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Is that medical bill your final offer?

By Dana Blankenhorn | October 23, 2009, 9:07 AM PDT

When I get a medical bill I pay it.

Silly me.

Spiraling bills and a nasty recession have led to the launch of Medical Cost Advocate, a FREE service that aims to negotiate for you and cut your medical bills.

Of course it’s not actually free. It’s only free if they fail to get your costs cut. If they do, they get their cut, just like a lawyer who sues the guy whose truck ran you over.

“MCA will negotiate any medical bills including those not covered by insurance at all or not fully covered like cosmetic, vision, bariatric and dental,” a spokeswoman told me breathlessly.

“In the midst of the hot healthcare news cycle, this emerging trend provides individuals the resources to prevent medical bills from spiraling out of control.”

I don’t know what to think of this trend. We know why medical costs are dragging people into bankruptcy. It’s not just the actual costs of the procedure, but the paperwork, and the need to cover costs for people who aren’t paying anything, who can’t pay.

In other words, wiggle room.

So are you going to make the call?

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About Dana Blankenhorn

Dana Blankenhorn was a contributing editor for SmartPlanet from 2009 to 2010.

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RE: Is that medical bill your final offer?

How does this service differ from consumer credit counseling organizations that negotiate lower rates and payment plans?

-Joe Franscella

Posted by joe@...

23rd Oct 2009

Just
In

When I didn't have Insurance....

I would have to pay at the doctors office my initial fee for the visit, but they don't charge you the "extras" until you leave, or they send you a bill.

If a doctor was able to help my condition then I would pay any balances, but if the visit was just a waste of time and didn't help then I just disputed the bill since they did not fix the problem.

Even when I later got insurance I would do the same thing to the copays and coinsurance.

Why pay someone that doesn't fix a problem?
Of course I'd pay the labs as they did their part but surgeons and specialists in particular expect to be paid whether they fix your problem or not.

If I have a plumber come over to fix a leak and he leaves and the leak still exists then I wouldn't pay them either.

The means of getting around collection agencies and liens is making sure you send the dispute of charges in writing via registered mail and keep all registered mail receipts along with the correspondence. Then if a collection agency sends you a bill you have 30 days to either contest the charge or you default. All you do is send them another registered mail indicating that their clients charges are in dispute and include copies of all prior correspondence and registered mail receipts. Until a disputed charge is taken to court it remains an invalid charge and cannot be collected nor can it be shown on your credit records as outstanding. If you do find that one of the three credit agencies shows it as outstanding then simply send them the same correspondence and tell them to correct it to a disputed charge.

Posted by dunn@...

28th Oct 2009

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RE: Is that medical bill your final offer?

How does this service differ from consumer credit counseling organizations that negotiate lower rates and payment plans?

-Joe Franscella

Posted by joe@...

23rd Oct 2009

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RE: Is that medical bill your final offer?

Well, there's the up-front fee for the service that this group *doesn't* charge you, for one thing. Then there's the comprehensive list of all of your debts, and the amounts you currently pay on them that you *don't* have to submit to these people before they'll help you. Then there's the fact that you don't have to submit your budget to these people and change it to meet their requirements before they'll help you.

So yes, I'd say there are a *lot* of differences between these people and the so-called credit counseling services, which are actually run by the credit card companies, for the purpose of keeping you from filing bankruptcy. Perhaps the most important difference is that these people--unlike the credit counseling services, are actually advocates for you, not for your creditors.

Posted by vizenos

26th Oct 2009

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Malpracice

A hospital literally nearly killed me a couple years ago. (a couple hours away from bleeding to death internally) due to their negligence and bad practice. (inappropriate medication given)

No insurance. Forget that I shouldn't have needed treatment and a stay at the hospital if they had done their job right in the first place.

Nevertheless they billed me for the pleasure of needlessly almost dying. It was a horrible experience, one worth 25,000 bux to the hospital I've been paying off in 25 dollar "installments."

I didn't want to involve lawyers, one said I may have had luck with it but even obvious malpractice like cutting off the wrong foot is never a given in such a suit. (much contrary to popular belief)

I wonder if these folks would be able to help, with the additional fact that the bill would never have been incurred if they had listened to me at an earlier juncture and acted accordingly.

Might be worth a call... thanks for the tip.

Posted by pgit

26th Oct 2009

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RE: Is that medical bill your final offer?

if those were the only reason's (people who don't pay anything, etc.) your comments would be reasonable.

obviously you haven't run into situations where you have full medical coverage (BC/BS, Aetna, etc) where they don't even want to give you the prescribed treatment until you get to the point that you're on 'your last leg'.

Never-mind, cut & run surgeons, and doctors that fail to diagnose correctly initially - these medical companies still make a profit that is astronomical.

Maybe you out to look a little further and a little deeper - this kind of group, like every other has it's pros and cons. And like everything else, the 'color' of the grass depends upon what side your are on and 'have been on'.

Posted by lmoreno@...

26th Oct 2009

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Part of the reason bills are so high is because...

...too many people and institutions just pay them without question.
With what other services do you do business this way and expect to get
a good deal?

As someone with high deductible no-frills insurance, I audit every bill
I get just as I reconcile my checking and credit card accounts. Every
dollar I save is a dollar that stays in my pocket. It's amazing how
often I get the "deer in the headlights" look from medical office
staffs when I ask about prices. To me, it's very clear why costs are
out of control.

Posted by JohnMcGrew@...

26th Oct 2009

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RE: Is that medical bill your final offer?

All doctors and institutions that I have gone to in recent years have a standardized form that they use. In that form is a paragraph that assigns all costs to you regardless of insurance coverage. I modify that clause to say that I am only responsible for the COVERED costs. The admin bureaucrats seldom (never) look at the form - they just file it. I think that it would be difficult to recover additional funds from me when I can show that I told them up front that I wouldn't pay them.

Posted by BigRonG

27th Oct 2009

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RE: Is that medical bill your final offer?

I just went to the emergency room with the Swine flu. Got a breathing treatment and an xray and a bill for $1200. I have no insurance and no job. I was able to negotiate the bill down however it was still not low enough. So I am now paying them $2.50 a month. I figure it will cost them somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 to process each payment. I will do this as long as it take to reduce the bill down to a couple of hundred dollars. Could take years before someone notices that they are paying more to service my account then they are making.

Posted by buddhahead

27th Oct 2009

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Is that medical bill your final offer?

The important thing to remember, that the writer overlooks, is that the consumer gets an expert that knows how to navigate the health care system. They also get an advocate that is highly trained in negotiation. The service is free. If you have a bill and MCA is able to reduce it you'll give up some of the savings as their fee, but you'll still come out ahead. If they don't save they don't charge.

Posted by swank

27th Oct 2009

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RE: Is that medical bill your final offer?

They do dental too? That would save me tons in itself. I looked on their site and it all seems legit.

Basically it looks like you submit your bill and if they save you cash you pay them. If not, there is no fee.

Next bill I'll take 10 minutes to submit. Like someone else said, all it can lead to is more money in my pocket. What's to lose with no risk?

Posted by bdiggs

27th Oct 2009

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When I didn't have Insurance....

Posted by dunn@...

28th Oct 2009

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