Negotiating Medical Debt (continued)
How to Avoid Future Medical Debt
A recent development in assisting the uninsured pay medical debt is the trend towards bargaining for health care. Patients are successfully negotiating with their doctors and clinics for discounts in the range of 20% to 40%. There are even companies who refer to themselves as "health care professional negotiators". For a flat fee of around $200, these services will negotiate with your doctor for discounts and lower prices and will help you negotiate medical debt already incurred that you are not able to pay. The Affordable Care Act has not had any affect on this practice so far and even if all of the problems regarding Obamacare are worked out, health insurance typically doesn't cover 20 percent of medical bills. You can negotiate the 20 percent.
Don't assume that your doctor won't be willing to negotiate. Many doctors are opening up "cash only" practices to avoid the high costs of dealing with Medicare, Medicaid, HMOs, and private insurance companies. Patients are expected to pay in cash as soon as services are rendered. Why? Because doctors usually have to wait three months to collect money due them from HMOs, Medicare and the like and must pay clerks to complete the tedious paperwork. In addition, HMOs and Medicare have steadily decreased the amount they will reimburse to doctors, who now only collect about 70% of what is due them from HMOs alone. More and more doctors are discovering that they come out ahead financially if they give the patient a discount and avoid dealing with third-party reimbursers.
Do you need to hire a health care professional negotiator? No, you can do it on your own, provided you do some research before you consult with a doctor for medical services. Tips on doing this are below:
(1) The time to negotiate with a doctor is before you hire him / her for medical treatment, not afterwards. Don't be surprised if some doctors refuse to negotiate with you as this practice is rather new.
(2) Before you consult with a physician, find out what the standard rate for the particular medical procedure is you need. You can find this information by researching the Internet, by asking various doctors in your area or by consulting medical guides published for consumers.
(3) Offer to pay at least a partial amount upfront and sign an agreement to pay the rest later. Typically, doctors are accepting 20% to 40% less than the standard rate for a particular medical procedure and most of them will accept credit card payments.
Does negotiating work? Not always, but one person who used the negotiating tips at this website sent us an email telling us that he needed spinal surgery but was not insured and couldn't afford it. He persuaded the surgeon to accept 30%, or $8,000, less for his services by offering to pay him in cash up front.
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