Tips and tricks for negotiating with Hospital?

[C(-)ris]

I switched jobs and moved to a new area. New insurance, new provider, etc. Went in for my first checkup, had bloodwork done, went over some ongoing health issues. Pretty normal office visit. I recieved the bill today and it is about 2x what I expected it to be, even after the insurance deduction. The bill was right around $1200. Insurance adjustments for the allowable rate only brought it down to about $1050. My portion was right around half of that, which on the surface doesn't seem that bad.

However, I dug up one of my old bills from my previous provider and insurance and found that the insurance adjustment was much larger. On my previous provider/insurance an identical visit was $1500, insurance adjustments for allowable billing brought it down to $500 and I payed about half of that.

I moved from a more expensive healthcare market and was going to a higher tier provider into a cheaper market and going to a larger middle rated provider. Deductables are the same for both plans. I would have expected a large decrease in cost. But it appears that my current health insurance did a horrible very poor job negotiating their allowable rates with their providers. Either that or the insurance I had before was the gold standard of awesomeness and completely atypical.

Is there anything I can do about this? Negotiate directly with the Hospital/clinic? I have bills from other providers and know what they should be charging for their services, so I know I am getting a poor deal. There isn't anything abnormal on the bill, everything is straight forward and there are no odd line items.

[space-time]

I don't have any practical advice, sorry. good luck.

One story though: My father in law from Romania visited, broke his foot. his tourist medical insurance only paid for emergencies. So we went to ER first. They took X-rays and put a cast and refereed to an orthopedist. Next day we went to an orthopedist who looked at X-rays and took cast off and gave him a special shoe ($$$).

orthopedist bill was $300-ist, X-ray was something (don't recall) and hospital/ER bill was $1500, but because he didn't have "insurance" they reduced it to $400 (that's how we received the bill). His tourist insurance from Romania paid all these bills (we were pleasantly surprised). We paid all bills. all was fair and square.

then about a year later we get a check from hospital, $400 refund, with a latter saying that they didn't really expect payment for that bill, and were offering a refund. We still don't understand why they did that.

now sure how this is gonna help you, but I wish you good luck

[JoeH]

Have you received an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) statement yet from your insurer? That should outline what the allowable charges are and list what your responsibility is. It will also list what amounts are being charged to you as copays and what are going to your deductible if there is one for your insurance policy.

[Speedy]

Flex plan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_spending_account

[Dennis S]

Call your state insurance commissioner for starters. If they can't do anything they might tell you what your options are. Talk to more than one person in case one of them is not helpful enough.

[bruceko]

Just bend over but be careful they may try to charge for that.

[C(-)ris]

JoeH wrote:
Have you received an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) statement yet from your insurer? That should outline what the allowable charges are and list what your responsibility is. It will also list what amounts are being charged to you as copays and what are going to your deductible if there is one for your insurance policy.

Yes, the allowables listed are higher dollar amounts for most every item than what my previous plan had. I just assumed that most insurance plans got close to the same allowables, apparently not. And yes, I am going to the prefered providers that are supposed to give the best rates for the plan I am in.

[Racer X]

I agree, check with the state insurance commish's office.

[bazookaman]

Wow. Your normal office visit costs $1500????

[mattkime]

I'm confused why you're paying so much. do you have a high deductible plan?