Debt Free

Getting stuck in a hospital, with the little TV that only changes channels up, and the view of the construction in the adjoining wing is bad enough, but too many people also pay more than they need to for the privilege. The stories of hospital over billing are rampant. As medical expenses, especially those for lengthy hospital stays, are one of the leading causes of bankruptcy and other financial problems, it behooves you to actually scrutinize that huge stack of bills you’ll be sent following such a stay. 

Ten years ago, the Federal government sued 62 of the 70 hospitals in Oregon for over billing Medicare, and fined them $900,000. Since that only amounted to a little over $14,500 per hospital, I don’t think it had too much of a deterrent effect. At least it sure didn’t seem to scare any other medical facilities around the country. In 2001, Harlem Hospital in New York agreed to pay $2.3 million in fines resulting from double billing Medicare over a 4 year period.  Last year, the New Jersey Hospital Company had to pay a wowie, zowie $265 million in fines for over billing Medicare and Medicaid. Lest you think that hospital only screw the feds, think again. If they’ll try that kind of crap on the federal government, who has a pile of resources, why do you think they’d think twice about pulling the wool over your eyes?

Currently, hospitals throughout South Carolina are being investigated for over charging uninsured patients, basically charging that uninsured patients were billed substantially more for the same services than those with insurance. Baystate Medical Center in Boston was sued in 2004. Many hospitals have a sort of multi-tiered billing system, with a myriad of fees and charges. The uninsured get none of the negotiated discounts that insured patients enjoy, and are charged, in some cases, 2 or 3 times higher rates for the same products and services than insured patients.

In addition, many (both insured and uninsured) have found that they were either billed multiple times for a medication or procedure, charged for an incorrect number of days in their room, or were charged for medications or procedures they didn’t receive. Fighting against such practices can be a time consuming and complex undertaking, which is one reason so few people choose to do it. If you are uninsured or well past your insurance benefit however, a few mistakes on your hospital bill is all it takes to plunge you deep into debt.

If you don’t mind being in debt for products and/or services you never received well hey, we should do some business together, I need a new yacht. For the rest of us, such things make us mad enough to spit quarters. How can you counteract the problem so you don’t end with undeserved debt? There are 3 main things you must do to avoid getting stuck with an inaccurate hospital bill.

1. Take your bill home where you can wade through the pages of complicated billing codes, medical terms, and abbreviations. If you were in for a while, figure it’ll take you twice the length of your stay to actually decipher your bill. Pay only a portion of your bill when you leave the hospital. Most hospitals will let you work out a payment plan with their financial office. That will give you the necessary time to wade through the statement.
2. Go over your bill with a fine toothed comb. Unless you work at a law office or other medical facility, you’ve probably never been confronted with such a baffling array of terms and language before.

1. Check the dates so you’re not billed for days you weren’t even in the hospital.
2. Look at each procedure and medication to ensure you actually received everything you’re being charged for. Just because it was ordered doesn’t mean you actually got it. Many times procedures and medications are ordered, only to be replaced by another procedure, or eliminated entirely. In such cases, it’s not uncommon for the patient to be billed for both. Conversely, make sure you’re not being billed more than once for any of the procedures, unless you actually had multiple instances of the product or service in question. That kind of over charging happens all time.
3. Make sure you are not charged for doctors or other specialists on your hospital and from the specialist’s office or group. These guys and gals are expensive enough once, you sure as hell don’t want to pay them twice.
4. If there is a section titled miscellaneous or other similar term, get everything in it itemized. Those kind of lumped together charges are ripe for abuse.
5. Look out for the $10 Tylenol. If you’re being charged way, way more than seems correct, look into it further.

3.   Contact the medical facility’s financial services office or patient accounts department to rectify any errors you have uncovered. Do this as soon as possible, like within 30 seconds of discovering all the errors. This is where not paying your entire bill on discharge comes in handy. If you’ve already paid, you’ll have to try and get a refund check. Good f’in luck! If you can’t get them to assist you, craft a very nice letter, including copies of all the bills containing accuracies, to your state Attorney General’s office. That usually makes people stand up and take notice.

Hopefully you or a family member never ends up in the hospital. If you do, maybe your bills will be correct. Hopefully these steps will keep you from getting undeserved debt. Good Luck!