How do you fight unfair hospital bills in the US?

ems wrote: "
What I did in a situation similar to yours: I paid $10.00, sometimes $5.00 a month until the bill was paid off. That was the only way to get them off my back. No more letters or telephone calls.

I was told that in a hospital/doctor, etc., situation, as long as you pay 'something' they can't do a thing.

In my case totally accurate. "

But I've paid ALREADY. I paid my co-pay and my insurance company paid the remainder ( they are IN-network) with my insurance company - the hospital can't even tell me what the $423 is for - WHY it wasn't covered by my co-pay or insurance

This is a tough situation to be in. Hope its solved. Do not forget to speak to your state and congress representative.

johnthomasmacdonald wrote:ems wrote: "
What I did in a situation similar to yours: I paid $10.00, sometimes $5.00 a month until the bill was paid off. That was the only way to get them off my back. No more letters or telephone calls.

I was told that in a hospital/doctor, etc., situation, as long as you pay 'something' they can't do a thing.

In my case totally accurate. "

But I've paid ALREADY. I paid my co-pay and my insurance company paid the remainder ( they are IN-network) with my insurance company - the hospital can't even tell me what the $423 is for - WHY it wasn't covered by my co-pay or insurance

You may never find out. Now it's about getting them to stop hounding you.

johnthomasmacdonald wrote:Now I'm getting the hospital billing department calling me at home in the evenings -

Next time they call you, tell them you are recording the call and that they are "harassing" you. And, make sure you are actually recording the call.

DiverCTHunter wrote:Write a letter detailing what happened, include copies of any paperwork and have it notarized.

Send a copy to the hospital, your state Attorney General, state Medicaid office and state Insurance Commission. The ones to the AG and the Commission will need to be sent registered mail (~$5/letter).

If you have a local television station nearby, contact their Consumer Affairs desk as well. "Big Bad Hospital" stories like this are classic slow-news-day material.

John, this is what I would do. Fight for what is right. this kind of stuff is why our medical system is in such a mess in the country, we are all going broke over it.

I would fight it. The bad thing is that even if your insurance papers say you owe nothing, the papers that were sent to the hospital may say something different. I have seen this happen. I am a medical billing advocate and I would be glad to help you out with this. This is what I deal with on a daily basis.

Deja0822 wrote:"I would fight it. The bad thing is that even if your insurance papers say you owe nothing, the papers that were sent to the hospital may say something different. I have seen this happen. I am a medical billing advocate and I would be glad to help you out with this. This is what I deal with on a daily basis."

Hello, sure, thanks for the help. I have the papers sitting in front of me, both the bill and the insurance statement - when i talked to the insurance company last month they said they were re-faxing their statement to the hospital showing that I owed nothing. The statement i have states: " PAYMENT HAS BEEN MADE TO PROVIDER OF SERVICES. and in SIX place on the statement it states: Subscriber Responsibility 0.00 Total

Talking to the hospital their position seems to be: " we don't care what the rules are, we have decided you owe us $423.76 and we want it "

someone here said that they will sell this "debt" to a collection agency for 10 cents on the dollar so basically they don't care whether the debt is valid or not since they know that they won't be sanctioned for it and it is like printing money for them - maybe some people pay the full amount and if not they get 10% automatically

On Horizon's statement, they write: IF YOU SUSPECT HEALTH CARE FRAUD, PLEASE CALL OUR SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT HOTLINE - 1-800-614-2048

I've found it almost impossible to be able to distinguish between criminal fraud and normal business practices of US health care companies so i wasn't sure if i should call

johnthomasmacdonald wrote: On Horizon's statement, they write: IF YOU SUSPECT HEALTH CARE FRAUD, PLEASE CALL OUR SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT HOTLINE - 1-800-614-2048

I've found it almost impossible to be able to distinguish between criminal fraud and normal business practices of US health care companies so i wasn't sure if i should call

I WOULD call the number & report this as HEALTH CARE FRAUD because it is fraud to break a contract between the hospital and YOUR insurance provider. This call may help to get the ball rolling. Oh, and if you can, tape the phone call.
Jen

I think you'll only get a resolution if someone at the insurance company grabs them where the hair is short, tells them to stop, and follows up on it.

John,
Call the hospital's patient advocate. You should be able to reach them by calling the main number and asking for the patient advocate. Tell them that you have insurance paper work that shows you do not owe anything. See if they can help. In most cases they can get it resolved. I would be more than happy to do this myself, however, this site will not allow me to post my email address and I do not want to do anything against the rules.
Gina

Deja0822 wrote: ... I would be more than happy to do this myself, however, this site will not allow me to post my email address and I do not want to do anything against the rules. Gina

Gina, If you were a registered member here you would be able to post your e-mail and a lot of other things that Guest's can't do. I am sure your help and expertise in this area could be a big benefit for this forum . Please think about it .

John

John,
I am now registered.
Gina

Deja0822 wrote:John,
I am now registered.
Gina

Gina,

Thanks for registering and welcome to the Forum! One benefit you now have is to be able to PM members or they can PM you. This alone can be very helpful to those here who are looking for medical billing information/assistance, but don't want to post it for everyone else to see. There is also a nice Chat feature above in the main Forum header at the top of the page.

John

Somewhere in the common area of the hospital, there is a notice of accreditation. Check when it is due for recertification ( normally a two year certificate ) and who the agency is along with where to file complaints. Problems like this can cause them to lose accreditation or at least delay it. It may not be a bad idea to notify Medicare of the billing problem asking the question "If this is happening to me, how many Medicare patients is this happening to?". Send copies of your complaints to the hospital administration.

Sleep Well

Steve

Hospitals & doctor's offices pull this game all the time. They know the billing is BS, but they ACT like it's real until you fight with the right words - and supervisor. Then they just say, "Oops, our mistake! Sorry!"

But along the way, a lot of people don't even object, they just pay. Money in the bank - even if only one in ten pays, it's still worth it - money in the bank.