Medical Bill negotiation, how should one do it?
So I went to a hospital the other day and was told I have a de-deductible of $3,000. I am not sure how much my insurance paid (if anything). At some point I have to talk to the hospital about payment and I want to talk them down to accept a lower amount. I do have some savings to offer, but I would like to get them to agree to take that amount and write off the rest rather than just admit I have that safety net and still have payments.
If it helps the discussion my insurance is supposed to be "managed". Which means that I call them and they then tell me where I can go and not have to pay anything out of pocket. It just happened that I had been having some pretty bad stomach issues I was hoping would go away. I then realized I had spend just under 2 days like this, but it was memorial day so their number was closed and any small clinic, so I went to the ER worried my appendix was bursting or something serious was happening to me.
Call the hospital, get the billing department ask if you can talk to someone about reducing the bill.
I had a similar situation once, said my chest hurt and everyone freaked out and I ended up with a 5k ER bill. With no actual answer to why my chest hurt, and was still hurting.
I talked to the hospital they set up an appointment with a woman, I showed bank statements, income, insurance information. Ultimately, because I had very little income or money at the time. They just forgave the entire amount. No more bill.
Definitely worth a shot.
I will definitely be doing that.
Wanted to add to this: if it can't go away, it's likley you can set up quite a long repayment at 0% interest. It will still hurt but at you can spread it out