Tips to reduce hospital bills (codes, costs, law)

[TFW46]

One great resource is the Hill-Burton Act. You should ask the hospital for a financial aid form; as I understand it, hospitals dont offer any info about it unless you ask for it.

Below is one piece of info that popped up when I googled "Hill-Burton Act":

The Hill-Burton Act is a federal program which requires “obligated facilities” (health care facilities including hospitals) that have used federal money for facility reconstruction or modernization to provide free or low cost health care services to people living in the facility’s area who cannot afford to pay for the services. To be eligible, a person must not be covered by, nor receive services under, a third-party insurer or a governmental program such as Medicaid or Medicare. If income is less than current Poverty Income Level, facility services may be free. If income is greater than but not more than double Poverty Income Level, services may be provided at full charge, reduced charge, or free. It is not necessary that applicants be U.S. Citizens. Patient need only have been living in the U.S. for a minimum of 3 months. (Note: Hill-Burton facilities must provide a specific amount of free care per year, but can stop services once they have given that amount.)

The Hill-Burton Act is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Hill Burton Hotline: 1-800-638-0742

Website: Hill-Burton Facilities (http://www.hrsa.gov/hillburton/default.htm - broken link)

You may obtain a list of Hill-Burton facilities by contacting the Dept. of Health and Human Services at the website above or by calling its 800 number.

APPLICATION PROCESS:

1. Find the Hill-Burton obligated facility nearest you from the list of Hill-Burton obligated facilities.
2. Go to the facility's admissions or business office and ask for a copy of the Hill-Burton Individual Notice. The Individual Notice will tell you what income level makes you eligible for free or reduced-cost care, what services might be covered, and exactly where in the facility to apply.
3. Go to the office listed in the Individual Notice and say you want to apply for Hill-Burton free or reduced-cost care. You may need to fill out a form.
4. Gather any other required documents (such as a pay stub to prove income eligibility) and take or send them to the obligated facility.
5. If you are asked to apply for Medicaid, Medicare, or some other financial assistance program, you must do so.
6. When you return the completed application, ask for a Determination of Eligibility. Check the Individual Notice to see how much time the facility has before it must tell you whether or not you will receive free or reduced-cost care.

[kmalone4]

You've received tons of good advice on this thread. I just want to caution you about refusal to pay; often times they will reduce your bill significantly, but it is often at the expense of your credit rating. The bill audit or breakdown of charges is a great idea. Also, use only what you need. When patients ask for a pair of slipper socks (for example), the nurse retrieves them from the storeroom and either scans the item or uses a charge sticker to connect the item to a patient's account. That is something that would likely cost a few dollars at the store, but twenty or so from the hospital. That is how it's been done at the hospitals I've worked at. Many hospitals and even doctor's offices will charge much less if you tell them you are not insured. Urgent care centers are often a safe, economical alternative to hospitals for many situations. Call the hospital and ask about their bill assistance programs. You'd be surprised how many hospitals may forgive the entire bill. Good luck and my best to your son.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by kmalone4

You'd be surprised how many hospitals may forgive the entire bill.

The hospital may in fact say one does not have to pay their bill, but then I/we get charged somehow instead to make up the cost. Nothing is free.

[PurpleLove08]

https://www.city-data.com/forum/healt...cal-bills.html

OP, sometimes you can get a person to look at the bill and try to negotiate a lower price.
I think they're called medical billing advocates. Something to that effect.

[TFW46]

Thanks, Purple!!

[kmalone4]

Well, it depends on the facility. Back home, I worked at a Catholic non-profit hospital. There is a huge foundation committee that does nothing except try to raise funds for various projects and departments. Each year, an X amount of money is set aside for charity to forgive bills for some of the patients who truly cannot afford it and have no other forms of aid. That program costs no one, except the generous people who give to the hospital. That being said, Medicaid costs taxpayers A LOT of money each year. I wasn't referring to the people who skip out on their bills or have government aid in place.

[seadoons]

When that bill comes in, simply call the billing office, say you can't afford to pay it, and see what they do. I did this once and they literally cut it by 50% right then and there. That simple. One phone call.

[Redrover]

Originally Posted by desertsun41

Or one better. Toss the bills in the garbage. When more and more hospitals start getting stiffed then they might decide to start supporting a national health care where basic treatment is available to everybody and in the end they will be paid for every single service rendered. Imagine that.

...Doctors who are not allowed to treat you as their training taught them to. They take orders on how to treat you by doing what the minimum wage clerk at the insurance company says from her comfy chair 3000 miles away. Man that is an awesome way to treat sick people huh.

Welcome stranger from the planet of Dellusion! Please tell me just who you think will be paying to provide treatment to everyone? Health care is not one of the inalienable rights guaranteed by our Founding Fathers. It is a privlege that comes from having the money to pay for it. I guess in your rose-colored reality it will be perfectly fine for those who have jobs and work hard for their money to "share the wealth" to pay for those who don't have jobs and often don't really care that they don't. When you take away the profit motive you begin to reduce the incentive to work harder because you don't get to keep the results of your extra efforts.

Are you already impressed with how well the federal government runs the other services they control like the post office, Medicare, Freddie Mac & Fannie May? They are all virtually broke, have bloated payrolls and are models of inefficiency. Do you imagine for a moment that they will do any better with a government-controlled healthcare system? I think not!

And as for doctors taking their treatment cues from insurance companies - just what the heck do you think will happen if the feds get ahold of our healthcare system? Medical care will be "standardized" and discretionary care from individual doctors will be a thing of the past. There will likely be manuals of care protocols that all medical providers will be expected to follow so as to provide consistent and equalized treatments for everyone. To say nothing of standardized charges that will be applied to everyone. So please tell me where the incentive will be for anyone to choose to go into medicine as a career when no matter how good they are or how hard they work, they will all make the same as the worst in the field.

That's just a little peek at what Obamacare will do for medicine. Try not to get sick or have an accident - it won't be pretty.

[HospitalBillReview]

Look for an expert to help with reviewing your bills. When you ask a hospital to audit their own bill they may find items that were missed, and your bill could go higher.

[george azar mitchell]

i have received an ITEMIZED bill from the hospital ,is the the same thing as an AUDITED bill?if there is a difference coul anyone explain this to me ?