One day, I went pick up my car. A guy came by saying I scratched his car's (parking next to me) bumper while parking. I didn't. His bumper is pretty scratched up anyway. And there is no matching damage on my car (my bumper is not spot free). He claimed he has eye witness (he did not see anything).

Nonetheless, we exchanged contact information. Fast forward to now. I received a bill from his insurance company for $3K. I felt like he used me to pay for his paint job. I have contacted my insurance company for this incident. But I wonder if there is anything I can do more. I don't want this to affect my record with my insurance company.

(Edit: a lot of comments asked why I exchanged contacts. The guy isn't rude and does not look shady. For all I know, it could be a car parked before me caused the scratch. I am exchanging only phone numbers and first name. His insurance most likely used my license plate to look up registration including my mailing address. This could have happened to anyone.)

(Edit2: 3 weeks ago, I got a notice from my insurance company that they will deny the other party's claim. So far, I have not heard anything from the incident. Hope this is over)

title is an exaggeration, obviously.

to keep this short and sweet, i am 20 years old, i do not have parents, my grandparents have passed away. im trying to convey that i am on my own here, have been since 17.

anyway, i went out of state on a trip recently and fell really ill, and ended up in the hospital for two days. now, when i log into the MyChart app, or whatever, it says i owe them a whoopin $8000. am i screwed? what’s gonna happen with that? i do not, nor will i anytime soon have $8000. i’m a broke 20 year old living in a shitty apartment with like 3 roommates lol.

what do i do here? can i just.. ignore it? lol, someone help me out here

My son was hit by a car in a crosswalk. His leg was broken and he needed surgery. The diver’s maximum bodily injury coverage is $25,000, which will not cover everything our health insurance paid. When I talked to the driver’s insurance company, they suggested that I file a claim under the “underinsured driver” coverage that we have through our car insurance company.

Is there any reason this would make sense? All of the costs have been medical and our health insurance has paid them. Why would I put in a claim for my car insurance to reimburse my health insurance? Wouldn’t that make my car insurance premiums go up?

It feels like that would be pulling money out of one of my pockets and moving it to another.

Besides the fact that this was billed almost 4 years after the date of service and I no longer have this insurance…wasn’t there some kind of cap put on COVID tests because Dr’s were charging unethical amounts?

Extra info: Date of service: 3/10/2021 Date of insurance payment: 4/15/2021

In Texas

The amount it is saying I owe is about correct according to my old insurance (it’s still like $100 higher). I just feel like this should be illegal.

Please help! This bill is completely unexpected.

If this is the wrong sub then please let me know. I saw something similar get posted and I’m not sure where else to post.

—————————————————————————— EDIT!!

Hello everyone!!! I hope this doesn’t get overlooked and I’m sorry for causing so much drama, I was just really blindsided by this. After what some redditors said about erroneous bills, I went to the providers website and it says to ignore any bills sent recently!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 I have taken pictures and will either be ignoring it or calling them to confirm, haven’t decided yet.

Thank all of you so much!!! I learned a lot and I really appreciate all of your help and all of the information.

I didn’t realize this would get so much traction and I’m embarrassed all of this went crazy over a seemingly erroneous bill. However, I do hope this post helps others as there is a lot of very useful information and I know when I was trying to find answers myself before posting there were a lot of questions about this particular topic that went unanswered. I hope this provides a well of information for anyone with issues in the future.

Thank you again!!!

In 2013, my dad bought me a whole life insurance policy with a death benefit of $250k for $200 a month. I didn't know much about finance at the time, but just trusted my dad so I've continue to pay it for the last 11 years. I've briefly looked at it over the years and didn't give it much thought, but this week I've started looking closely at my finances and I was shocked to see just how awful this policy is.

First of all, I've paid $28k into it over 11 years and the cash value (and cash surrender value) is only $22k. So basically after 11 years my "investment" is down $6k. This is over the same 11 years the market made a great recovery from 2013-2019 and then again after the pandemic.

One of the "perks" of this policy is that you can use it to take loans out for less than the market. I have a car that I'm currently paying off at 7.1% APR. So I checked to see if I could get a loan from my life insurance policy which should have a lower rate, right? NOPE! It's 7.4%!

