Top Tips for Negotiating Medical Bills and Lowering Healthcare Costs

 

Facing an overwhelming medical bill that strains your budget can be an incredibly stressful and uncertain experience. The dollar amounts of hospital charges, lab tests, ambulance fees, and insurance explanations of benefits often seem arbitrary and inflated.  

 

Thankfully, research shows medical bills consistently contain errors or overcharges. And more importantly – nearly all healthcare expenses remain open to negotiation even after services render. Patients retaining their power as diligent consumers can lead to significant cost savings.

 

This article shares pro tips for negotiating medical bills down from the initial invoice amounts along with other healthcare cost lowering strategies. Learn how to take control of your financial health!

Verify Bill Charges and Confirm What You Owe 

 

Do not start freaking out on tests without verifying whether you actually owe so much or not! Many patients end up paying more than their bills because of simple mistakes such as:

 

• Paying the full amount after surpassing their health insurance deductible
• Errors in coding where procedures are charged more than they should 
• Double billing for tests or treatments covered before  
• Medical services billed but not received 
• Out-of network rates that are highly unreasonable
• No recognition of previously remitted amounts or credits

 

Look through every line item on multiple pages to see if the services correspond with what you believe occurred during your treatment. Above all else, confirm that your insurance company has correctly applied your deductibles, network, pre-authorizations, and extent of coverage.

Negotiate Directly With the Hospital 

 

If you have identified any suspicious charges, exorbitant expenses, unnecessary services, or disputes between insurers – then you will be better off aiming at haggling down pricing with a hospital right through its billing department. You can do this:

 

1. Ask for detailed break downs on how costs are computed. In principle hospitals are expected to publish clear justifications from charge masters list however they don’t!

 

2. Use industry average charges as a guide like the Healthcare Bluebook. Strongly oppose prices that are way above the average

 

3. Do you qualify for any financial aid programs available to uninsured or lower income patients? These are non-profit hospitals which benefit from tax exemptions that demand that they assist in offsetting their operational costs.

 

4. Write letters of negotiation politely appealing to economic hardship thereby explaining one’s ability to pay reduced amounts through either lump-sum settlement or structured longer term payments plans. Provide evidence showing reasonable regional healthcare market rates supporting suggested amounts.

 

The worst thing they can say is “no” after the first round of negotiations. But the act of dialoguing itself has forced a greater transparency about care pricing, and as such, raises many new questions which may lead it to be called into question for being unreasonably expensive.

Leverage Medical Bill Advocacy Services

 

When dealing with overpriced bills alone becomes too much, work with medical billing advocacy professionals who have shown success in cost-cutting endeavors.

 

1. Medical Cost Advocates – This involves experts trained in medicine who scrutinize medical bills line by line looking out for mistakes, ensuring correct insurance claims are made, uncovering errors in charging and negotiate discounted lump sum settlements with health care providers and aggressively challenging decisions made by insurers. For this service, fees range between 10-25% of savings achieved.

 

2. Healthcare Sharing Ministries – For the religiously observant, joining healthcare cost sharing cooperative organizations like Liberty HealthShare, Medi-Share, and others enable crowdfunded medical bill payments at lower negotiated group prices often over 50% savings. Monthly premiums required.

 

Having tenacious professional support in your billing corner goes a long way towards minimizing out of pocket maximums.

Appeal Denied Insurance Claims 

 

Far too often, needed procedures get denied by overly restrictive insurance protocols. Don’t take initialcoverage decisions at face value. Formally appealing decisions brings startling success helping overturn original conclusions.

 

1. Resubmit claim packets with strong medical evidence from your doctor emphasizing necessity of the care in question to manage illnesses, pain levels, underlying conditions, or simply basic quality of life factors. 

 

2. Highlight clinical efficiency backing the denied service whether imaging, prescriptions, surgery, therapy, etc. Show why alternatives fail addressing root issues, or compare efficacy rates favoring the care you need. 

 

3. Gather independent medical opinions from other specialist physicians validating the necessity of the initially denied treatments matching your symptoms and health profile if existing evidence feels light.

 

4. Appeal verbally as well early asking insurance reps what specifically deemed the claim not medically necessary or ineligible? Then directly address those concerns across written statements and communication trails.

 

Digging deeper into unfavorable decisions brings welcomed scrutiny and better probabilities overturning original restricted thinking by insurers.

Slash Medication Costs 

 

For those requiring life-long prescriptions treating chronic illnesses, prescription drug costs often spiral out of control even with health insurance coverage in place.

 

Thankfully, many proven strategies help minimize monthly medication costs:

 

1. Enroll in prescription drug assistance programs offered by pharmaceutical companies providing free or heavily subsidized medications for lower income households unable to afford vital name brand therapies.

 

2. Explore $4 (320 INR) generic programs at major chains like Walmart, Kroger, Target, etc on common generic drugs saving over insurance co-pays in many cases. Lists of eligible medications available on program websites.

 

3. Order 90-day mail supply when possible through insurance preferred mail order pharmacies for the lowest co-pay rates. Even without insurance, sites like CostPlus Drugs provide steep discounts on mail order generics.

 

4. Download apps giving cash back rewards and coupons to offset prescription costs. Popular examples include GoodRx, WellRx, and SingleCare. Links easily to insurance.

 

5. Split higher dose pills safely when physician approved. Often, a single higher dose tablet costs the same insurance co-pay as two or three smaller dose pills. Cutting one 200mg tablet on half equals two 100mg doses for less.

 

6. Review insurance formulary tiers annually cross-checking lowest cost therapeutic substitutes during open enrollment windows as new generic alternatives hit markets yearly allowing cheaper switches.

 

Slashing prescription costs safely offers huge savings over decades while maintaining health.

Final Thoughts  

 

Receiving unexpected astronomical medical bills undoubtedly causes tremendous angst and anxiety wondering how costs possibly get covered.

 

But hope always remains negotiating pricing relief armed with the right insider strategies and assertive determination channeling concerns constructively towards hospital billing departments, insurance appeals processes, physician validations, and medication cost saving avenues. 

 

Getting clear on exactly what you owe, identifying errors and overcharges, understanding reasonable rate benchmarks, and presenting economic hardship conditions gives necessary leverage re-opening conversations around managing unaffordable medical expenses. 

 

While certainly a messy, frustrating process, patients retaining rights questioning charges and dictating ability to pay terms places power back in your hands avoiding credit score damage. Once establishing equitable solutions whether lump-sum discounts or structured payments over time, make sure all agreements result in bills getting adjusted to settled amounts or written off completely as needed.

 

You’ve got this! Tackle medical debt head on and alleviate financial burdens for good.