I read somewhere sometime that people lose an average of $1,000 YEARLY in medical and insurance billing errors. The article said you should always be vigilant about checking over your bills and keeping records. Insurance companies can be lazy or downright corrupt in the amounts they bill. Doctors offices sort through lots of payments, confusing and elusive insurance agents. Often, bills come back with errors or incomplete payments. But since its usually been months since the actually visit, and the language itself can be so confusing, and service reps hours so inconvenient that even if you notice an inconsistency its easier to just pay the bill!
I'm sure I've overpaid my fair share. But this past year with Ezra I knew money would be tight for us, and bills would be coming in from many different places so I decided to be vigilant. Despite the inconvenience of checking bills, calling offices, calling companies all the while dealing with a newborn, I persevered. The results are still pending for further savings (or I guess I should say overall less spendings), but so far I have avoided paying $702 in false charges!
Some things I caught:
-incorrect treatment date billed by doctors and subsequently denied by my insurance
-wrong member ID number (dr office duplicated a digit in the middle of while coding)
-incorrect coding of services by dr's office
-random duplicate bill indicating additional (accidental) charges
Basically, I had to wade through a lot of technical language and ended up frequently calling my insurance and doctors' and labs. Anytime a bill looked too high, or if it didn't have an insurance payment I called. It took an average of 3 calls to get each bill resolved. I received several "final notices" that threatened collection agencies while I was working to get the payments worked out. Currently, I am even appealing my bill from Ezra's delivery back in June, which I think was grossly underpaid! Hopefully I'll get another couple hundred dollars knocked off, which will bring us right up to that $1,000 marker for the year! Guess whoever wrote that estimate was right!
So, word to the wise--read your bills before you pay them! Call your insurance companies (the 800 number on the back of your card) and ask them about it. Often they will go through the bill with you and itemize how much they paid and why. Or, if it is a mistake on the end of your dr's office, your rep can call with you on the line to get it resolved. It may be a lot of time and effort, but definitely worth it for the money saved!
3 comments:
That's insane! I wonder how much money I have overpaid in the past... I'm definitely going to be more diligent in checking my bills in the future because I can think of one or two times I've overpaid because I didn't think it was worth the hassle to challenge it.
Good advice, as always, little sister.
You're awesome. I think most people are actually more like me...it's too hard to make all the calls and spend the time asking all the questions while avoiding the pressure to just take the "easy" way out and pay what's on the bill.
So, I love you. You're awesome. And keep saving us money! :)
Did Nora come out in any of the phone calls?
Don't mess with this girl--she knows Hassaniya!!
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