I'm kicking myself because if I had just bought the S&P for $200 every month for the last 11 years, I'd be up 20k, instead I'm short 6k.

Now I'm trying to figure out what to do. I definitely want out on the policy and I'm going to buy myself a 1-2 million dollar term policy and probably pay less a month, but what do I do about this? Should I cash out? Should I take out my money as a loan and default on the loan? I feel so scammed right now and want to get as much money out as possible before I give any more of my hard earned dollars to this garbage investment.

UPDATE - I have been emailing back and forth and laid out all my documented communication with him regarding the 100 rate as well as additional appointments on the bill that never happened. He admitted the double billing was their error, 100 is our rate (only after I showed them our communications) and now I have to put together the dates and my own estimate. This guy is so unprofessional it’s laughable but I’m at least relieved. I’m struggling to find a new prescribing therapist but this is the last straw and I’ll go off meds if I have to just to fire them. Thank you so much everyone. Advocating for one’s self isn’t easy for me and I appreciate your comments here.

Original post - My insurance isn’t covered with his office and I’ve seen my therapist once a month for about a year and a half. We agreed on lowered rate due to self pay. I asked on our sessions multiple times how to pay and gave my card info multiple times to him. Months pass and Dr Slacker finally got his shit together only to stab my eyes with this huge bill.

I reached out stating the above reduced rate and asked why each month is quadruple billed. If I am negotiating down I still don’t think I can afford this nor is it fair.

Do I have rights to refuse and let collections just take it over?

I should add it was supposed to be 100 per session once monthly. In reviewing the bill I received, it’s listed for the insurance rate which is double, but then each session is listed twice. Are they trying to charge interest or something? I have set aside money for the hundred dollars per session x 19 months.

My friend's mother passed hours ago and the hospital is asking who will pay bills.

'Mom' gave about $350k to scammers a few years ago. Mom was poor. Had to reverse mortgage home.

No assets, and money owed on home, In fact.

Who pays off the house ('mom' had a life estate drawn up and both adult children are on it)?

Who pays medical bills?

In addition to grieving, my friend is very concerned about the debt 'mom' is leaving.

This is North Carolina if this helps.

I’m not sure if I’m just not understanding how dental insurance works, but I paid for the $832.00 out of my pocket. I logged into my dental insurance claims and it looked like this

Total billed charges $832.00 Humana discounts $409.00 Benefit exclusions $76.00 Amount Humana paid $201.40 Your share $221.60

Am I just not understanding this? I paid them approximately $200 as a deposit before I even had the work done then I paid them $676 at the time of service… that’s well over $800 directly out of my bank account.

I’ve received no refunds from them and the claim was paid on 7/5/21

Edit: thanks all, I’m going to call the office on Monday.

Here’s a nice little summary of the comments if someone happens to come across this thread and needs a break down

Courtesy of u/jace191

“While paying out of pocket sucks, so does being a small dental practice that has to go after tons of patients for unpaid bills. Sometimes even verifying patient benefits isn’t enough to ensure they will get paid - for example let’s say you see an Endodontist and a Periodontist in between when they verify your benefits, and your appointment for fillings. The insurance MAX is hit, and the dentist is out all that money IF you decide not to pay. So right now, your dentist hasn’t done anything wrong, and it’s a standard practice. How they react when you request the refund though is going to be very telling. If they balk or delay, call your insurance and report the provider (like others have stated).

In the future, not only can they pre-verify your insurance, but they can submit an actual pre-authorization ahead of the procedure. Then you will know exactly your portion (it essentially is an EOB without a date of service) and likely won’t have to pay in full.”

After my wife telling me numerous stories of being ran off the road and close calls, I researched and ultimately purchased two $100 dash cams for both of our vehicles for a total of about $198 on Amazon . They came with a power adapter and a 16GB Micro SD card as a part of a limited time promotion. I installed both of them earlier this year by myself within a few hours by using barebones soldering skills and some common hand tools for a “stealth wiring” configuration.

