Affording IVF

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Using Medical Bill Negotiation Services to Lower Your Bills

reducing medical bills
Negotiating your medical bills could save you thousands!
You got into an accident and racked up a mountain of medical bills. Maybe you have insurance, maybe you don’t. Either way, you are staring at a medical bill that would be sufficient to feed a small family for the immediate future. Perhaps you even took the initiative and tried contesting the some of the claims yourself (if applicable). Regardless, now the bill collectors are calling and things are not looking good.

I want you to know that you still have options.

One of the best things you can do is to hire a medical negotiation service. These services work directly with your doctors to reduce your medical bills. Most will usually take their pay as a % of the amount they saved you.

How these negotiation services work

One thing you have to realize, is that medical bills are absolutely negotiable! There are thousands of insurance plans throughout the US and each of them has their own agreement with the providers in their network. The amount one insurance plan/company will pay one provider could be drastically different than what another would pay. Providers are willing to accept these lower prices for their services, partly because the insurance plans have enough klout to drive a hard bargain, and partly because there are wide margins built into the billed price that patients see.

When to use a negotiating service?

It doesn’t make much sense to try in lower your $50 or $100 bill, but any bill larger than around $250 would probably be appropriate for negotiation. This amount might vary, depending on the service you used. It doesn’t matter if it is covered by insurance, although you will have more success if the amount is not covered by insurance, or at least, not already reduced by your insurance.

Why don’t I just negotiate the bill myself and save even more?

You can absolutely do this, but it is going to take work. You will need to find out what the fair and customary rates in your area are for the services on your bill. One site that can help you obtain fair rates is healthcarebluebook.com. Unless you have some experience negotiating and possibly some medical background you are probably better off leaving the negotiating to the experts.

No harm in trying!

Depending on your bills, using a negotiation service could save you a heck of a lot of money! Worst case scenario, you are back where you started. Don’t worry about offending you doctor, these services are usually very professional and approach your doctor in a respectful manner.

One negotiation service that I recommend is My Medical Negotiator. They have been at it since 2007 and have saved their clients millions of dollars through the years. Their standard rate is 35% of the amount of money they save you. I am currently working on partnering up with them to offer my readers a special reduced rate. I will update once things are worked out.

Remember, most of these services only take payment if they save you money. You don’t lose anything by trying one of them out!

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5 Ways You Can Save on Your Healthcare Costs

IVF costs
These simple tricks can save you hundreds on your health care costs
Everyone knows that health care can be expensive. Even if you have decent insurance, those trips to the doctor can add up quickly. Figure in some diagnostic testing and medication or two… well, you get the picture. Even with skyrocketing costs, it is possible for you, the patient, to save money on your health care, without cutting any corners. Below, I list 5 ways that you can save money on your healthcare costs. I hope you find them useful.

Use the internet (with care!) for medical advice

Google is your friend. The internet is full of great information about health problems. The most important thing is to know when you should seek medical care and when it is OK to stay home. some things like abdominal pain could be a range of conditions ranging from temporary ailments like heartburn or food poisoning, to serious conditions where delay can just cause more problems. Don’t be afraid to do some research on your condition, just take it all with a grain of salt and use your head! If you think it might be serious it is better to error on the side of caution and get it checked out by a professional. While skipping a few doctor’s visits will save you money, not going and then having your codition worsen will just lead to more doctors visits and higher medical bills. One good source of information on basic family medicine is The Family Doctor, a site maintained by the American Academy of Family Physicians. Remember to use reputable sites for your information. Sites maintained by professional organizations or doctors offices are always good bets.

Make the most out of every visit to the Doctors

Lets face it, going to see a doctor is expensive. So whenever you need to see your doctor it is best to be prepared for the visit. Things like having your symptoms all written down, with details like when each happened, and in what order can be very helpful for your doctor to accurately diagnose your condition. By writing all this important information down before hand you can be sure to have it all for your doctor when you go in for your visit. Often, especially with more complex symptoms, it can be easy to forget a minor detail about this or that. Seeing a doctor can be stressful for some people, and that stress can cause them to forget something about their ailment. What they forget, or the minor detail left out, could be just what your doctor needs to nail down a diagnosis. Often one of the most important tools available to doctors in their effort to obtain an accurate diagnosis is what you tell them. Making you you present the whole story in full detail can save you from unnecessary diagnostic poking and prodding, all of which costs more money.

