{"id":1455,"date":"2022-12-02T02:36:15","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T02:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/law-oh.com\/?p=1455"},"modified":"2022-10-27T20:58:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T20:58:59","slug":"here-are-some-tips-on-how-to-deal-with-excessive-health-care-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law-oh.com\/here-are-some-tips-on-how-to-deal-with-excessive-health-care-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"Here Are Some Tips on How to Deal With Excessive Health Care Bills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am deeply grateful to those who provide care for the sick, and to those who provide support to them. At the same time, we should be skeptical of bills we may be presented for that care. The struggle to contain healthcare costs in this country is now a fixture in the national policy debate. Our healthcare expense does not lead to good results. The United States spends more on health care as a share of the economy \u2013 nearly twice as other developed nations \u2013 yet has the lowest life expectancy and the highest rates of suicide, chronic disease, and obesity. See:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthfund.org\/publications\/issue-briefs\/2020\/jan\/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019\">https:\/\/www.commonwealthfund.org\/publications\/issue-briefs\/2020\/jan\/us-health-care-global-perspective-2019<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Health Care Cost Example<\/h2>\n<p>If that expense has landed in the middle of your household budget, here are some home truths that may help you monitor what you\u2019re being charged. In many cases, the bills are fair. But they may not be.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in the case of coronavirus testing, many providers charge between zero and $200 \u2013 yet one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/06\/16\/upshot\/coronavirus-test-cost-varies-widely.html?campaign_id=9&amp;emc=edit_nn_20200622&amp;instance_id=19603&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;regi_id=63274165&amp;segment_id=31531&amp;te=1&amp;user_id=c5a6868102aa00b2fa1ff8025f6cca43\">Texas lab<\/a> charged insurance companies as much as $2,315.<\/p>\n<p>Or, a hospital may have charged you exorbitant fees for a medication you could have obtained over the counter. A patient was billed $238 for eyedrops obtainable in a retail pharmacy for between $15 and $50. Sometimes the worst excesses are due to \u201csurprise medical bills.\u201d You can be treated in a hospital that is in your insurer\u2019s network, but if the particular physician has rejected the insurer\u2019s rates as too low, the physician will be treated as out-of-network, the costs can go through the roof, and your insurance company will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/health-care\/2018\/12\/18\/18134825\/emergency-room-bills-health-care-costs-america?campaign_id=9&amp;emc=edit_nn_20200622&amp;instance_id=19603&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;regi_id=63274165&amp;segment_id=31531&amp;te=1&amp;user_id=c5a6868102aa00b2fa1ff8025f6cca43\">refuse to pay<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you are willing to put in the time and effort, it may be that you can negotiate to have your bills reduced. If the charges are big enough, it may be worthwhile to embark on an effort to get them reconsidered.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Explain or Reduce Health Care Bills<\/h2>\n<p>Healthcare reporter Sarah Kliff, formerly of Vox and now with the New York Times, has written a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2019\/3\/22\/18261698\/how-to-fight-expensive-medical-bill?campaign_id=9&amp;emc=edit_nn_20200622&amp;instance_id=19603&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;regi_id=63274165&amp;segment_id=31531&amp;te=1&amp;user_id=c5a6868102aa00b2fa1ff8025f6cca43\">primer on how to proceed.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The steps she outlines are:<\/p>\n<p>*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Obtain an itemized bill. The first bill you receive may give you no idea of what the charges are for.<\/p>\n<p>*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is common practice for emergency rooms to bill for simply walking in the door. Hospitals often use a point system depending on their assessment of the emergency, with higher fees for more complicated conditions. You may be able to challenge the assessment down to a lower grade.<\/p>\n<p>*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You may be able to obtain a discount for paying promptly. Sarah Kliff advises persistence until you connect with a person who has the authority to permit this.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For especially big bills, please <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/law-oh.com\/contact\/\"><strong>contact<\/strong><\/a> <strong>our office at <\/strong><a href=\"tel:%207409477277\"><strong>(740) 947-7277<\/strong><\/a><strong> and schedule a free consultation to discuss your legal matters.<\/strong><strong> We can assist in advocating for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am deeply grateful to those who provide care for the sick, and to those who provide support to them. At the same time, we should be skeptical of bills we may be presented for that care. The struggle to contain healthcare costs in this country is now a fixture in the national policy debate.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[94,95],"post_series":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Here Are Some Tips on How to Deal With Excessive Health Care Bills - Seif &amp; McNamee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am deeply grateful to those who provide care for the sick, and to those who provide support to them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/law-oh.com\/here-are-some-tips-on-how-to-deal-with-excessive-health-care-bills\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Here Are Some Tips on How to Deal With Excessive Health Care Bills - Seif &amp; 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