Negotiate Your Doctors’ Bills!
The idea that patients should take control of what they pay for medical care is taking hold among personal finance columnists. Noting “employer-provided health plan deductibles have risen 47 percent since 2009,” Mandi Woodruff of Yahoo! Finance has some good, common sense, advice on figuring out how much to pay for medical care. Here’s the first tip:
Figure out your medical billing code. Every procedure has a unique billing code (a unique five-number code you’d find on your doctor’s or hospital bill next to the service). Once you’ve got the right code, that makes it easier to call around to compare rates. Just be sure to describe exactly what you’re looking for; for example, an MRI of your lower back will have a different billing code than an MRI of your abdomen.
I agree absolutely. Nevertheless, this shows how far we have to go. Whatever good or service you buy as a consumer has some sort of inventory or billing code in the provider’s system, whether it’s a hardware store or a law office.
As a customer, have you ever had to figure that out?
This is good advice although it’s not exactly new. It’s been around since at least the early 80’s. It appears that today’s trend toward more cost-sharing in insurance benefits makes it worthwhile to pay more attention to the advice.
American consumers seem able to inform themselves when shopping for a car; or when purchasing appliances; or when buying TV’s, computers, or other electronic devices. But we have historically resisted knowing anything about our medical bills.
I think it will be a good thing for a lot more people to know a lot more about their medical bills.
You can also try to get ahold of your state’s list of Medicare allowances for all procedures by CPT code and then compare what you are being charged with what the gummint pays for the same treatment.
I had to file an FOIA (open-records request) to get the info from Texas, but armed with the price schedule, I was able to negotiate discounts of $1000 twice.
One problem is that hospitals and docs are reluctant to give you the CPT code, in keeping with their general policy of keeping all patients in the dark. When they tried that on me, I told them that, like an insurance company, I wouldn’t even consider paying the bill without a CPT code.
Thank you. I am not sure what you mean by “your state’s Medicare allowances” because they are determined by contractors working for the federal government. Perhaps you are just referring to geographic modifiers.
They are easily available at the CMS website.
I understand Ralph Weber Medi Bid is like the Priceline for medical services
Don Levit
Maybe he’d say Priceline is the Medibid for everything else!
Most consumer products are on a shelf in the store, or pictured in a catalog. So price shopping is easy.
Electronic products seem to be so standardized that an internet shopper can find a cheaper deal online while they are standing in another store.
Going to see the doctor is a lot closer to seeing an attorney. You have to wait for the recommendation before you shop.
Since a doctor may be putting his hands inside you, it is human nature not to challenge or dispute such a person. Their goodwill is incredibly important to you, in a way that the goodwill of the Best Buy clerk can never be.
Checking into a hospital is even more complex.
During the birth of one of my children, I refused to sign one of those horrid waivers where one agrees to pay what ever is charged.
My wife was given very bad treatment by all the hospital personnel. Big victory.
Good for you. This speaks to my “common law” proposal. If you had signed such a waiver, with your wife in labor, and the hospital sent you an outrageous bill, do you think a jury would have found you signed it under duress?
I’ve never had children. Does the ob-gyn and family decide which hospital to use beforehand? There’s no reason why not, in which case there is no reason for costs to be fully disclosed well before the fact.
I believe that in most cases involving scheduled surgery, the patient goes wherever their chosen surgeon has privileges.
Finding a cheaper hospital would not be worthwhile if your personal doctor and surgeon could not care for you.
The surgeon is a busy person, they do not have time to act as a travel agent and find the lowest cost facility for you.
For these reasons, a broad binding fee schedule like Maryland’s is probably the simplest solution.
Thank you but he would not be acting as a travel agent. He would bundle his fee with the failities fee. The patient would not be very interested in the business relationship between the surgeon and the hospital.