Pre-pay hospital bill ?... Anyone else?

je2161

I just got a call from a lady at the hospital I pre-registered at, and she is asking for a down payment on the hospital bill. She said that since I have a deductible remaining on my insurance, the hospital requires patients coming in for deliveries to pre-pay a portion of the bill. If I don't wind up delivering at that hospital, she said they will refund my money. If I choose not to pre-pay ahead of time, she said they will require it at check-in time. 

She is only asking for a couple hundred dollars, not too bad,... but is this standard practice? She told me that all hospitals in the area (central NJ) do this now, but I wanted to double-check with you ladies. 

kristen47

My hospital put me on a pre-payment plan.  Each month I payed 45 dollars for 6 months, which covers what insurance does not.  It is nice not having that to worry about the day of.

aboleary34

I was sent a bill for $150 to pay prior to delivery.  I was a little caught off guard by it as well but I guess its less to have to pay later.

snoopy5512

I believe my insurance covers everything in full.  That is what it says... I hope so, lol!

pam1005

I pre paid our portion back in January.  They could have put us on a payment plan, but we had the money in our account.  For us it was quite a bit more than a couple hundred (our insurance is not the best coverage wise), and it does not include the anesthesiologist or pediatric care (we get that bill after).

pandi02a

Because we're in Germany with private insurance we have to pay the entire cost upfront and then wait for our insurance to pay us back....7000 Euros. I don't even want to convert that into dollars.

heikem87

My hospital pretty much wants me to pay the whole bill for delivery and then claim it back from my insurance. They told me this week when I registered and I was pretty much in shock about it. I am glad that my parents are willing to help me out because if not I wouldnt know what to do. Not shitty enough that DH is so far away, no now I also need to worry about how to get the money for my delivery together.

Mrs.Purdue

several people have recommended for me to not pre-pay the hospital.  it's much easier to wait and get the final bill in the mail once you deliver and just pay once rather than pay an estimated amount now and then have to either pay again or try and get some money back later.  this is the route I'm taking and I haven't had the hospital bug me about it (although I'm sure every place is different). 

mrsgoodweather

Mrs.Purdue:

several people have recommended for me to not pre-pay the hospital.  it's much easier to wait and get the final bill in the mail once you deliver and just pay once rather than pay an estimated amount now and then have to either pay again or try and get some money back later.  this is the route I'm taking and I haven't had the hospital bug me about it (although I'm sure every place is different). 

Yeah this. Even though my insurance is paying everything. I also suggest you get an ITEMIZED final bill. Make sure you pay for what you use.

Heather & Nayt

When we moved to my new doctor I got a bill in the mail for over $1000 for the remaining 6 weeks of care I'd be receiving with them, which didn't even include my NST or take into consideration i am high risk so I am in there every week, so basically they wanted me to pay them it, bill my insurance and then add more to it. Apparently out here it is normal practice for you to have your total co-pay taken care of before they bill insurance, which if we had 9 months to pay on it wouldn't have been an issue, but they were able to work with us since we transfered in. 

I got an estimate from the hospital for a normal vaginal birth and had to call them back to tell them I was having a planned c/s, but that we will pay once they have billed insurance.

One part of me understands why they have to do it now, but the other part of me thinks its stupid since things can change so much during labor and the chances of paying x amount don't always work. Plus i know we don't have x money just sitting around, I have a budget for medical expenses from back when our insurance was billed first and it's wasn't the whole chunk at once.  

Vincent

I have been on a pre-payment plan with my dr's. office since December and have been paying them small portions.  They researched the cost with the insurance company and are part of the hospital so whatever isn't covered by the insurance will be paid out by the pre-payment plan.  I was glad to have this option because getting a huge bill after LO arrives would financially strap us.

cjgiannotti

After seeing this I thought I would call and see what the policy is at our hospital. I was told that they will bill us after they settle with the insurance company first. The only way they'd ask for something up front is if we had a co-pay. It seems strange to me that they could demand payment up front since hospitals aren't supposed to be allowed to deny service based on ability to pay. If you need help delivering your baby, that should be their first priority. Then payment later.

kelklump

I paid up front my first 7 mos (6 payments) for my maternity care... if it went over my deductible  I will get a refund from the insurance company. (luckily our liability has been met now with the prepayment and my meds so we are done for the year.) This is in Ohio and its VERY common here

alliejoe

I had to pay in installments before I moved and changed insurance- I think it's dependent on the hospital and insurance carrier. I just have a different branch of BCBS and it changed when we moved.

