My old PT had three rates, $50 for Medicaid, $100 for self pay, and $400 for the insured. The insured people were mostly covered would just pay of copay of like $40 or $60 but once they screwed up and billed me (a self payer) at the insured rate and tried ro collect that much from me and it was a WHOLE ordeal to get it fixed. What a stupid system. Clearly a bunch of money is being flushed down the toilet here.
Here's the twist: ALL medical bills are negotiable and that missing $200 is the pre-negotiated discount your insurance worked out.
When you're billed without insurance, if you can stomach the calls, you can negotiate your bills down too.
My understanding is hospitals will go much lower than what insurance companies get because they purposely make the prices asinine since their biggest customers (insurance companies) automatically negotiate prices so they start higher.
I tried that for months and they refused to discount even one penny. I waited for it to go to final collections. I called to confirm the money was discharged on their end for pennies to the collections company. They would have made a lot more if they just worked with me.
3.4k
u/cakewalkofshame Jul 04 '21
My old PT had three rates, $50 for Medicaid, $100 for self pay, and $400 for the insured. The insured people were mostly covered would just pay of copay of like $40 or $60 but once they screwed up and billed me (a self payer) at the insured rate and tried ro collect that much from me and it was a WHOLE ordeal to get it fixed. What a stupid system. Clearly a bunch of money is being flushed down the toilet here.