay the Dr.s first and then make payments to the hospital. By the time its all said and done we'll pay between $2500-$3000 for this hospital stay and she now has regular monthly medical expenses between $100-$150/ month. There went our trip to Disney. The good news? I have a happy, healthy daughter that I will enjoy for years to come. There is nothing better than that.