Slash Your Medical Bills

Even the most diligent health insurance shopper still needs to be cost-conscious when consuming pricey healthcare services. Follow these tips to significantly lower your medical bills.

• Enlist your doctor's help. Your primary care doctor is probably the one who instructed you to seek out the medical service you're shopping for in the first place, so ask him/her to help you with the process. Ask your doctor for recommendations of hospitals that collaborate with patients to lower out-of-pocket expenses and possibly also have a financing department.
• Use the lingo. Even if you are very thorough when you compare health insurance quotes, you will still probably have to do a bit of comparison shopping for procedures and services after you're insured. As you call around to different hospitals for prices, make sure you use the CPT, or current procedural terminology, code when requesting quotes. This will ensure that you are comparing costs for the same procedure.
• Be persistent with the billing department. Tenacity pays off when you compare health insurance quotes, and it will also serve you well when you are trying to find an affordable price on a medical procedure. Call the billing departments of various hospitals or medical centers and talk to the billing department. Request the cost for the procedure or treatment of interest. If the billing representative will not divulge the information, ask to speak to the manager and be persistent.
• Recommended services aren't always necessary. If you are concerned about the cost of a recommended service or procedure, ask your doctor if it is truly necessary or could be done later. Examples of services that are sometimes discretionary include lab work, hospital stays, and certain medications.
• Browse hospital websites sponsored by your state. New legislation requires hospitals to disclose the charges of specific inpatient and outpatient services. Your state's website should have average costs for the most common procedures for the hospitals in your area.
• Visit your insurer's website. Checking out your insurer's website is always a good idea when you compare health insurance quotes. Many insurers now post the out-of-pocket costs for various treatments, services, and medications on their websites.