How To Avoid Being Overcharged On Medical Bills

http://media.boston.cbslocal.com/CBSBOS_2605201523181600000AA.mp4 BOSTON (CBS) – If you have paid a medical bill recently, there’s a good chance you paid too much. It’s a concept Jeremy Winetraub now understands well. While still recovering from hernia surgery, he got hit with a $20,000 bill from the hospital. “It was horrifying,” he said. Jeremy’s doctor was in his insurance company’s network, what he didn’t know was the hospital was not. They were looking for Jeremy to cover the costs his insurance company would not. “We pay a lot for insurance and then to have a $20,000 bill. We were losing sleep over it,” he said. Stories like Jeremey’s are becoming increasingly common as the world of medical billing gets more complicated. That’s why Rebecca Palm founded CoPatient, a company which helps patients reduce their bills. “We typically find opportunities for them [patients] to save money on about 75% – 80% of the bills that people submit to us,” she said. There are all kinds of reasons for those surprise bills and it’s not always the out-of-network issue. Sometimes, according to Palm, the bills are just plain wrong. “Errors in medical bills are incredibly common,” she said. The first step to catching mistakes is to make sure you have all the information. Palm pointed out bills for hospital stays tend to be vague, with few details accompanying the total amount due. Hospitals will gladly print out a detailed, itemized bill if...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Local News Seen On WBZ-TV Syndicated Local Health Insurance Hospital Kathryn Hauser medical bills Source Type: news