Paying Back Your Loans

Posted on: 15 February 2016

Medical insurance is a great way to get the care you need without having to pay it all out of pocket. This allows you to focus on your care without worrying about money. The whole point is health insurance is to help you get the care you need without putting you in debt, but in order to do this, you need to hone in on an insurance plan that is going to cover your needs. Nowadays, you can actually be penalized for not having health insurance. This is why it is so important to do your due diligence in shopping for a great health insurance plan. To keep your costs in check, here are some tips to help avoid surprise medical bills. 

Know Your Providers

While you may be very familiar with your main healthcare provider, it can be daunting trying to stay on top of everyone who is taking care of your medical needs. Should you need surgery, you need to know everyone who is involved, including the anesthesiologist, any physician assistants, and more. Even if your primary doctor is covered under your insurance, you want to make sure everyone who is involved is also covered. Otherwise, you could end up with a bill for your care that is considered out of network. 

Ask Questions

Just because you get a bill explaining what each fee is for, you want to be diligent about asking questions about fees that you do not understand. If you go ahead and pay the bill before getting it straight, it may be much harder to get reimbursed for what you paid out. Instead, call and speak to your insurance company about your bill before you go ahead and pay it.

Check to see that any in-network providers were not coded as out-of-network providers, check for services that were not provided, and check that your insurance was billed appropriately. Even if you were billed correctly, you should understand what each fee is about so you will be aware of how it is coded for future bills. 

Talk to Your Doctor

If you are going through a financial crisis, it is important to share this with your doctor. In some cases, your doctor may be willing to lower their fees in order to ensure that you are able to pay your bill. If you receive a bill that you did not expect, they will work with you in many cases. Even if you cannot get a hold of your doctor, you can still talk to the billing department about the bill. They can help set up payment plans so that paying the bill is not as hard on you. Contact a company like Culbertson Financial Services for more information.