It sure has been a hectic past couple of weeks. Preparing taxes, kids on school vacation and securing additional negotiators has left precious little time for this blog. It then struck me that if I’m struggling with squeezing more items in my day than so must others.
Which got me thinking obviously about our negotiating service. I believe that anyone can negotiate their medical bills, just like anyone can negotiate what they pay for hotel rooms, airfare and new automobiles. The major stumbling block is most individuals do not know what a fair price is to offer their provider or what is fair to accept as a discount.
The founders of INSNET have been negotiating medical bills for over 20 years. We have the experience to not only know what a fair price to pay for services is, but also what dollar amount your provider has accepted from insurance in the past. With this information we base a settlement proposal and ensure you pay a fair price for your medical care.
I was recently reminded of an article our president Jack Gillis wrote for the Self Insurer years ago. The article references a Case Management Nurse who was looking for pricing information for a lymphadema pump. The homecare medical dealer was billing the insurance company $5,200.00. The Case Management Nurse negotiated the price down to $2,300.00. Now most would say that the savings was fantastic. However, before she contacted the provider we informed her that the manufacturer had a suggested list price (not dealer cost) of $1,600.00 . In this case, the fanatastic negotiated settlement was a least a $700 overpayment. If a medical provider is able to negotiate a deal that great for themselves with a trained medical professional, just what kind of chance does the average citizen have?
How much time do you have to contact your medical provider with questions on your medical bill. The time you spend on hold can be an eternity. In fact I finally used my time well and wrote this post during my 14 minutes and 34 seconds I was on hold with a provider.
May 5, 2009 at 6:06 am |
You were on hold for nearly 15 minutes by a health care provider?? Man that’s annoying. That’s why I try to stay healthy–not only will it save me money that I can use for other bills, it also will save me from enduring annoying instances such as that!