Marshall Allen explains how to negotiate medical bills: request an itemized statement and compare it to your medical record for errors, check posted hospital prices against FairHealthConsumer.org benchmarks, and use a 30-day warning letter or small claims court if charges are wrong or inflated.
It's the ultimate example of adding insult to injury. After already dealing with a health problem, you get hit with a huge bill. Well, take heart. Christina has ways to help negotiate a fair deal on your medical costs.
A quick trip to the doctor can cost a pretty penny year after year.
Americans call the high cost of health care their number one financial concern. We spend twice as much per person on health care in the United States compared to the average for citizens of other developed countries.
They are artificially inflammat, inflating the prices and everything in health care is negotiable.
We spoke with author of Never Pay the First Bill and Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win Marshall Allen to learn how. And it starts with getting an itemized bill.
Often when you go to the doctor or the hospital, you get a bill that's just a summary of the charges. But that would be like going to the grocery store and getting one charge.
For all the groceries in your basket.
And it's incredible how common it is for additional charges to be added to medical bills. And so you can just, just look item by item and you can see.
Did I receive this service? Did I receive this service?
Go down the list and confirm that.
Those are services that you actually received.
Or compare your bill to your medical records.
The billing records should not include charges.
For anything that's not documented in your medical record.
Next, check for price gouging.
There is no reason that one patient should be paying much more than another patient for the exact same service at the exact same facility.
Marshall says that's what happens since insurance companies negotiate different rates.
But hospitals are now required by the federal government to post all of their prices on their website in a spreadsheet. I mean the cash prices and the discounted negotiated rates they have with every insurance company that they serve.
You can also look at a website.
Called fairhealthconsumer.org you can plug the billing code into fairhealthconsumer.org and it will tell you what the average price is that's paid by insurance plans in your community for each of those different services that you receive.
Finally can test the prices.
I have a letter in my book.
That'S a 30 day warning letter, frankly.
Where if you're being price gouged or if you're being charged for something inaccurate.
You can sue them in small claims court. When you file a case in small claims court, it forces the people on.
The other side to hire an attorney.
At a cost of hundreds of dollars an hour to defend themselves against a healthcare bill. That might only be worth a few.
Hundred dollars or a few thousand dollars.
So small claims court really flips the.
Power balance in favor of patients.
We are using these tips to get the best deal on healthcare.
Marshall Allen, "Never Pay the First Bill' Part 1 | The Ovation Show w/ Dan Labroad