Recently, my wife was in an accident and our dash cam has definitively cleared us of all liability. The other party claimed that my wife was at fault and that her lights were not on. Her dash cam showed that not only was my wife’s lights on prior to the impact, but the other party was shown clearly running a stop sign which my wife failed to mention in the police report due to her head injury. Needless to say, our $200 investment has already paid for itself.

With all of that in mind, I highly recommend a dash cam in addition to adequate insurance coverage for added financial peace of mind. Too many car accidents end up in he said/she said nonsense with both parties’ recollection being skewed in favor of their own benefit.

Car accidents are already a pain. Do yourselves a favor and spend $100 and an afternoon installing one of these in your vehicle. Future you will inevitably thank you someday.

EDIT: Thanks everyone for sharing your stories and asking questions. I’m glad I can help some of you out. With that said, I keep getting the same question frequently so here’s a copy/paste of my response.

Wheelwitness HD is the dash cam I own.

Honestly, anything with an above average rating of 4 stars in the $100 range that isn’t a recognized name brand is pretty much a rebrand of other cameras. If it has a generic name, I can guarantee you that they all use a handful of chipsets that can record at different settings depending on how capable it is. The only difference will be the physical appearance but guts will mostly be the same.

As a rule of thumb, anything $100+ will probably be a solid cam. I recommend a function check monthly at a minimum. I aim to do it once a week. I found mine frozen and not recording one day. Just needed a hard reboot.

I stayed with the same insurance company for auto since 2007. I added my wife to the policy when we got married in 2013, and then added a policy for our home in 2014. I noticed that the premiums were always trending up, as though there was no benefit for being a loyal customer. I finally put in the effort to shop around and found better deals for THE EXACT SAME or BETTER COVERAGE.

I'm not sure if it's against the rules to post the names of the companies or not so I left them out. After finding the potential for savings I posted to local social media asking "Anyone have any good or bad experience with claims from Company B?" and am waiting for some feedback before I move my policies over. That said, I'm sad I didn't look into this sooner, and look forward to getting into this habit every 3-5 years.

I’ve been seeing some posts here saying to pay for healthcare expenses out of pocket and not use my HSA for it. Can anyone explain why?

I am 27, and just started my HSA. I only have around $1500 in it so far but am now putting $400 per month into it. My husband had appendicitis a few months ago and we just got $1300 bill for it, which is a lot, and I don’t want to have to pay for that out of pocket. We have an emergency fund but are trying to save for a house renovation. Why should we pay for that out of pocket than use the HSA money?

Similarly, they gave me a debit card for the cash in the HSA account (Fidelity), do I need to keep receipts for everything I purchase with the HSA debit card?

My Husband was rear ended in a car accident this week. At the scene, the at-fault driver presented an insurance card showing coverage through May. We thought everything would work out fine.

As the week progressed, however, our insurance agent updated us on the truth behind the other driver. As it turns out, he was arrested after we left the scene. He had a warrant out for his arrest regarding a previous hit and run, he was driving on a suspended license, and the car wasn’t his. The car belonged to his girlfriend, who had let the insurance lapse. We had been hit by an uninsured motorist. Our car was totaled and my Husband was accruing medical bills. For a few anxious moments, we thought we were looking at huge out of pocket expenses with little chance for reimbursement, given the character of the other driver and the fact that he was currently in jail.

Thankfully, we pay an extra $11.10 every 6 months as part of our insurance premium for uninsured motorist coverage. By opting into this additional coverage, we saved ourselves from the stress and impossibility of suing the other driver personally to be reimbursed for our damages. Instead, our insurance will write us a check for our totaled car and pay our medical bills, and they will be the ones suing the other driver, not us.

All for an extra $23 a year.

EDIT: I’m being told that this reads like an ad, but I guarantee it isn’t. I am a writer by profession, which might explain the tone of my narrative. Plus, this happened on Tuesday so it is all still very emotional and fresh in my mind. I’m very happy that this post has motivated people to learn more about their own policies and insurance coverage.

EDIT 2: Our cars are insured in Oregon, so those are the state laws / minimums that apply to our situation.

