Many people get medical bills from a hospital stay and don’t know what to look for to determine if the bill is correct. Here is some of the things you should look for:
- No “Balance Billing”: You should make sure that if you went to a doctor who is in your “network,” you should not receive a charge for the visit (other than a possible co-pay). When the doctor charges you the difference between their normal charge and what the insurance company will pay for the service, this is called “balance billing.” You should not get a bill from the doctor if you went to doctor who was “in network.”
- Check Quantity: If you were in the hospital, you will want to check the quantity of items and services you are being billed for. For example, look at medications and the amount of days you were in the hospital. Hospital billing departments often make mistakes.
- Duplicate Charges: Make sure you were not billed twice for a procedure or a lab test.
- Upcoding: Many healthcare services have levels of care. For example, you can go to the ER for something simple – which should be billed at the lowest level of care or for something very complex – which will be billed at the highest level of care. You should look at the bill to see what was charged.
Looking closely at your bill can save you money.
Tell us whether you have had any problems with your medical bills? We’d love to hear from you!
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