Turning lemons into lemonade
I have this friend whose kid was slightly injured on a trip, and they had to go to the Emergency Room to make sure she was OK. Her bill, after her insurance processed it came out to over $500. So, as she was telling me this story two things went through my mind (as you know, I always try to salvage some savings out of every cost):
First of all, you never pay a medical bill until you make sure your insurance paid their share, whatever it may be. There have been several times now that my insurance has mistakenly denied a claim that they later paid just by calling them and asking them to reprocess it. By the way, this is accomplished much faster by the patient than by the physician’s office. After all, YOU are their customer, not the doctor so YOU are the one they would want to please. Don’t assume you have to pay, just because you got a bill..
Second, hospitals sometimes offer a “prompt payment discount”. This allows you to kill two birds with one stone. For one thing, you can pay a lot less if you call and pay by phone within the discounted time period, sometimes even 60% less than the insurance determined you owe. That would reduce my friend’s cost to around $200 from around $500. The second bonus is that if you put it on a credit card you actually have 30 more days to get the money to pay for this (love that one-month grace period!) The final bonus is that if you have a credit card with rewards on it, you actually get rewards for this transaction.
Now stir a little and Voila! LEMONADE…
Mousetracks: Got an unexpected medical expense? It may not be as bad as you think. Make sure your insurance paid their share, and ask the hospital for a prompt payment discount. Finally, pay by credit card to get some rewards.
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