We all have heard horror stories of hospitals charging $75 for an aspirin. The truth is that there is some adminstration fee incorporated into that $75, but nonetheless it does seem a bit steep. The result, however, is that these stories cause people not to trust hospitals with regard to their bill. Overbilling is not an uncommon thing, and it is always a good idea to review a hospital bill line by line.
One young nurse recently had an eye opening experience as she was reviewing the bills from her husband's recent hospital stay. It appears he had been scheduled to be released on a particular day, and that wasn't communicated somehow, causing him to have to stay an extra day. There were excessive charges for administering medication 7 times per day when it was only prescribed 4 times per day. And then there was the charge for $875 for one item that she knew from her hospital work should have only been around $80. Clerical error. By the time she was finished, she had discovered nearly $7000 of incorrect charges.
So some good advice to all is to ask for an itemized bill and make sure that you check through it carefully. If you don't know much about them, then pay cash and sit down with your doctor, not the billing department, to review each individual charge on your bill and what it means and take notes and ask questions. Finding out what you are being billed for, and don't just accept it at face value.
There are other options to help you come to a satisfactory resolution. Most cities have patient advocacy groups available to offer you free advice. They can direct you on what steps you need to take to get things corrected. And your state insurance commissioner can advise you if you need help with your insurance company.
We have health insurance so that we know things will be taken care of when something happens to us or a loved one, but don't fall prey to all the codes and numbers and just pay the bill as it is written. It is not uncommon for a medical bill to have errors, and you could be paying for things that you are not responsible for. So do your homework, and take the time to go over your hospital bill line by line, and you will more than likely find that the erroneous charges can easily be corrected.
One young nurse recently had an eye opening experience as she was reviewing the bills from her husband's recent hospital stay. It appears he had been scheduled to be released on a particular day, and that wasn't communicated somehow, causing him to have to stay an extra day. There were excessive charges for administering medication 7 times per day when it was only prescribed 4 times per day. And then there was the charge for $875 for one item that she knew from her hospital work should have only been around $80. Clerical error. By the time she was finished, she had discovered nearly $7000 of incorrect charges.
So some good advice to all is to ask for an itemized bill and make sure that you check through it carefully. If you don't know much about them, then pay cash and sit down with your doctor, not the billing department, to review each individual charge on your bill and what it means and take notes and ask questions. Finding out what you are being billed for, and don't just accept it at face value.
There are other options to help you come to a satisfactory resolution. Most cities have patient advocacy groups available to offer you free advice. They can direct you on what steps you need to take to get things corrected. And your state insurance commissioner can advise you if you need help with your insurance company.
We have health insurance so that we know things will be taken care of when something happens to us or a loved one, but don't fall prey to all the codes and numbers and just pay the bill as it is written. It is not uncommon for a medical bill to have errors, and you could be paying for things that you are not responsible for. So do your homework, and take the time to go over your hospital bill line by line, and you will more than likely find that the erroneous charges can easily be corrected.
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