Ask questions

This is one of the most important things you can do to help save yourself money at the doctors office, be it for infertility treatment, or at your family doc, is to ask questions. A lot of doctors are very busy, and they might recommend testing or prescriptions that are more expensive than necessary or fail to take the time to fully explain why the more expensive test is important. By simply asking them if the test is really required, you can get the pros and cons of the decision and use those to better analyze if you really need that test to be done. Often if you just mention that you are concerned with costs and ask if there are any less expensive options available, they will offer less expensive testing, or even say that the test is not 100% required… imagine that. Asking these questions of your doctor is very important to making sure you get the care you need and not the care you don’t. Besides, it is your health and you should be proactive!

Reduce unnecessary and duplicate testing

It is your health, you should be proactive enough to have personal copies of all your health records. When you switch doctors or see multiple specialists for different conditions it is important that each doctor has your complete medical record. Keeping and sharing your complete medical records can save you from repeated tests ordered by your new physician, or a test ordered by a specialist that you already had done last year and don’t need it repeated yet.

Primary care doctors

Having a good primary care doctor can save you money. Health care is confusing. Being bombared by adverts on television about this medication or that condition can fill patient’s heads with all kinds of ideas, and conflicting thoughts about whether they should be taking X or they need to get Y test done… Having a primary care doctor that you can go through to coordinate your care can be invaluable. They can act as stewards to your health and make sure you are getting the care you need and not anything more. They are your health experts. Use them as such.

Optimize your prescriptions

You can save money on your prescription medications by using a few simple tricks. First, and foremost, the most important thing you can do is to shop around. Price compare your medications between pharmacies. Medication prices can vary immensely, think 5x to 10x, from pharmacy to pharmacy. By calling around and talking to either the pharmacist or pharmacist tech, you should be able to get quotes over the phone. Make sure you have the medication name, strength, and quantity before you call or you could end up comparing apples to oranges. Next, if you are taking combo pills, medications with two or more active ingredients, you can often save a bundle by purchasing them separately. If you are not sure you are taking a combo pill, ask Google, or your doctor. Lastly, be sure to apply the tips above as well. If you have access to your medical records make sure you aren’t taking a medication that was ineffectual in the past. Also, ask you doctor if a generic version would be appropriate.

With a little common sense and being a proactive patient it is possible for you to save on your health care costs. Asking questions and shopping around can be powerful tools in your money saving arsenal.

Cheers!

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Should I Use My Flexible Spending Account (FSA)?

FSAs can save you thousands of dollars, but can cost you if not used correctly
FSAs can save you thousands of dollars, but can cost you if not used correctly

Does your company offer a Flexible savings account (FSA) as part of your compensation package? Do you utilize it? If you have the option to set up a FSA you probably should do so. I will tell you why, but first I should talk a little about what exactly a FSA is.

FSAs are a great vehicle for accessing pre-tax dollars for a number of eligible expenses, possibly resulting in significant payroll tax savings. However, FSA’s do have their disadvantages. Deciding whether to use your FSA benefit, as with most financial decisions, is all about making the decision that will save you the most money in the long term.

In a FSAs you elect to set aside a fixed amount of your annual salary to fund your account. This amount is then “paid back” through pre-tax deductions from your paycheck. The two main advantages of this type of account is that you are not paying any taxes on the money you have elected to set aside, and that the full amount is available right away.

There is only really one disadvantage of using a FSA account. If you do not use all of the money you have set aside in the plan year you will lose it. Gone. The money either goes back to your employer, or is spread between all the members. As you set the amount you want to fund your FSA with in the beginning of the year, you want to make sure you don’t overestimate your withholding because if you do, that money will be lost.

