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October 2015 Moms
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Hospital Bill

Wigglesx2Wigglesx2 member
in October 2015 Moms
So my doctors office told me if I pay my bill before I leave the hospital I'll get a 20% discount. However, the hospital has to run my insurance and I'm told they send the bill in the mail.

Maybe I'm stupid and not following but can someone explain to me the typical billing process? Do they hand me a bill as I leave or send it later? It's the 20% just a way to get me to pay more before my insurance is ran?
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Re: Hospital Bill

  • jslikojsliko member
    If you have a common insurance, the hospital probably knows how much your insurance allows for charges, etc. Can you call your insurance and try to figure out what your estimated bill would be? I can see hospitals offering the 20% incentive because, to them, it is a bill paid right away (instead of having to chase people down to pay bills). But if you wait, it gives you a chance to look over the bill and dispute any charges if needed.
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  • kayceetomasitakayceetomasita member
    Maybe they provide like an estimate of charges?
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  • erinboehmeerinboehme member
    The doctor's office and the hospital have different bills. Your doctor, most likely, bills all at once for all of your prenatal care and delivery and would like you to pay THEM before you leave. Generally the hospital won't be prepared with a bill for you before you leave.
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  • Wigglesx2Wigglesx2 member
    erinboehme said:

    The doctor's office and the hospital have different bills. Your doctor, most likely, bills all at once for all of your prenatal care and delivery and would like you to pay THEM before you leave. Generally the hospital won't be prepared with a bill for you before you leave.

    Yes, the doctor did this and I was making payments until they (the front desk girls) told me to stop because they said to let the hospital bill hit my insurance so I would hit my deductible and be covered more (either completely or partly). That's also when they told me about the hospital bill and 20% off.
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  • Wigglesx2Wigglesx2 member
    jsliko said:

    If you have a common insurance, the hospital probably knows how much your insurance allows for charges, etc. Can you call your insurance and try to figure out what your estimated bill would be? I can see hospitals offering the 20% incentive because, to them, it is a bill paid right away (instead of having to chase people down to pay bills). But if you wait, it gives you a chance to look over the bill and dispute any charges if needed.

    My insurance has nice customer service but they don't seem to know what's going on. It took them a half an hour to verify the hospital for me to make sure it was even covered. Then the guy was totally confused about me calling about breast pump coverage. Again, they are nice but don't seem to be trained well. Hence why I was curious what other people's experience was. And you pretty much hit the nail on the head, I want to make sure I'm charged correctly too.
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  • amberrmariee20amberrmariee20 member
    Wigglesx2 said:

    jsliko said:

    If you have a common insurance, the hospital probably knows how much your insurance allows for charges, etc. Can you call your insurance and try to figure out what your estimated bill would be? I can see hospitals offering the 20% incentive because, to them, it is a bill paid right away (instead of having to chase people down to pay bills). But if you wait, it gives you a chance to look over the bill and dispute any charges if needed.

    My insurance has nice customer service but they don't seem to know what's going on. It took them a half an hour to verify the hospital for me to make sure it was even covered. Then the guy was totally confused about me calling about breast pump coverage. Again, they are nice but don't seem to be trained well. Hence why I was curious what other people's experience was. And you pretty much hit the nail on the head, I want to make sure I'm charged correctly too.

    So glad I don't have to deal with insurance and hospital bills.

    However when calling somewhere and they can't give me a straight answer or not sure what they are talking about I always ask them to put me through to a manager. I would call and request a manager, you'll get a whole new list of possibilities and answers !!
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  • nbpa3027nbpa3027 member
    We had a billing person stop by while we were in the hospital and gave us an estimated bill and explained the same policy (discount if you pay before you leave).

    I would call the hospital billing and see what their procedure is. I filled out preregistration paperwork with the hospital that included my insurance paperwork, so as soon as they the baby was born, they knew what they would be charging (no csection, no epidural, etc.)
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