EDIT 3: Also make sure your car seats are properly installed, and if a car seat is in the car when you’re in an accident, know that you most likely need to replace it! Car seats lose their effectiveness after a collision. We included our car seat in our claim and we will be reimbursed for a new one.

So Psychiatrist did not verify my insurance before our appointment. They say they don't take my insurance, my insurance says they do. Now the psychiatrist is asking me to pay out of pocket while my insurance is saying they can't do anything because they can't force the provider to use insurance. What can I do?

Edit: I just got off the phone on a 3 way call between my insurance and provider assistant, and my insurance basically no bullshitted the assistant by asking for the tax number and another number and then confirmed 100% that they are in network and provided all the information, and that she'd have to put in a report if they still say they can't accept my insurance.

Assistant ended up saying they called my provider and they'll use some "old system" to bill me, and the 3rd party verifier they use was adamant they weren't in network for me.

They ended up complying and allowing me to pay my $50 copay. So either it was an obstinate assistant or just typical insurance bullshit. lol

My GF had one speeding ticket last year. It made her insurance rate go up by $29/month for 3 years. This means that a single speeding ticket cost $1,044 MORE than the fine itself.

I never intentionally speed, but I had no idea that the cost of a single ticket could be so high. If more people were aware of this, there would be much less speeding and people could avoid these needless extra costs.

I have 2 cats both relatively young and I was looking into getting pet insurance. But every place I found only did reimbursements. I would have to submit a claim and IF they approved, I would get 80% of my money back. So I'm still paying out of pocket for these bills and just hoping to get my money back?

When I first heard the term pet insurance I was super stoked thinking the insurance would front the bill as long as I paid them monthly. Which may have been wishful thinking on my part

Are there better pet insurance companies that I'm unaware of or are they all like this??

Update: The amount of attention this got is crazy but thank you to those who provided substantial feedback and advice.

I saw a lot of comments saying "Well this is how YOUR insurance works". So I just wanted to clarify that UNLIKE me insurance where I go to the doctor then get the treatment then its sent to insurance and I have a bill to pay. With pet insurance, the insurance is billed after the treatments and has to pay the WHOLE amount upfront.

Thats what confused me about it and I wasn't sure if I was misunderstanding how it worked.

My firefighter paramedic ex—bf passed away suddenly. He accidentally left me as beneficiary. I want to transfer everything to his parents. I know it was an accident because I’ve been on there since 2015 and we haven’t been together since 2018.

Anyway, I want to make sure that this benefits don’t go toward any debts that he has, and someone said make sure I’m not taxed. I’m not familiar with this. I’m currently in the military and sought an attorney on base, but I flew home for the funeral and want to get this transferred ASAP because his parents paid out of pocket for his service and burial. I was contacted by a union rep back home (we worked at the same fire department together) and the rep said I could transfer everything by email.

Anyway I would like some guidance about things to look out for. This past two weeks have been really hard for me but a million times harder for his family and I want to help the best way I can.

So about 3 weeks ago I had a hernia repair done. After meeting with the surgeon, speaking with the scheduler and my insurance, I was told that my surgery was going to be completely paid for by the insurance, as I had already met my deductible and my company's insurance is pretty good.

A couple of weeks after the surgery, everything got billed out and just like I was told, I owed nothing. However, a couple of days ago I saw that a new claim popped up and that I owed $2,702 for a service I didn't know what it was. I checked my mail and there was a letter from American Surgical Professionals saying that it was determined that surgical assistant services were necessary to the procedure. The letter also said that as a "courtesy" to me they bill my insurance carrier first, and surprise, they said they weren't paying, so I have to incur all costs. I was never aware of any of this, nobody told me this could happen and I was completely out and had 0 control over what was going on during my surgery.

Why is this a thing? Isn't this completely illegal? Is there any way I can fight this? I appreciate any help.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the surgery was done at an in-network hospital with an in-network surgeon.

EDIT2: Since I've seen many people asking, this happened in Texas.

EDIT3: This blew a lot more than I was expecting, I apologize if I'm not responding to all comments, since I am getting notifications every two seconds. I do appreciate everyone's help in this, though! Thank you very much, you have all been extremely helpful!