There are new regulations being discussed that might do away with the “use it or lose it” catch of FSAs, but as of writing this they have not be finalized or approved. Some employers do offer a grace period however, and you should talk to your HR to get the details of your specific plan.

Now that you understand the pros and cons of a FSA, its time to look into whether you should set one up or not. As I said earlier, you want to make the decision that will save you the most money over the calender year. If you have absolutely no medical expenses on average, then I would elect not to fund your FSA. As any money you fund the account with won’t be used and will just go back to your employer. I don’t know about you, but I like my money to stay mine! If you are like most of us, and have some medical expenses each year, then you probably want to choose to fund your FSA account.

The real question is how much money you decide to fund your account with. This is going to depend on what type of account your company offers. All FSAs can be used to cover eligible medical expenses, and some can also be used for daycare expenses. If you have kids in daycare you should talk to your HR rep to determine if their daycare would count as an eligible expense. The concern with funding your FSA is that if you under fund it, you will lose out on some of the tax savings, but if you over fund it – you lose that money. Obviously, it is better to error on the side of caution.

I would figure out the cost of all my mandatory medical expenses in my previous calender year, and use those to estimate what I would need in the coming year. For me these include: checkups/physical, and my yearly supply of contacts. I know I will go to the doctor 2 times a year for my eye health and that I will buy contacts for the year. I am lucky enough not to have any health ailments, nor get sick very often so it is pretty unlikely that I would rack up any more expenses during my year. As such I would fund my FSA account with just enough money to cover my baseline costs.

If you know of any large upcoming medical expenses in the following plan year, it makes sense to maximize your funding to provide you with the most tax savings possible. Talk to your HR rep about plan maximums. Good examples would be fertility treatments, or procedure like lasik. Using those pre tax dollars on your medical expenses could save you thousands.

FSAs are a great way to save money on your health care costs. It is very important not to over fund your account though, as any money left over at the end of the year will be gone forever.

Cheers!

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How to Find Out How Much Your Procedure Costs

Comparison shopping for medical treatment
The same medical service could be priced vastly different at two medical offices.
With the rise of HSA (health savings accounts) and high deductibles people are paying more attention to their medical bills. When more of the costs of medical treatment are coming out of our own pockets we tend to pay greater attention to the amounts we are paying. One of the better ways to control how much you are paying is to do a little shopping around.

Shopping around for medical treatment is a largely unknown concept as most people find a doctor that they like and stay with that doctor… and I couldn’t agree more. It is worth paying a little extra for your care if you have a good bond and you trust your doctor. However, there are plenty of medical costs and procedures that don’t really need to be done at a certain office. Outside testing and bloodwork is the first thing that comes to mind, although make sure to ask the ordering doctor if the test needs to be performed at a certain facility. No sense in doing any of this if the procedure or test has to be done at a specific facility.

If you do not have any medical coverage, then it more important to make sure your dollar goes as far as it can. When you have insurance you will end up paying the insurance negotiated rate – which will be the same from facility to facility, regardless what their billed price is. Network status of the facility can affect this. In network facilities are preferable to out of network facilities as the rates will be better, and out of network facilities can balance bill you.

Balance billing is the practice of billing the patient the remained of the total price after insurance pays their portion. So this means much more costly. Avoid out of network facilities, if all else is equal.

It can be a daunting task to try and do cost comparisons for procedures/tests. You will often need to have the CPT codes for each procedure/test you need done. If needed, you should be able to get these codes from either the ordering physician or the testing facility.

Hospitals, insurance companies, drug stores, and drug companies may list their prices on their Web sites. Very likely you will have to do a little digging to find the prices out. Call the hospital or clinic and ask for their prices. Financial coordinators/counselors, billing agents, and sometimes the front staff are the best people to talk with to get pricing information. It may not be easy, but perseverance pays off.

Although, doing price comparisons can be a huge pain in the you know what, the dividends could be well worth it. When appropriate, I recommend you shop around to see what the going rate is – the money you save could be your own.

