Help with Huge Medical Bill for visting Parent

[hope4best]

One of my friend's mother fell very sick and had to be admitted to a hospital for a few days. She was kept in ICU for a few days and has recovered now and returned home. The parents had visited US for the birth of their grandchild.

The hospital has sent him a bill for 50k. Looks like my Friend had signed the paperwork on behalf of his mother at the hospital before she was admitted. I know he's at hook now for the bills. I don't have all the specifics but I was told it's 50k after whatever little the visitors insurance offered to reimburse. He's really worried as the amount is huge and not sure how he is going to handle this.

I remember reading some posts in the past on this forum where lot of valuable input was provided to the people who were looking for help but I can't seem to find them. May be I'm not using the correct search strings. My intention is to gather some helpful information that I can pass on to my friend to substantially minimize the hospital bill. Please no bashing as I'm not looking for input on how to cheat or pass on the burden to tax payers. If you can't offer any help please refrain from posting on this thread.

TIA

[samv]

I am sure if he nicely negotiates with the hospital, they will settle for much less than their published price.

[rajradio]

I am sure if he nicely negotiates with the hospital, they will settle for much less than their published price.

i dont think so. Look through any major consumables and ask if that is right. You can do nothing about the other charges. All you can do is ask for some deferred payment and pay over 1 year. Or else declare bankruptsy and start all over( I dont know that is even possible, but that is one way many of my patients dont pay my bills), I am sure there is a lawyer who specialises in not paying bills.

RK

[direstraits88]

He will be getting separate bills from doctor, hospital, Emergency services, etc.

Some like the doctors may be willing to discount to get whatever amount. The hospital will be willing to accept a payment plan over 4-5 years, sometimes. So he may have to look at each bill separately and then decide course of action.

Anyway he's looking at paying 1k per month for next 4-5 years.

I met someone in philly once who was paying 800 per month to clear a 80k bill for a similar situation.

[rajradio]

He will be getting separate bills from doctor, hospital, Emergency services, etc.

Some like the doctors may be willing to discount to get whatever amount.

in some states it is illegal for the doctor to waive his fees. Like in georgia if I see a patient and I waive the self pay component and still charge the insurance for their portion it is illegal, same with medicare.

Also in some states the hospital has to report unpaid collectibles to a debt collection agency. american health care is broken.

RK

[direstraits88]

in some states it is illegal for the doctor to waive his fees. Like in georgia if I see a patient and I waive the self pay component and still charge the insurance for their portion it is illegal, same with medicare.

Also in some states the hospital has to report unpaid collectibles to a debt collection agency. american health care is broken.

RK

How about traveler's insurance where the insurance will just reimburse a fixed amount and you are on the hook for the rest?

I know of two acquittance in IL and NJ where the doctors agreed to a lower fee (25% of the bill) when they were told the patient was a visitor who was about to go back.

I agree the system is totally broken. One of the injured victims in the arizona shooting recently gave an interview. His first thought after being shot was "how much is this going to cost me"?

For all it's "cold hearted" business model in Indian Hospital, i'm told the cost upfront when i go to the hospital. Here every time I visit my family doctor for a routine checkup, the bill varies, every visit.

[rajradio]

How about traveler's insurance where the insurance will just reimburse a fixed amount and you are on the hook for the rest?

I know of two acquittance in IL and NJ where the doctors agreed to a lower fee (25% of the bill) when they were told the patient was a visitor who was about to go back.

I agree the system is totally broken. One of the injured victims in the arizona shooting recently gave an interview. His first thought after being shot was "how much is this going to cost me"?

For all it's "cold hearted" business model in Indian Hospital, i'm told the cost upfront when i go to the hospital. Here every time I visit my family doctor for a routine checkup, the bill varies, every visit.

I suppose it is possible provided, the hospital is not so big that the physician is just a spoke in the wheel, and the billing is not outsourced to a third party. They charge 8-13 % on the dollar and will go after anyone as lack of collections is seen as a negative remark and they make a proportion of the collections.

Of course you can be a true blue American and declare bankruptcy and use the money better and take a trip to aruba.

But the key is, in the bills and collections side you have 2 kinds of people.

1. Scared law abiding folk like us, in that case you will pay.
2. litigant people, if you make a lawyer go through any US hospital bill there is atleast 10-15 % padding up, you could sue them and settle out of court and drag it on for a couple of years(since the economy is bad the hospital might settle for 25-30 cents on the dollar).

My wife's insurance date of birth, when I filled the form the 7, I wrote (as in 1974) looked like a 2 believe though there are 20 other places where her age is mentioned as numerical figure as well. So they denied to pay, even when I called them they denied, then I sent them a lawyers notice, they siad their computer had a malfunction.

In my experience everyone lies, you can contest any charge, just need to have patience and pay the lawyers. Now remember this is a country made by the lawyers for the lawyers, so chances are your lawyer and the hospital lawyer could be sleeping together and they may drop you too but if you the capability time and money, contest it and you ll get atleast 10-15 k back.

RK

[localmadras]

She was kept in ICU for a few days and has recovered now and returned home.

Happy to know she has recovered.

My intention is to gather some helpful information that I can pass on to my friend to substantially minimize the hospital bill.

TIA

very good intention

reachout to your local-organizations (india association, telugu/tamil/hindi/... sangams, religious groups) , there are mahatma's in our society, who may share the burden & help.

thanks to your for supporting your friend.

good luck

[spartan]

You can analyze and see if the following is true and whether you can use this.

This may be the loophole used by illegals to escape from paying any medical bills.

"The hospital may not tell you that you could qualify for free care or discounts. Most hospitals have some kind of financial aid for strapped patients. A typical charity program would erase bills entirely for people whose incomes equal 200% or less of federal poverty limits, and it would offer discounts for those with incomes up to 400% of those limits. But hospitals may not publicize these programs or provide much guidance on how to apply."

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/ManageDebt/HowToSurviveYourHospitalBills.aspx

[hope4best]

You can analyze and see if the following is true and whether you can use thishttp://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/ManageDebt/HowToSurviveYourHospitalBills.aspx

Thanks for the link. I shall forward it to my friend. From the link that you provided the two parts that might be helpful to him are the following.

"You may face a wildly inflated bill. As backward as it may seem, hospitals often charge uninsured patients far more than the discounted prices given to insurance companies and government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.The "sticker price" for rooms, drugs and medical care for an uninsured person can be two or three times the price paid by insurers, according to the National Consumer Law Center."

"Negotiate for lower prices. Ask the hospital to charge you the same prices it charges Medicare, Medicaid or its biggest insurance customer. If the resulting bill is manageable, you can go on to work out a payment plan with the hospital. Make sure to get a written copy of your agreement before you start payments so that the hospital can't later claim there was a mistake or that the sums you paid were inadequate."


Thanks to all those who posted helpful replies.

Again, my friend is capable of paying the bill and doesn't intend to file for bankruptcy or looking for any donations. However, paying the bills as is billed exorbitantly by the hospitals is going to take a big chunk of his life savings away. As it's clearly indicated in the above article on MSN the hospitals seem to exploit the situation of not having sufficient insurance to rip more money from individuals when compared to how much they would bill the insurance companies and that's a shame.

Thanks again :emrose: