Patient Planning: Better Ways to Pay Off your Medical Bill
When you have many medical procedures or appointments, it’s important you come up with a plan to pay all your resulting bills. Even if you have insurance taking care of part of the bill, you may be responsible for certain procedures, x-rays or medication. Each step below can bring you closer to paying these bills off in a way that makes sense for your family and your monthly budget
Contact The Doctor
When you contact the doctor’s office, you will be able to work with the clerical staff to make sure you know exactly how much you owe. There are times when the doctor’s office has to file insurance claims more than once because they do not get their payments the first time. They may get more payments from the insurance company in the future, and you want to ask them how many payments they still have coming in. You can gauge how much you actually believe you need to pay, and you will be able to plan to pay off the proper amount. Review all your bills with them first to be sure you aren’t overpaying for anything.
A Payment Plan
There are many doctor’s offices that would prefer to come up with a payment plan to directly help you. They want to get paid, and don’t want to overwhelm you into not paying anything. When you contact the office, you should ask them about payment plans for their services. Ask about how long you can make payments and what amount you can afford for those big bills. This means that you get to pay off the bills at a rate that you can handle, and you will be able to keep up with the payment plan more easily. The doctor’s office can also stop sending bills for the full amount, and you will only see bills that are for the small amounts you have agreed to.
Use Loans
There are times when it is better to get a low interest loan to pay off these medical bills quickly. Many people might want to take out a home equity line of credit to pay off the bills. You can get the doctor’s office off your back, and you will still be able to make payments on your loan, and working with a loan provider is much easier than working with a doctor’s office that needs to contact you for payment constantly.
Supplemental Insurance
Before you have any treatment done, you may want to get supplemental insurance or ask your insurance company about options like these. The best way to keep your wallet full is to have supplemental insurance that is going to pay what your regular insurance policy does not pay. These policies fill in all the gaps in your policy, and will step in to pay what you would be responsible for otherwise. With a high risk pregnancy, a policy might be changed with your insurance, so it’s important you find a doctor who specializes in these kinds of pregnancies like Gilbert Webb MD so you know you have a one of a kind policy. You get to file these claims easily, and the doctor’s office know you have the policy. They simply wait for the money to come in, and you do not have to worry about paying out of your own pocket.
When you are trying to make a plan to pay off medical bills, you need to make sure you try one or all of the options above. All these steps will allow you to pay off your medical bills so they are not a specter hanging over you. You get to pay off your bills, go back to the doctor with confidence, and you will have the peace of mind that comes with knowing you have made the right decisions for your health and budget.
Information Credit: stlukes-stl.com
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Category: Medical