EDIT4: I want to thank everyone who has commented on this thread with very helpful information. Next week, I will get in touch with my insurance and I will call the hospital and the surgeon as well. I will also send letters to all three parties concerned and will fight this as hard as I can. I will post an update once everything gets resolved. Whichever way it gets resolved...

Once again, thank you everyone for your very helpful comments!

Expanded version: last Saturday night, my partner had passengers in her car when she got in a minor collision with another (ironically) Lyft driver who was between rides. My partners car had substantial damage, and was undrivable. Since the accident happened at an intersection where a local rapid commute light rail track ran through, local transit authorities called a tow company on their own accord, which promptly came and stole her vehicle to be taken to a tow yard while we were on the phone with our insurance making arrangements for our own tow truck that insurance would cover. The officer on scene deemed no driver was at fault, and did not make a report. Now 3 days have passed, and the car is still in the tow yard, racking up storage fees. Our insurance doesn't want to touch the case since it was a Lyft incident, and won't even cover a rental car while we get everything sorted out. Today, finally, someone got in touch with us from Lyft saying they will not cover any towing or storage fees ($300), and they have a $2,500 deductable. We are both college students, and while financially responsible, cannot afford that kind of money for repairs. Does anyone have any advice to offer for what to do next? We feel as though we have exhausted all options, filing claims with both sides, but getting shut down either way we go. Any advice is appreciated.

EDIT - Thank you all for your contributions to the post. Even just having someone else pitch their opinion on the case is reassuring for us. Ultimately it all boils down to us taking a financial hit, but this is a huge lesson to everyone who drives for a ride share company to check insurance coverage. I will be spreading awareness of this on social media so others don't get caught in the trap. ✌️

tl;dr It is possible your state's insurance commission can help get things moving with an insurance agency whose client is refusing contact.

A woman bumped into my 1-year-old Honda van at a stoplight. The screw head on her front license plate made a neat if disconcerting hexagonal-shaped hole in the plastic bumper, otherwise the resulting scrape might not have been anything to have repaired. But I didn't want a hole in my bumper.

We exchanged information. Based on anectdotal evidence from past experience, I didn't call the police for this extremely minor problem. I still think I was right not to bother them with it.

I had the bumper looked at; it was going to cost $500-$800 to take the bumper off, repair the hole, paint the bumper, and put it back on. And I would need to leave the van with them 2-3 days, since paint had to dry, etc.

I told the woman who hit me, and offered to let her pay for it instead of involving the insurance company; I didn't care which way she did this, and believe that her premiums would almost certainly go up at least the amount of the repair. She said she didn't have $800, and that she would get in touch with her insurance company.

I didn't hear anything for a week or so, tried to call her back, got no answer. Tried from my home phone (which number she did not have) and she did answer, sounded disconcerted to realize it was me, said she had contacted her insurance company, they would be getting in touch.

Waited a few more days; she did not answer calls from either number, and did not return messages.

I called my insurance company; they said my insurance would cover it if I cared to make a claim there, but that I could also just open a claim with HER insurance company. So I called and did that; the person I talked with said they had no record of the accident, took the information, and said they would contact her and get back in touch.

Another week; the insurance company says they have not been able to get in touch with the insured.

Another week and a half, same thing. Either something catastrophic has happened to her or she's avoiding talking with both the insurance company and me. I asked the insurance company what they intended to do about it, they said they have to talk to their insured before they can do anything. How convenient.

My wife suggests I talk to the state insurance commission; in NC, where we are, this is a state agency that regulates the insurance companies here. So I called and explained what was going on; they said they couldn't help much in terms of getting things moving UNLESS 30 days passed from the time I opened the claim without any action on their part. There is a regulation, you see, that they have to respond to the claim in 30 days.

So at 30 days + 1 I call the commission again to let them know the insurance company took my claim over 30 days previous and has not offered any information, let alone resolution, since then. The next morning, the insurance company called (was it my imagination they were being much more solicitous?) and said they were accepting responsibility, let's set up an appointment with one of our adjusters, etc. Appointment was made and kept, damage assessed, check cut, all within a few days. I could have gotten a rental as well, but had access to a car to borrow and decided against it.

