Prepaying for medical costs is a scam.

Submitted by theHeartNurse t3_z8xlav in personalfinance

I have pretty good medical insurance; my husband and I decided to fork out the money for the best insurance premium possible last year when signing up for benefits.

I recently had a test done through a hospital system that stated that I would be required to pay about $516 up front before the test.. I paid it, get the test done, and later my EOB has a patient responsibility of $72 for this particular test..

I call billing to question the discrepancy and they said the sent the extra $444 to another medical bill through the same hospital system (for my daughter that I’m already on auto-pay monthly for). Not happy about it because times are already tough, but I let it go because we still owe a lot toward that particular bill.

Here we are again with the same issue - not the same hospital system. I am pregnant and my OBGYN has me on a payment plan through their practice for all prenatal care (this does not include hospital or delivery fees). I am maybe 12 weeks away from my delivery.. My EOBs for his office so far if added up have a patient responsibility of around $120 TOTAL. I have prepaid their office about $128 MONTHLY for the past 5 months and still have 2 payments remaining.

I’m sure I can get this refunded somehow as well but this is so ridiculous. They made me sign paperwork stating I would pay as much as I could toward this plan to receive prenatal care, it’s not like I was given an option. How do I even approach this? Do I bring my EOBs to their billing department and ask them how they are coming up with these numbers?

Also, I know I will be expected to “prepay” toward my hospital delivery costs. How can I ensure they aren’t drastically overcharging me?

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steveliv t1_iyea9yp wrote

The last time we were expecting a child, the hospital asked for money upfront. I told them that as a rule, i don't pay anything until I see my EOB from my insurance company. They backed down. Not sure if they will take no for an answer, but you can give it a shot.

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theHeartNurse OP t1_iyeacl4 wrote

I can definitely try that!

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steveliv t1_iyebfu0 wrote

I told them that they will take my money quickly, but trying to get it back when the insurance claim is completed is like pulling teeth. Don't back down, they will probably give up.

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[deleted] t1_iye2laq wrote

[deleted]

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ChewieBearStare t1_iye4bm4 wrote

That was a pain when I had a big hospital bill and the hospital was slow to bill. I paid a bunch of copays, but then once the hospital finally filed its claims, it put me over the annual out-of-pocket maximum, so then some providers had to give me refunds because I wouldn’t have had to pay those copays if the hospital had billed in a timely manner.

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