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5 Tips to Start Paying Off Your Medical Bills
Most Americans with outstanding medical bills are in collections.
Forty-six percent owe a balance for healthcare expenses, according to recent Debt.com research. And more than half (56 percent) of them have been contacted by a collection agency. Sadly, it doesn’t take a huge bill.
More than a third of Americans told Debt.com they couldn’t afford between $1,000 and $5,000 worth of medical debt. When a healthcare procedure is out of your budget, it pays to know your options.
Click or swipe through to read five tips to get started paying off your medical bills…
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1. Take a look at the bill
Before anything, ask for an itemized bill and verify the information is correct.
Is that your name? Do the dates match? Was that procedure performed? Are there duplicate charges? Roughly, 80% of medical bills contain at least one error, according to personal finance site NerdWallet.[1] Don’t assume a mistake wasn’t made.
2. Find out what insurance will cover
If you have insurance, the hospital or healthcare provider will file a claim with the insurance company. It’ll then send you an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) outlining what qualifies for reimbursement. Compare your medical bill before paying anything.
A survey from Consumer Reports found “nearly 3 in 10 Americans with insurance had a medical debt sent to a collection agency."[2] One-fourth of them didn’t even know they owed a bill.
Health insurance companies make mistakes, too. You can call to ensure the claim is correct.
3. Set up a payment plan
Call the healthcare provider and ask if they can arrange affordable monthly payments.
You can also negotiate with the hospital billing department. After confirming the information in your bill and EOB, do research on pricing.
You can search through health insurance claim databases like Healthcare Bluebook or FAIR Health for prices in your area. Then compare prices on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services website by using the billing code.
4. Use a medical credit card
Trading one debt for another is only helpful when it saves you money. There are more than a few instances where using a credit card to pay medical debt can be a smart move.
Many medical credit cards offer a six to 12 month period of zero percent interest. Add up the payments. If you can afford that balance by the time that window closes it’s worth it.
If not, you'll get stuck paying the deferred interest.
5. Hire a medical billing advocate
A medical billing advocate will typically charge a percentage of what their clients save on medical bills. Others charge an hourly rate ranging from $75 to $350.
Medical bill advocates are experts and know the ins and outs of medical billing and what procedures tend to cost. They review medical bills and negotiate settlements every day.
Hiring a medical advocate is only worth it if their fees cost less than your medical bills
This article by Joe Pye was originally published on Debt.com.
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Published by Debt.com, LLC
