FINANCE
Tips to ease paying a large medical bill
Paying a large medical bill can be overwhelming, but there are steps you can take to ease the burden and manage the situation.
Medical debt is a serious problem in the US, a country without socialised medicine. According to research from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 41% of adults in the country face healthcare debt - 100 million people.
Get the wrong insurance or make a mistake in a filing and you could be staring down the barrel of a life-ruining bill that could throw you out of your house. We don’t want a debt to get as serious as that so let’s check out the alternatives.
Appeal
If your insurance company is not covering a large medical bill that you believe should be covered, you have the right to appeal their decision.
Ask for a detailed explanation of benefits (EOB) or a denial letter that outlines the specific reasons for the denial.
Find out the appeals process and file the appeal.
Don’t pay the asking price without checking
Carefully examine the bill to understand the charges and services rendered. Make sure you understand each line item and the associated costs.
Things to check for are tests that were not completed but paid for as well as errors.
“Make sure there’s not a mistake there. Mistakes are made, people bill for the wrong thing and send bills to the wrong patients sometimes. Don’t assume the bill is accurate,” Patricia Kelmar, senior director of Health Care Campaigns for U.S. PIRG EducationFund told CBS MoneyWatch.
Avoid credit cards like the plague
Hosptial debts do not accrue interest, while credit card debt does. If you are strugglign with hospital debts then paying with a credit card won’t help and will likely get you stuck deeper in the mire.