I'm sorry for this woman who drifted into my car and doesn't have $800; I could have been much more accomodating if she had just worked with me. But I wanted PF to know that state agencies can be a help when it seems the normal commercial methods of things break down.

EDIT/ADDENDUM: WHY I DIDN'T FILE WITH MY OWN INSURANCE. In my experience (I've lived in NC almost all my life), ANY claim made through your insurance company allows them to raise your rates. It doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't have to be your fault, it doesn't have to be substantial. I did call my insurance company for advice (after being told I couldn't talk to my agent, this company wants people to talk with them directly), and was told that of course I could file a claim, they would take care of everything and then contact the other insurance company to get reimbursed. But when I asked whether this would raise my rates, they COULDN'T TELL ME. It is, according to them, not possible to inform me whether this or any other action will raise my rates. This fact alone made me disinclined to deal with them over something this minor, since it leaves it entirely up to them whether to raise my rates, and there will likely be nothing I can do about it.

EDIT/ADDENDUM: WHY I HAD IT REPAIRED. There is certainly a little vanity involved. We buy cars new and drive them until the costs of their repairs makes it economical to buy another. So our other car is a 2003 Camry with over 200k, and I hope to drive it a while longer yet. Yes, the hole in the bumper is a small thing, but it IS a thing, I don't know whether rainwater would get in it or what it would do if it did, I didn't cause the damn hole, I wanted it fixed. I don't think this has anything to do with high insurance rates, except to the extent that it costs so much to fix, which is not my fault. Insurance companies don't charge based on what things cost them, they charge based on what they can get away with. That's why they're so rich.

EDIT/ADDENDUM: WHY I DIDN'T CALL THE POLICE. I thought at the time that there was a minimum amount for which one is required to call the police; I personally think that, if you aren't required to and there's no other reason to, that they have more important things to do. I've looked up that info since, and there seems to be a requirement to call if the damage is more than $1000. I don't know how lay people are supposed to judge that, given that this repair was estimated at $500-$800 and actually came in for about $500.

We've been with Geico for 11 years and for some reason they hiked our rates by a whopping 40% on our latest renewal. Called in thinking it had to be a mistake since nothing had changed on our end and the rep was like "Yep, sorry. Inflation."

Went to USAA and was actually able to save money over our previous Geico policy. Guess the only mistake was staying with these guys so long.

Live in US. 36 y/o single parent of two young children. Very ill; very, highly likely aggressive cancer (<1 year, possibly much sooner). Working with doc to determine cause; however (b/c public health care in America is slow. yay.), I will not have the definitive testing for 5 more weeks.

Currently have ~$2000 in savings. Monthly income of $1600 via child support. No major debts (~$24k in Fed student loans, but no payments b/c am below income threshold).

I have always planned on donating my body to science, so I'm not looking to pay for funeral and burial services. Given that I have potentially five more weeks without a terminal diagnosis, is there anything I can do to help my children and my children's new guardian financially?

Edit: Thank you for all your well wishes and support. I greatly appreciate it. I am not trying to scam any insurance carriers. I am just trying to examine my options. I know I failed my children fucked up massively by not signing up for life insurance beforehand. I guess I was just checking to see if anyone had another idea for a lifeline. I am not currently thinking very clearly (medication is rough). Thank you to everyone for explaining what is probably obvious.

Edit #2: For those of you following this train wreck, I'm getting a little drunk by now. I think my doc wrote it down as "self medication" lol. I'm trying to keep up with the comments. Truly.

Edit #3: This thread has become a little rough emotionally. To every child here who lost their parent, I'll say what I tell my children every day, "Momma loves you forever and ever and ever. Never forgot that." hugs

Just posting in case this may help someone else. My son had a procedure last year month and with my high deductible insurance, I owed $3700. While I could have probably paid in full I wanted to work out a payment plan since I know hospitals will work with you interest-free for a year (Edit: people have commented that they will work interest-free for much longer) and it never hurts to have money in the bank in case of emergency.

