Submitted by bluethread32 t3_11z2smd in newhaven
I just received a very large ($2,500) bill for a very short (1hr max), trip to the ER.
That is the charge I received AFTER my instance.
Has anyone successfully reduced a bill from new haven hospital? If so, tips please!
I will be calling them tomorrow. I've read online to start asking for an itemized bill.
Hah good question.
It was the pediatric ER. For a burn, so they saw us right away. Turned out to be laughably minor.
Yale has a standardized application process for reducing bills, and I found it easy to do, and cut my bill in half! Google "financial assistance policy and Yale new haven" and you should be able to find the form and instructions
Thanks! Great tip. Googling now.
You can set up a payment plan but also I’m sure if you say you can’t afford it they’ll reduce it
Do you have insurance? If not, they might discount without much fight.
That's after insurance unfortunately!
I'll edit the post to say that.
Is that in line with what you’d expect your insurance to have covered?
It's in line with the percentage I expect my insurance to pay.
But the total bill ($3200 pre insurance) is not in line with what I expect for a visit that has no imaging, injections, specialists etc.
Just examination, and then gauze applied with medical tape and ointment.
Did you actually see a physician? Yale very frequently has you see a midlevel with far less training/education and then has the physician sign the chart later without ever seeing you. If that happens, you can claim fraud, billed services not rendered, etc.
This is probably more common in the adult ER than the pediatric ER however.
They had me go through every level.
Triage, student, resident, physician (I am assuming the last person was the physician but they ask introduce themselves as Dr so I don't really know)
The resident would also be a doctor and introduce herself as such
Thank you.
There wasn't much paying attention to intros going on. I had an energetic/injured toddler and the ER was packed with sick kids.
They were all kind FWIW.
The physician can sign the chart of a patient seen by a mid level and it is not fraud. It can also be billed fully at 100% if it is coded as a simple case, and at 85% or so if it is a more complex case (and the MD didn't see the pt). What you're saying just isn't true. It's only fraud if the physicians attestation falsely claims that they actually saw the patient and they did not.
I have normally set up a payment plan through MyChart (it’s 0% interest). Then sometimes they’ll eventually offer 10/15% off if you pay the rest of your balance in full for hospital and physician services respectively.
They might offer something called “Prompt Pay” in which they’ll take 10% off if you pay on the spot. Or you can ask if they accept a payment plan.
After they give you an itemized bill let us know what the total is after!
If you don’t pay nothing happens Edit, nothing happens to your credit score, just some annoying phone calls.
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I always call and ask for a pay in full discount and they have never said no. It's normally 10-15%. I even do this with copays :)
so i dk if this will work for YNNH but, i told st v’s i was going to prison and the financial person said ok… well we will just pay this from the financial assistance program.
Were you actually going to prison? Surely if they found out, they can easily claim that you committed fraud. It’s also kinda scummy that you forced them to pay if you honestly had the money to pay, could have easily gone to someone who could have used it more, but hey, if I say 3/4 of all CT residents are dumb as fuck freeloading republicans without an inkling of what goes on in this state, I’ll probably get downvoted to all hell, but this is a hill I’ll gladly die on.
yes i actually was.
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Interesting. Thanks for sharing!
If I remember correctly, they have a sliding scale for financial assistance available that is fairly generous (as opposed to none.) Take a look at the fine print on the back of the bill
Neither here nor there but during daytime and evening hours their walk-in clinic in North Haven in the Devine st plaza is a very fast and definitely more affordable experience for cuts, burns etc Signed— mom of toddler who has had to go to YNHH a few too many times
Thanks!
Apply for charity care
Yes, actually, I just filled out the financial assistance form and while I should have qualified for a 25% reduction they cleared the entire bill. Check the website
Ask for an itemized bill. Negotiate with them.
this just happened to a friend of mine! no doctors seen, $2k bill. she didn’t get off the phone until they reduced it to almost nothing (which is what the itemized bill would have reflected). basically she said to “be a bitch” until they cave.
updating to add: The $2,500 is the facility fee for just walking in the door. you will get separate bills for the doctor :/
Haha that's great advice. Thanks! Glad to know it's worked at least once.
Apply for Yales financial assistance program if you meet the income requirements. If not, appeal the denial of the charges with your health insurance company, show them the visit was medically necessary and you had no choice to visit the ER
It sounds like you haven't yet met your annual deductible and this was billed to you after receiving the insurance discount.
Generally speaking, Yale doesn't negotiate on bills. You can risk letting it go to collections, taking the hit to your credit rating. They do have financial assistance but having insurance even high deductible insurance usually puts you out of qualifying.
Medical bills will not affect your credit rating, even if they go into collections.
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Thanks friend!
Hope you never have an accident.
You clearly have no kids yourself to know that you can watch them like a hawk and they will still find a way to get hurt all on their own.
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AndMarmaladeSkies t1_jdao32z wrote
I just want to know how you got in & out of YNHH ER in a under an hour