Recently, I spoke with a friend who asked me to write a post about medical costs. On three separate occasions my friend believed she and her husband were inappropriately charged for medical visits. Her husband had a procedure, which he did not need and in fact was contraindicated for his condition, to the tune of $1,000. She went for a gynecological exam, was asked about menopausal symptoms, for which the doctor wrote a prescription, and was billed $300 for two separate visits. Yes, the insurance company told her, two different things were done so they could bill twice for one office visit, even thought it was a 15 minute appointment. Finally, she had a simple procedure, nitric oxide to remove a actinic keratosis, which lasted no more than 5 minutes and again a high bill.
In all three instances, the doctor never explained what the charges were going to be and the visits were along the lines of “are you having hot flashes? I’d be happy to write a prescription for you.” “Looks like these keratosis need to be burned off.” Needless to say, she was shocked when the bills arrived. Her comment was “next time, before they do anything, I’m going to find out what it’s going to cost.”
With her comments in mind, below are things you can do to reduce out of pocket expenses and avoid being over charged.
• If you have health insurance, understand your policy. What does it cover? What are the deductibles? Is prior authorization required? Since this can be very confusing, there are free websites like Simplee, which links to your health insurance and creates a personal-finance-made-easy tool. This allows the user to track their deductibles and overall health insurance. I haven’t tried this tool, so if you have, please post about your experience.
• Let your provider know right up front that you have a limited amount of money for medical care and do need to know prices beforehand. Many providers don’t know the prices, but that is starting to change as more consumers are requesting this information.
• If your doctor recommends testing ask specific questions: what information will be obtained from the test; what are the costs; will the results of the test impact treatment; if you can’t afford it, can you wait until you can or can the provider help to arrange a reduced fee. The same types of questions can be asked about medical procedures and even prescriptions-is this absolutely necessary; what happens if I opt not to do it; are their free or reduced fee options.
• If you find that your provider’s answers do not justify the expense, you have the right to say “no.”
• If you do need the test, procedure etc. check pricing using on-line tools. If you need a prescription, ask for samples and check out Drug Savings Tool.
• Check your bill. Go through your bills with a fine tooth comb. Studies indicate that medical bills, particularly hospital bills, are not accurate. Read Do you Check Your Medical Bill for more information and by all means, when you find something, call and haggle for what you feel is an appropriate price. I know plenty of medical providers that do this all the time with their own bills.
• An excellent resource for learning new ways to help reduce out of pocket expenses is the Out of Pocket Blog. This website was developed to educate consumers about true health care prices. Also, check out No Job, No Insurance, No Care: What are my options?
Net medical expense could be frustrating whenever your are out of your income. These problems usually occur on an unexpected day or time. You can prevent these by watching your financing or by saving for these unexpected time!
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