Lower Your Medical Bills By Finding Medical & Hospital Bill Errors

If you have been admitted to a hospital and find yourself owing a
substantial amount of money there are a few things you can do to
substantially reduce your bills. With a little perseverance and
investment of time, you can uncover costly overcharging errors you're
not responsible for. After you're done, you can negotiate what you
legitimately owe and the payment terms.

Here's what to do:

Request both the hospital and your insurance company to audit the
hospital and doctor bills.

Demand an itemized bill (you are legally entitled to an itemized bill
if you request one) and review your self for the following:

Duplicate Billing: Make sure you haven't been charged twice for the
same service, supplies or medications.

Number of Days in the Hospital: Check the dates of your admission and
discharge. Most hospitals will charge for your admission day, but not
for your day of discharge. If you have been charged for the day of
discharge, ask the hospital to waive the charge for that day.

Incorrect Room Charges: If you were in a semi-private room, make sure
you're not being charged for a private room.

Operating Room: It's not uncommon for hospitals to bill for more
operating room time than you actually used. Compare the charge with
your anesthesiologist's records.

Unbundled Charges: This is when a group of tests are billed
individually, when they should have been billed together. Surgical
procedures and tests frequently consist of several parts. For
instance, you could have received a cervical MRI and a lumbar MRI. A
hospital or MRI facility can bill $1,200 for each MRI if they were
done at different times, however, if they were performed on the same
day the total amount that the facility will be paid by an insurance
company may be only $1,400 or $1,800 instead of $2,400. Many times,
MRI's will be scheduled on different days, frequently one day after
the other, in order to bill at the higher rate. Do not allow

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