Insurance

Many people in the United States do not have adequate insurance, or have no insurance at all. This leaves a large percentage of people unable to pay their bills in traditional ways. With the average ER hospital bill over $1,000 now it is extremely difficult for a family who is already cash strapped. Insurance companies pay less then half of what an individual pays.

It is very important to at least work with the hospital to make sure your account does not go into collections. Having your bills go into collections hurts your bargaining power, and can effect your credit score (which hurts job prospects potentially), in addition to that if you have open collections the cost of borrowing on anything from car car loans to credit card rates will rise.

So if you are uninsured or under-insured and want to lower your medical bills, your best start would be to audit your medical bills. The first step would be to request an itemized receipt of your bill, and look for any obvious errors or double charges. Once you have the bill in hand you can spot these errors contact the billing department of your medical provider.

Sometimes working with medical providers, especially the billing department can be a tedious process, they are trained to get the most money out of patients and do this all day. If you are not comfortable negotiation with people and feel you still want to audit your medical bills getting a professional to do the job is also an option.