|  According to Johnson’s notion,” Hospitals are huge moneymakers," some overcharges are mistakes, but many are deliberate. Hospitals have become highly innovative when it comes to billing, and ordinary citizens have no idea that they are being ripped off.
In order to save yourself from coming in this track, go through these points--
1) If your hospitalization isn't for an emergency, examine your insurance policy to find out just what it will cover and how much it will pay. Be sure to thoroughly review the section on "exceptions and exclusions." It will relay you what your plan will not cover.
2) Make a call to the hospital's billing department and ask them what you will be charged for the room.
3) Ask your doctor to estimate your cost of treatment. Also, ask if you can bring your regular prescriptions from home in order to escape from paying for medications administered at the hospital.
4) Make sure that everyone who will be treating you -- the surgeon, anesthesiologist, radiologist, pathologist, etc. -- participates in your insurance plan.
5) If you can, keep your own log of tests, medications, and treatments. If you are not able to, inquire your friends or any other acquaintance to do it for you.
6) At some point you will get an explanation of benefits (EOB) from your insurance company (if you're on Medicare, you will receive a summary notice). It will say, "This is not a bill." Better don’t make mistake by throwing it into a garbage-bin. Examine it. It will tell you how much the hospital is charging, what your insurance plan will cover, and how much money you will have to shell out from your pocket in deductibles and co-payments.
7) Never clear your account before leaving the hospital -- even if you're told that it's required.
8) When you get your bill, read it carefully. Compare it to the log you made, to the EOB, and to the estimate of costs you requested before you were admitted.
9) If there are items you don't understand, call the billing department and your insurer, and ask them to explain. Don't accept bills that use terms like "lab fees," or "miscellaneous fees." Demand an itemization. If you don't get satisfaction from the hospital billing department, you probably won't appeal in writing to the hospital administrator or government official for investigation.
10) If you are still messing up with your head, ask for an itemized bill as well as your medical records to prove whether or not you received the treatments and medications you've been billed for.
Hospital Association and other groups are trying to develop more consumer-friendly billing. They’re aiming for easy-to-read bills and printed pamphlets that will help consumers understand hospital-speak. Until that happens, however, consumers will be on their own.
|
Search Project
