Comments on: Reducing Hosptial Bill By 10%

By: dePriest

dePriest — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:13:46 +0000

The only hospital in my county offers this (7.5% discount), but my husband won’t let me take advantage of it. Instead, he has me call the hospital to add it to the myriad other bills we have with them (I’ve had a very rough year, so far, healthwise). Although they charge no interest to make payments, I’m paying “interest” because I could have saved quite a bit off my bills had I paid them within the alloted time. BTW, my husband is the CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (yes, I know I’m screaming, but I can’t help it) of a local company. He does well for the company he works for, yet, like the mechanic who has a car that needs mechanical work, it doesn’t translate to what he wants done at home.

By: Pete

Pete — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:42:21 +0000

Often if you call and ask for a discount, they’ll give you one – up to 20-30% sometimes. We had friends who saved 20% off of their recent pregnancy/childbirth bills.

It pays to ask!

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:10:48 +0000

My experience with hospitals is that if they don’t offer a discount upfront, they will agree to one if you ask for it. This applies to other health care providers as well. Even ones who won’t offer a discount will often let you pay off the balance over time, interest free.

Cheers,
Ken

By: Chris @ ComicHacks.com

Chris @ ComicHacks.com — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:15:32 +0000

Dude, if you would have called them and offered $300 or even $250, I bet they would have taken that.

In the ER that I work in, if you have a lump sum available to pay immediately, they’ll work out a deal.

But congrats on your savings! It’s still better than full price.

By: Meoip

Meoip — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:42:31 +0000

I just paid a hospital bill today;I was given 20% off to pay in full and on time. My usual experience is that hospitals will give 10%-25% for on time and full payments. You should always call the hospital and ask for help and they will let you know about the plan. Never just mail a check out because the discount is there.

By: shaw

shaw — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:38:15 +0000

No, but this is not unheard of. You can visit hospitals and negotiate a cheaper price to pay for the delivery of a baby. If you can prepay, they’ll give you a deal. Then you can pin the hospitals against each other to get a lower price. I’m sure the same can be said for any anticipated medical event.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:36:16 +0000

It’s interesting you mention that. I used to work in hospital billing for a VERY large and VERY prestigious Health System on the east coast and can tell you that a majority of hospitals are so anxious to get you to pay your portion of a bill, thereby avoiding having to write it off as a bad debt after spending money to send the debt to be “worked” by a collection agency, that they will offer discounts if you pay within a certain time frame. They even will often write similar stipulations into their contracts with the major health insurance companies. For instance, if Hospital A sends a patient’s bill to a Blue Cross plan, and Blue Cross pays within 30 days of receiving the claim, the hospital is obligated to accept a payment reduced by 5%, 10% or some similar amount. Hospitals will generally do all they can stomach to avoid having to write off bad debt. This is an example of one of the ways.

By: Marilin

Marilin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:12:26 +0000

The hospital I work for offers a 40% prompt pay discount (paid within 30 days) for people without insurance, though I don’t think it extends to people with insurance. I think it’s pretty nice, but it’s a catch22 in a way….. the person without insurance probably wouldn’t be able to afford 40% of a few thousand dollar ER visit, and might not be able to get a loan for the amount either.