Medical Bills

It is nearly a full time job to keep track of medical bills. We have been fortunate not to have a ton of instances that brought on a lot of medical bills at once. But in the 3-4 times that we have, I have always (not sometimes...always) found an error in the billing. It happened again today at the pharmacy...

My son needed a prescription. I wheeled up and was told the total today was $25. I do have an insurance background, so it's part of my normal routine to say: is that after insurance has been applied? To which the reply was: oh no, we don't have any insurance listed on your son's account. Now, I have an account at Walgreens and so does my husband. It would be easy to assume the insurance information is listed for everyone in our household, assume that meds are darn expensive, pay the $25 and be on our way. Instead, we spent an extra 5 minutes in line, ironed out the information, and paid $7.99.

A few more examples since the topic is fresh in my mind...

When my son was born, he was premature and spent 2 weeks in the hospital. Cost: about $60000. Both my husband and I had health insurance through our employers at the time, so I did not expect any bills. After a bout 3-4 months, the bills started coming, fast and furious. I spent a lot of time on the phone...if I pieced it all together, I probably spent the equivalent of 1 full day on the phone. Once we sorted out that there was insurance, that there was actually two insurances, whose birthday came first in the year (I'm serious, this is how they determine which parent's insurance is primary), we never saw another bill.

When my son came home from the hospital after he was born, we had some medical equipment in our home for about a month. About a year after, I got a bill for the equipment. One phone call and the hospital was reminded of our insurance. A few weeks later a letter arrived from my insurance advising the hospital did not submit their bill in a timely manner and the claim was denied. A few months after that I received a statement that our other insurance had picked up a % of the bill. I called to check on the balance and it was written off...we owed nothing.

My husband needed dental work. Our dentist had us request a preauthorization from our insurance company so we would know what the coverage, if any, would be. We received a letter from our insurance stating that insurance would cover the work at 90%. After the work was done, we received a denial letter from insurance. I followed the appeals procedure on the back of the denial and sent a copy of the letter the same insurance company had provided us previously. We were reimbursed for 90% of the charges.

Luckily I have an insurance background and a lot of time on my hands. Put it together and I am able to iron out who owes what on a medical bill nearly to the penney. Even if you don't have the time or experience to deal with this stuff, know that making the time and educating yourself on the process can keep your family from spending money they do not owe.