Posted on 04/18/2008 8:00:48 AM PDT by gorillabill.com
Medical-bill confusion costly for Ohio patients
Trying to understand a hospital bill can be a challenge.
It usually provides little detail about the medical care you received, and the first version you get in the mail might say "This is not a bill."
The next statement could include how much you owe and tell you that you need to pay in 30, 60, 90 or 120 days. Is this the final amount you owe? Are there more bills coming?
Patient advocates say few people are prepared for the amount of paperwork that follows a hospital stay or surgery and even fewer understand how much time they have to pay before their bills go to a collection agency.
Unpaid hospital bills across the state are expected to total more than $400 million for 2006, up from $313 million in 2005, the Ohio Hospital Association says. Hospital finance executives say uncollected co-payments are the primary reason for bad debt.
"If a patient is sent to collection, that represents a failure on the part of the hospital to communicate effectively," said Cathy Levine, executive director of the Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio, a patient-advocacy group.
"Just as all our hospitals provide compassionate care, they need to apply the same compassion to helping people pay for care."
Hospital officials say that when calls and letters are ignored, bills will be sent to collection agencies.
"My definition of people who go to bad debt are people who have the ability to pay but don't," said Karen K. Geisler, vice president of corporate patient financial services for Mount Carmel Health System.
She said patients are asked early on -- often before a medical procedure -- whether they can afford to pay the balance or qualify for financial assistance. Advocates say the poor economy isn't helping. Employees are paying a greater share of health-care costs, and losing a job can mean losing health insurance.
Zelda McDaniel, 51, said she has health insurance through her job with the Ohio Department of Mental Health but couldn't afford to pay her share after hip replacement surgery at Mount Carmel New Albany Surgical Hospital in January.
She said her medical bills added up to about $1,000, including $470 owed to the hospital. After a couple of months, she started getting weekly calls from Mount Carmel.
"They would ask when did I think I could pay the bills, and I would get quiet," said McDaniel, of Powell. She is on short-term disability leave, which cut her pay in half.
She remembered a co-worker telling her about the Association for Community Organization Reform Now, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Last week, she and an association representative went to Mount Carmel, where McDaniel filled out paperwork and found that she qualified for assistance. She won't have to pay the hospital bill.
Barbara Clark, the association's executive director, said she talks to as many as 60 people a day who say they can't pay hospital bills.
"They don't want their credit ruined, or their credit has been ruined and they can't bounce back," she said. "It's just a nightmare for people."
In recent years, tax-exempt hospitals have been criticized by federal and state lawmakers for aggressive billing and collection. In exchange for not paying taxes, nonprofit hospitals are expected to provide free care for the poor.
Starting this year, nonprofit hospitals are required to answer questions about bill collection, charity care and discounted care policies on IRS tax forms.
State Rep. Jim Raussen, chairman of the House Healthcare Access & Affordability Committee, has pushed for hospitals to be more upfront about their policies.
The Springdale Republican said he hears from patients who say they are confused about multiple invoices and believe their bills were sent to collection too fast.
"Right now, many people are at the mercy of the current process," Raussen said.
Mike Rosen, yesterday, 4/17/08, KOA Denver, used the same method that is used to ‘prove’ that 46 million are uninsured to ‘prove’ that we have a 33% unemployment rate.
Furthermore, the main reason there is so much confusing paperwork and billing confusion is because the Government insisted on ‘helping’ force the insurance companies cover more people for more things than the companies, and the people, wanted.
Government is the problem, the Free Market is the solution.
But thank you anyway for signing up today to bring us this bill of ‘news’.
Got any Global Warming stuff?
Many choose not to spend the money on insurance.
I did for years....and this
>>If a patient is sent to collection, that represents a failure on the part of the hospital to communicate effectively,” said Cathy Levine, executive director of the Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio, a patient-advocacy group. <<
Actually, it represents a patient who needs to learn to dial a phone. Call billing and ask. But most are trying to skirt the bill not pay it.
I have found hospitals to be very cooperative about bills. Most I have dealt with will let you make payments.
My nephew and his wife paid five years for their son’s time in the NICU. If he can do it (with four children and a SAHW) anyone can.
Wow, 33% unemployment does sound like a wild number. I’d like to see the raw numbers on both the health care insurance and unemployment. I’m also not sure that 46 million is really a large number of uninsured. It certainly includes folks who are self-insured or are otherwise funded for medical emergencies - thus, not needing health insurance. Do we really expect everyone to buy and insurance product? If so, perhaps I’ll go into the health insurance business - nice to have 300 million potential customers.
Yes, if you “choose” not to buy health insurance then you are really self-insured. That implies that you have the cash on hand if you need it for emergencies. Some self-insured folks even open a bank account and make payments as if they are paying for insurance. It’s a great solution for someone in good health with a low risk lifestyle and good cash flow. The “issue” with health insurance is really with the folks who don’t have the cash flow, or health insurance, and perhaps even have a chronic condition. They do wind up with “medical-bill confusion” - and probably can’t pay even if they understood or agreed with the bill.
But the young, like some of my nieces and nephews choose not to buy health insurance and are counted as uninsured.
As for the “Confusion”, dial a phone and talk to billing. They will explain it.
I’ve done it a million times. We don’t need legislation for it.
Good one, but, sorry don’t know anything about Global Warming. We did, however, have a nice warm sunny day today.
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