Lilyzmom

cjgiannotti:

After seeing this I thought I would call and see what the policy is at our hospital. I was told that they will bill us after they settle with the insurance company first. The only way they'd ask for something up front is if we had a co-pay. It seems strange to me that they could demand payment up front since hospitals aren't supposed to be allowed to deny service based on ability to pay. If you need help delivering your baby, that should be their first priority. Then payment later.

This exactly! So if you can't pay you have the baby in the parking lot?

Leggadine08

Its standard at my hospital, especially if you have not met the deductible. I pre reg people and our policy is we have to ask for the remaining deductible and if you've met it we ask for a small deposit towards your % of the cost.

I know it seems like a lot sometimes but if you could see how many people DONT pay anything once they get their bill, you would probably understand a little more. Our office puts a lot of effort into calling and offering discounts to oustanding balances to pay off old debts but we still end up taking a lot of people to court.

SLSeibert1

Lilyzmom:

cjgiannotti:

After seeing this I thought I would call and see what the policy is at our hospital. I was told that they will bill us after they settle with the insurance company first. The only way they'd ask for something up front is if we had a co-pay. It seems strange to me that they could demand payment up front since hospitals aren't supposed to be allowed to deny service based on ability to pay. If you need help delivering your baby, that should be their first priority. Then payment later.

This exactly! So if you can't pay you have the baby in the parking lot?

That's what I was wondering! They shouldn't turn you away if you need medical help!

LegalLadyBug

My hospital does the same thing. Since they don't know what your total will come to, they ask for a few hundred up front, probably not more than would put you over your deductible. I would have to do the same thing if I didn't max out my out of pocket max with my recent unexpected surgery, now my c-section is going to be "free."

SC1977

I'm in central NJ and haven't heard from our hospital yet about pre-payment. 

LegalLadyBug

cjgiannotti:

It seems strange to me that they could demand payment up front since hospitals aren't supposed to be allowed to deny service based on ability to pay. If you need help delivering your baby, that should be their first priority. Then payment later.

When I was in the hospital last month for my emergency surgery they did this. I was in a room in the ER with doctors all around me prepping me for surgery and some lady from billing came down and pulled my husband out and informed him we had to pay them $400 immediately as a co-pay. We never checked in at that hospital because I was transported by ambulance, maybe they would have made us pay at check-in if it was a normal situation. I have since wondered if they would have just refused to perform the surgery if we didn't have $400 right then to give them.

je2161

They aren't really demanding payment up front. They are requesting it. In other words, the lady on the phone told me that they will not deny medical attention to a patient who has not prepaid. They're just trying  to encourage patients to pre-pay a small percentage of what the patient will owe after the birth. And I checked other hospitals in my area; they have the same policy.

And it sounds like a bunch of other women here are also dealing with hospitals with pre-payment preferences as well. We will probably wind up sending a small check ahead of time, but I will discuss with DH first and see what he thinks...Thanks everyone!

JesOct09

I got a call after pre-registering and they offered me a discount if I pre-paid.  I was going to do that, but after talking to my insurance company, the hospital has no way of knowing how much I'm going to owe them.  My insurance pays the bills as they come in...so depending on who bills first- my doctor, hospital, etc, I will owe my percentage to each based off of that.  So I am not paying them anything in advance.  I don't want to have to fight with anyone to get a refund back once I'm home with the baby.

JUSTBEYOURSELF

snoopy5512:

I believe my insurance covers everything in full.  That is what it says... I hope so, lol!

thank god that is what mine says too! I think I have to just pay a 15.00 copay and that includes all my ob appointments... I so far have only had to pay when I am in radiology getting the high tech u/s