Dealing with Medical Bills
When you or your loved ones are sick or injured, your top priority should be your health, but more often than not you’re more worried about the cost you’ll incur. Even if you have health insurance, you may receive a hefty medical bill that can make you feel like an ominous cloud is hanging over your head.
We’ve put together some advice on how to manage, dispute, and pay your medical bills.
Check the bill
Carefully go over your bills for errors to ensure you’re not getting billed for a treatment you haven’t actually received. If you suspect an error, you may want to ask your provider for an itemized bill for a detailed breakdown of all the costs charged to you.
Review your coverage
Your health insurance provider will present you with an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) along with the bill of the remaining amount. The EOB will tell you what charges you’re responsible for paying. Make sure to go over this document to confirm that your insurance company paid for everything covered in your plan.
Dispute errors
If your medical provider billed you incorrectly or your insurance did not pay for a procedure or treatment that is covered under your plan, call the company’s billing department to speak to a representative about the discrepancy.
When you make the call, be sure to have your bill in front of you and keep a careful record of who you spoke to, when you called, and the contents of the conversation. Be prepared to make multiple phone calls until you reach a party that can actually effect change.
Negotiate the balance
After you’ve reviewed and corrected any errors of the bill, the amount you owe can still be unmanageable. There’s no need to panic because you still have some options. Ask about a discounted rate if you offer to pay the whole amount up front or in a short time period. You may be offered or could ask for a payment plan that allows you to spread out the total bill in installments over several months or years to make the total cost more manageable.
Figure out funding
Once you’ve received your final bill amount, it’s important to pay your balance. We recommend avoiding putting the cost on a high-interest credit card so you don’t max out your available credit. You also don’t want to forget or ignore the bill because The debt caused by medical bills can have a major impact on your credit. While the bills can seem intimidating, remember there are many things you can do to get a hold of and manage these expenses.
Some of your payment options include; using your Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA) funds to cover the costs, looking over your budget and finding funds you can set aside to make payments toward your bill, or taking out a loan to take advantage of low-interest rates and flexible terms. AFFCU offers a Lifestyle Loan that can help you cover medical costs that insurance may not cover and we’ll send the funds directly to the provider.