These resources may help some:
Your state hospital association

Your state or territory health department

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16 Ways to Save for your IVF Treatment

Whether you are saving for an IVF cycle, a new car, or a down payment on the house of your dreams the same principles apply. Often the best way to boost your monthly saving efforts is to make a series of small changes. A few dollars here and a few dollars there can quickly add up to something significant. So without further ado; here are 16 ways you can save money each month.

  1. Enroll in your company’s 401k: Although, this is more a long term strategy to save, it is still a great way to maximize your income. Taking advantage of a employers matching contributions can boost your gross income and is a great long-term saving strategy
  2. Bundle your services: Switching to a family cell phone plan, or combining like services under one provider can save you $10-$100/month.
  3. Shop around for your services: on a like note, you can also save money by breaking up combined plans and policies and finding better rates for the individual parts. Caution: be aware of companies offering intro rates – you can save tons with intro rates, just make sure to either renegotiate, or switch your services when your regular rates resume
  4. Pay off your credit cards: Credit cards have high interests rates. It is always a good idea to always pay down any credit card debt when you have any additional funds available
  5. Flexible spending accounts: FSA are a great way to save a few bucks on eligible purchases. FSA are a way to get some of your pay without the payroll taxes. If your employer offers an FSA plan it could be a great idea to look into it to save you 10-20% of the money you would be spending anyways.
  6. Kick your habit:Quitting or cutting down on you smoking or alcohol habit can save you tons, and make you healthier to boot.
  7. Brown bag it: bringing your lunch to work can save you $5-10 a day, and ties in nicely with the next tip
  8. Learn to cook: Dinner is even more expensive than lunch, and eating in can save you hundreds of dollars a month. As a bonus – you can take your left-overs into work the next day for a cheap lunch :)
  9. Manage your pantry: Cooking at home is great, but one downside of cooking at home is wasted food. Throwing out spoiled food is effectively throwing out money. By keeping tabs on what is in your pantry and fridge and adjust your meals to use up all your food before it spoils you can trim your grocery budget
  10. Negotiate a lower rate: If you are carrying a balance on your credit cards and paying a high monthly interest rate on it you might be able to get a lower rate. If you have good credit history your credit card might be willing to lower your interest rate on your balance. Call the customer service on the back of your credit card to ask
  11. Use the library: Lirbaries are a great place to get books, movies, and tv shows. You would be surprised by the wide assortment of media that is available to be checked out. Your local library is a great place to go to save on rental costs
  12. Reshop for your insurance: You may be over-paying for your auto, car, home, or health insurance(self-insured) and by shopping around you can save $100 of dollars a month
  13. Change your calling plan: There are many ways you can save on your monthly cell phone plan. From ditching unused options, to changing to prepaid options. There are fully functional plans that cost around $50 for unlimited data, text and voice. Sometimes these plans will throttle your data above certain thresholds, and coverage might be different from your old plan, so plan accordingly.
  14. Deal sites: this thread is about saving money and the best way to do that is often to simply pay less for the items you were going to buy anyways. Sites like slickdeals.net and fatwallet.com are great resources to shop for deals. They have huge community forums where shoppers share, compare, and rate deals.
  15. Ditch the Gym: I am a big believer in staying active, and keeping healthy. A gym can be a great place to help you stay fit, especially in the winter time, however if you are not using the gym regularly it is a waste of money. I know I am guilty of under-utilizing my gym membership and I am not the only one. By ditching your membership you can save $30-50 a month. Don’t take this as an excuse to stop exercising though!
  16. Cut unused or unnecessary services: This is a wide ranging one. Take a look at your monthly expenses. Are their any recurring bills on there for services that you don’t regularly use? or maybe don’t even use at all? If so, ditch them. It is easy to forget about a monthly subscription to this or a cheap membership to that, but every little bit adds up.

So there you have it, I hope some of the suggestions above can be helpful. If you have any questions on any of the items above feel free to ask in the comments. Happy savings!