Negotiating Medical Bills
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D3 has some pretty big medical bills this year. Her (Obamacare) insurance policy costs about $450 a month, and has a deductible in excess of $6K.
She had surgery in June which topped out her deductible and out-of-pocket expenses, but she's now expected to pay a fixed sum per month until it's paid off (I don't have the specific numbers or term of the payout).
Has anyone ever had luck re-negotiating these expenses? Something like "I know I owe you $6K over the next two years, but would you accept $3K if I paid it off RIGHT NOW?"
There's a service called "Trim" that I've used to re-negotiate various recurring bills (cellphone, cable, etc) with success - it's usually not a huge discount but worth it for a few bucks. They charge you 33% of one month's savings, and that's a one-time fee. So, if they save you $10 off your cable bill, they'll charge you $3.33 one time. After that the $10 savings goes directly to you. They have a "premium" model that costs $99 and they will negotiate medical bills.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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I have , but it was a subrogation deal. I was injured, sued, and received a modest payout. The insurance company wanted to be reimbursed out of the settlement, which is perfectly appropriate - EXCEPT that the attorney took his contingency out, I think a third. SO I told teh insurance company that I would pay the 66% because i was not going to cover the contingency fee to recover the money out of my share. They grumbled but accepted.
In your daughter's case she is an employed adult and so can probably be counted on to pay up eventually, so there will only be so far they are willing to go.
https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/debt/articles/how-to-negotiate-your-medical-bills
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Because you are not negotiating with the insurance company, so high/low deductible or plan is irrelevant. You are negotiating with the health system who is hoping to actually get some of this money. $3k today is a lot better than $20 a month for life. they cannot force you to pay a certain amount and as long as you are paying them something they have little recourse.
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@Mik said in Negotiating Medical Bills:
Because you are not negotiating with the insurance company, so high/low deductible or plan is irrelevant. You are negotiating with the health system who is hoping to actually get some of this money. $3k today is a lot better than $20 a month for life. they cannot force you to pay a certain amount and as long as you are paying them something they have little recourse.
Imagine opening that up for conversation from every patient. You would have to put a hold on the books for that loss.
I know it’s greater than 40% with private insurance.
Heck I’ll negotiate mine.
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@George-K said in Negotiating Medical Bills:
D3 has some pretty big medical bills this year. Her (Obamacare) insurance policy costs about $450 a month, and has a deductible in excess of $6K.
She had surgery in June which topped out her deductible and out-of-pocket expenses, but she's now expected to pay a fixed sum per month until it's paid off (I don't have the specific numbers or term of the payout).
Has anyone ever had luck re-negotiating these expenses? Something like "I know I owe you $6K over the next two years, but would you accept $3K if I paid it off RIGHT NOW?"
I have. A couple of times.
And yeah, you win using time as the leverage.
"Look man, I'm broke. Your harassing me doesn't change that. And you know in this economy, I'm staring down the barrel of unemployment, so I don't know if I'm going to be able to pay you the full amount in installments. All I know is that I have $3k I can give you now, or else roll the dice with my job. Just know that I'll be selling my TV to pay for food long before you get to it."
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@Aqua-Letifer said in Negotiating Medical Bills:
@George-K said in Negotiating Medical Bills:
D3 has some pretty big medical bills this year. Her (Obamacare) insurance policy costs about $450 a month, and has a deductible in excess of $6K.
She had surgery in June which topped out her deductible and out-of-pocket expenses, but she's now expected to pay a fixed sum per month until it's paid off (I don't have the specific numbers or term of the payout).
Has anyone ever had luck re-negotiating these expenses? Something like "I know I owe you $6K over the next two years, but would you accept $3K if I paid it off RIGHT NOW?"
I have. A couple of times.
And yeah, you win using time as the leverage.
"Look man, I'm broke. Your harassing me doesn't change that. And you know in this economy, I'm staring down the barrel of unemployment, so I don't know if I'm going to be able to pay you the full amount in installments. All I know is that I have $3k I can give you now, or else roll the dice with my job. Just know that I'll be selling my TV to pay for food long before you get to it."
It just gets baked into next years premiums as hospitals demand a higher rate for those who don’t pay deductibles. So yeah maybe you can negotiate such that others pay and/or hospitals cut staff and/or pay.
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@Loki said in Negotiating Medical Bills:
@Aqua-Letifer said in Negotiating Medical Bills:
@George-K said in Negotiating Medical Bills:
D3 has some pretty big medical bills this year. Her (Obamacare) insurance policy costs about $450 a month, and has a deductible in excess of $6K.
She had surgery in June which topped out her deductible and out-of-pocket expenses, but she's now expected to pay a fixed sum per month until it's paid off (I don't have the specific numbers or term of the payout).
Has anyone ever had luck re-negotiating these expenses? Something like "I know I owe you $6K over the next two years, but would you accept $3K if I paid it off RIGHT NOW?"
I have. A couple of times.
And yeah, you win using time as the leverage.
"Look man, I'm broke. Your harassing me doesn't change that. And you know in this economy, I'm staring down the barrel of unemployment, so I don't know if I'm going to be able to pay you the full amount in installments. All I know is that I have $3k I can give you now, or else roll the dice with my job. Just know that I'll be selling my TV to pay for food long before you get to it."
It just gets baked into next years premiums as hospitals demand a higher rate for those who don’t pay deductibles. So yeah maybe you can negotiate such that others pay and/or hospitals cut staff and/or pay.
Well, I'm referring to when the bills go to a collection agency.
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"My pronouns are FA/FO." - Mik, 2024
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@Mik said in Negotiating Medical Bills:
That percentage is already baked in too.
Right, which means the hospital will be off your back, but if you're a patient, then there's collections to worry about. They're more aggressive, but they know they'll lose more collections cases than they'll win, especially in 2020, so I'd play to that. Same idea, though.
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"My pronouns are FA/FO." - Mik, 2024
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@Mik said in Negotiating Medical Bills:
Well, there's gone to collections and then there's sold to collections. If it has been sold to collections you have a lot of room because they pay pennies on the dollar for bad debt. If you offered them $3K for a $6K bill they'd be all over it.
Indeedy.
Aside to George: I've had this happen, too, so be careful. Keep all your proof of payment. Zombie debt is absolutely a thing.
