Are You Being Charged Incorrectly

Having medical insurance is no guarantee you won't be over billed. Many are finding inaccuracies in the bills they receive from hospitals and caregivers. The problem is less uncommon than one would think. It could be sloppiness or it could mean the right hand isn't talking to the left hand. Hospital billing procedures often do leave a lot to be desired, since there are so many involved in the patient's care. But errors do occur, and it is a good idea to do a line by line review of your hospital bill.

In one recent example, a young couple, he a doctor and she a nurse, had a bad billing experience. The husband had been hospitalized for a short time, and the wife began to review the bill line by line. She discovered charges for administering one drug 7 times per day, when it was only prescribed 4 times per day. The hospital had also made an error which caused her husband to have to stay an additional day. Because of her nursing background, she knew she didn't have to pay for the extra day because of a medical mistake. She also found a charge for $875 for one drug that she knew should be around $80. Someone likely placed a decimal in the wrong place. Overall she found nearly $7000 of overcharges on the bill.

So some good advice to all is to ask for an itemized bill and make sure that you check through it carefully. If you don't know much about them, then pay cash and sit down with your doctor, not the billing department, to review each individual charge on your bill and what it means and take notes and ask questions. Finding out what you are being billed for, and don't just accept it at face value.

There are also resources that you can use to help you find out more information about your bill, there are patient advocates available and if you are having problems dealing with your insurance company you can contact the insurance commissioner in the state you live in, and they can help you.

Medical insurance is there to protect us in case we need it. And hospital stays are unpleasant enough without having to deal with a bill laden with codes and numbers. The hospital can decipher this for you and they will. We know medical bills can be filled with errors and you should not have to pay for things you did not receive. So do your homework, put a little effort into it, and you'll find that the resolution of the errors will work out as it should.

By: Ethan R Kalvin

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