How to Negotiate Medical Bills? If you are struggling to pay your medical bills, then this article is for you shared at the peryourhealth. We will explore how to negotiate with hospital billing departments and how to settle your debts.
The first thing that you should do is examine the cost of the procedure so that you know how much money you owe them. Then, contact customer service at the hospital or clinic where they performed the service and ask about payment plans or other financial assistance programs.
Asking these questions will give an idea of what options are available to help reduce your debt! We will discuss these things in this article. Let’s jump in.
Contents In Article
- 1 How to Negotiate Medical Bills?
- 1.1 Step One: Find Out the Cost of Your Procedure
- 1.2 Step Two: Contact the Billing Department
- 1.3 Step Three: Prioritize Your Debts
- 1.4 Step Four: Contact the Billing Department Again
- 1.5 Step Five: Negotiate the Best Possible Deal for You
- 1.6 Step Six: Pay Off the Debt
- 1.7 Step Seven: Contact Your Financial Institution (If Applicable)
- 1.8 Conclusion
How to Negotiate Medical Bills?
Negotiating medical bills can be an intimidating task, but it doesn’t have to be. Medical billing departments are often willing to negotiate if you present them with a good reason and ask for help in the right way.
This step-by-step guide will show how to do this in a professional manner so that your request is taken seriously and respected.
Read on How to Negotiate Medical Bills and make sure to learn how shared in simple and understandable steps.
Step One: Find Out the Cost of Your Procedure
The first step is figuring out how much you owe for your procedure. If you don’t know this number, it can be difficult to determine how successful (or not) your negotiation efforts will be! You should ask ahead of time how much an appointment or procedure costs so you have an idea of how much debt you are in.
If the hospital doesn’t give out this information, then contact customer service and ask for a breakdown of the charges. This should include how much each individual fee was and what services were included in that charge. You can also request to see copies of your medical records.
Step Two: Contact the Billing Department
If you don’t know how to contact customer service, then look it up online or call and ask how they would like for you to proceed.
Once again, be professional when speaking with this person on the phone- remember that your goal is not to get revenge on them so take a deep breath and stay calm.
Step Three: Prioritize Your Debts
If you have more than one medical debt, then the next step is prioritizing how much you owe to each business or organization so that negotiations can begin in a practical manner.
Make a list of all debts owed, how much they are for, how much you can pay per month, how much they want to receive from you each month, how many months it would take for the debt to be paid off if that’s all you could afford and how long it will realistically take before your financial situation changes.
Remember not to over-promise or make promises about payment amounts that are unreasonable because this will make it harder to come up with a plan that works for both parties.
Step Four: Contact the Billing Department Again
Once you have prioritized how much money you can pay each month, contact customer service again and tell them what your current financial situation is like. So they know how realistic of an offer this is on your end.
Step Five: Negotiate the Best Possible Deal for You
How to Negotiate Medical Bills? If you are feeling overwhelmed by how much money is owed, then you can always ask to be placed on a payment plan. This will make it easier to pay off these debts over time and keep your credit score intact. Just let them know how long of a repayment period you would feel comfortable with and how much you can afford to pay monthly.
It is also possible to negotiate a lower interest rate on the debt, ask for a waiver of late fees or ask for a settlement offer. If you are successful in getting any of these things, then make sure to get it in writing!
Step Six: Pay Off the Debt
Once you have a payment plan in place, get ready to pay off the debt. At this point, it is possible that customer service may call or email you from time to time to ask how things are going and remind you of upcoming payments.
If they don’t contact you within a few months, then pick up the phone and give them a call to make sure that they received your payments on time. You can also ask how high of an interest rate you are paying on the debt at this point, too.
Step Seven: Contact Your Financial Institution (If Applicable)
Contacting your financial institution is important if you have taken out loans or credit cards to pay for any of these medical bills.
Let them know how much you paid off in this negotiation with the hospital and how long it will take until all debts are cleared up completely. Most financial institutions have a policy about how many payments they can apply to one debt at once. So make sure that they are aware of how large your payment will be each month and how many months it will take for everything to be paid off.
If you are still struggling to pay off the medical debt, then consider talking with a credit counseling service that can help you create a budget that is more realistic for your current financial situation.
Conclusion
We hope You got the complete information on how to negotiate medical bills. We tried to cover all the steps so that you can easily follow them and get the best possible deal for yourself. If you have any more questions or need more help, please feel free to reach out to us in the comments below! Stay Tuned!