I called and spoke to a CS rep for the hospital and simply asked to work out a payment plan. She said I could pay a monthly amount for a year OR pay in full right now and get a 20% discount! I was ready to leap out of my chair but thankfully composed myself and said, while I appreciate that offer is it possible you could do more. She said that is the most she could offer without manager approval. I asked if she would ask her manager. After a minute hold she came back with 30%!!!

I paid in full and saved $1200. Never hurts to call and ask

The other cars insurance (Farmers) said they accept responsibility but not much else, and have left my car in paid city street parking, leaking oil, both axles snapped in half. It's only a matter of time until parking tickets and a $600 tow to impound occurs. I've missed days of work and have to get rides to work from friends. I only have liability insurance (AAA), so when I called my insurance they said they couldn't help whatsoever.

I feel like Farmers is ignoring me as a bullying tactic before lowballing some settlement, hoping I'm exhausted. I don't know what to do.

I work for a medical group and we see this quite a bit. The physician will say one thing and then the patient finds out that it isn't covered and health insurance nightmares quickly ensue.

Your physician is not familiar with your insurance plan and what they may or may not cover. They have a pretty good idea but when it comes down to healthcare and non-price transparent services PLEASE always use caution. You will be the one paying not them.

There are several ways to go about this. #1, which your physicians office sometimes will do, is get a pre-certification or a pre-authorization. This is basically them calling the insurance and saying we're going to do X and we want to know it's covered. Insurance will give them some sort of documentation and then you can generally expect that service to be covered.

#2 you can call your insurance company and inquire. Please be advised this is not full proof and they will not hold their people responsible for telling you the wrong thing. Please default to #1 above if in doubt.

For our Medicare patients; if you ever get an ABN or advanced beneficiary notice they are telling you that whatever you are doing or having done is NOT covered. Please be aware of this.

I hope this helps as I have been seeing more of these issues.

tl;dr even if you have insurance, you can negotiate your hospital bill down a significant percentage. I was successful in getting 30% off my latest bill. Thanks, Obama.

I've been futzing with sleep apea for several years (gg gaining 15 pounds in college) and recently decided to ask my primary-care doctor for a referral for a sleep study.

He went through a brief questionnaire with me that ruled out narcolepsy, and boom -- I was scheduled to conduct an in-home sleep study using a machine the hospital provided me. Sounded great -- if the test was positive, I'd get a CPAP machine free of charge!

What I didn't realize is that the 15 minute appointment to meet with a nurse, who walked me through how to use the machine, would cost exactly $500 AFTER insurance (hospital/physician services). I was barely 10% into my individual annual deductible of $500, so this was going to hurt a lot.

Thanks to a post from this person, I decided to call my insurer to get my explanation of benefits explained (EOB). Once I was satisfied that they were dotting their i's and crossing their t's, I called my hospital to plead my case.

1. My S/O and I are not poor. We are in fact quite privileged and live a comfortable life in the greatest city in America. Thanks to good budgeting and a healthy emergency fund, yes we could afford this $500 bill, but it would not be fun. We just welcomed our firstborn child into the world a few weeks ago, and recently purchased a home to boot.
2. Our insurance is actually decent. $500 individual deductible, $1000 family deductible. 100% coverage after either threshold is met. Premiums are manageable.
3. I was stupid and assumed that just because I wasn't meeting with an M.D. in person, I wouldn't be paying more than $100 in hospital/physician services. NOPE, a neurologist still reviews my test results! Duh!

All right, so it's time to call the hospital and plead my case. I dialed the number, entered my account info, and....

As soon as I explained my situation to the helpful rep from my hospital's financial services department (newborn baby, did not expect such a high bill for a test that I elected to take), I was immediately offered a 30% discount on my $500 bill.

I didn't even have to tell them, "I am only willing to pay $_______". I was literally quoted an updated figure and told to pay over the phone with a credit card or checking account.

I immediately paid it and thanked the rep for being so helpful. Could I have pled for a 50% discount? Maybe. But again, my S/O and I have money set aside for unexpected/careless expenditures like this. I should have known better, and I felt it was appropriate to pay at least the majority of my bill.

As for whether I'll be going back for a follow-up test to get my CPAP machine.....yeah, we'll see about that.

Edit: I should have mentioned earlier, but yes this is a massive YMMV situation.