Huge ER Bill from Texas Children's Hospital (2013, how much)

[kfer]

I'm glad your child fully recovered .

Definitely call all of them and plead your case. Thsee unpaid balances are the icing on their cakes! Ask for a discount and for a very long payment plan with no interest . it won't hurt by just asking .

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

The health care system in America is completely broken. You should be able to negotiate it since they already got a decent chunk from insurance and whatever you pay them is just gravy on top. There are people who negotiate on your behalf to get bills down for a fee called patient billing advocates.

How is it broken? Medical services are expensive. If I can't afford a new house does that mean the housing system in America is broken? If I buy a $200k house can I just pay $150k and demand they write off the balance since they already got a huge chunk of money from me?

[jasonamd]

Originally Posted by hounewhome1

There a 12 bills worth 4000, 800, 600, 1400 etc....amounting to 12K (70K bill for 5 day hospitalization). Where do I go and negotiate all the amount at one. The doc who I owe $600.00 doesn't probably care that I have $11,400 in other payments because everyone is worried about their portion. So, I'm really confused how to call multiple docs and get a flat rate discount. If they ALL settle for 4K, I'll get a credit card right now at 0% APR and pay them off right now if they will accept

You didn't mention before that all the individual bills added up to 12k. You would have to contact each one individually to set up any discounts/payments. The doctors all have their own business, they aren't employed through a single source which is why you get all individual bills. Some will give you a discount if you offer to pay in full instead of making payments.

I know a lot of people choose lower cost insurance plans to save money on month to month expenses, but this is a good example of how it only takes one incident to wipe out that monthly savings. My company offers 2 plans, 1 about 1/2 the price of the other. A coworker has the cheap plan. His daughter ended up in the hospital for a few days and he ended up having to pay over 15k the stay. Had he had the more expensive plan, he would have paid no more than 5k. The amount of money he saved over the year by having the cheaper plan was $2400.

[kfer]

if you can take some vacation days and go to each doctor's office (ideally with your son in tow) and ask for a deep discount with your credit card on hand . they'd be stupid not to take your money on the spot . that money will be very hard to collect through legal means.

[Schumacher713]

Originally Posted by hounewhome1

There a 12 bills worth 4000, 800, 600, 1400 etc....amounting to 12K (70K bill for 5 day hospitalization). Where do I go and negotiate all the amount at one. The doc who I owe $600.00 doesn't probably care that I have $11,400 in other payments because everyone is worried about their portion. So, I'm really confused how to call multiple docs and get a flat rate discount. If they ALL settle for 4K, I'll get a credit card right now at 0% APR and pay them off right now if they will accept

That is what you should do. Go get a credit card. Call each one and make an offer to settle. I have personally done this with one of those storefront ER thingies. I got the bill down to 30%. I just told them flat out I won't pay that. Give me your bottom dollar and lets make a deal right now. It is going to take some leg work, but you can work that down for sure.

[Schumacher713]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

How is it broken? Medical services are expensive. If I can't afford a new house does that mean the housing system in America is broken? If I buy a $200k house can I just pay $150k and demand they write off the balance since they already got a huge chunk of money from me?

Yet, in other countries it seems to not be broken. When the number one cause of bankruptcy is health care our system is very broken. Anyways, this has nothing to do with the OPs problem.

[jasonamd]

Originally Posted by Schumacher713

That is what you should do. Go get a credit card. Call each one and make an offer to settle. I have personally done this with one of those storefront ER thingies. I got the bill down to 30%. I just told them flat out I won't pay that. Give me your bottom dollar and lets make a deal right now. It is going to take some leg work, but you can work that down for sure.

Maybe this is part of the reason our healthcare system is broken. People don't pay bills or demand a lower bill or they won't pay and they allow it to happen. So to compensate for those people, they raise their rates...

[hounewhome1]

Originally Posted by Schumacher713

Yet, in other countries it seems to not be broken. When the number one cause of bankruptcy is health care our system is very broken. Anyways, this has nothing to do with the OPs problem.

When 5ml tylenol cost 13 dollars, it has to be broken but that's not the point. If walmart charges me $500 for a bag of chips, I'll walk away but if someone says 5ml tylenol is $100 when my child has fever and they have tylenol in their hand and they won't allow to use the tylenol I bought from walmart (for $4.00), then I won't speak since we're talking about someone's life here. So, as of now I don't care about the system, I just need to sail through this and see if the docs and hospital are co-operative or not; I hope they could give me a 50% discount and I could pay the 6K over two years.

I'll try to call all the hospitals and ask for a discount/payment plan; let's see what they say.

[jasonamd]

Originally Posted by hounewhome1

When 5ml tylenol cost 13 dollars, it has to be broken but that's not the point. If walmart charges me $500 for a bag of chips, I'll walk away but if someone says 5ml tylenol is $100 when my child has fever and they have tylenol in their hand and they won't allow to use the tylenol I bought from walmart (for $4.00), then I won't speak since we're talking about someone's life here. So, as of now I don't care about the system, I just need to sail through this and see if the docs and hospital are co-operative or not; I hope they could give me a 50% discount and I could pay the 6K over two years.

I'll try to call all the hospitals and ask for a discount/payment plan; let's see what they say.

They may bill that, but if you are in a in-network hospital and have in-network doctors, that's shouldn't be what you pay. Your insurance should negotiate discounts with certain providers which is why it is cheaper to use in-network doctors. For example an item on a recent bill I have was a lab test. Dr. billed $15 for it. After the discounted rate negotiated with the insurance, I paid $1.88. For that line, the insurance document actually says "based on negotiated rates stated in the plan summary description, $13.12 not billable to insurance or patient". If the hospital or Doctors weren't in your insurance network, then there is no discounted rate.

Now if that was your discounted rate...then that does seem rather high.

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by hounewhome1

There a 12 bills worth 4000, 800, 600, 1400 etc....amounting to 12K (70K bill for 5 day hospitalization). Where do I go and negotiate all the amount at one. The doc who I owe $600.00 doesn't probably care that I have $11,400 in other payments because everyone is worried about their portion. So, I'm really confused how to call multiple docs and get a flat rate discount. If they ALL settle for 4K, I'll get a credit card right now at 0% APR and pay them off right now if they will accept

I am sorry to hear about this. This is one of the reasons why it's so hard to raise a family these days - we are squeezed from all ends. That sucks. I'm guessing your insurance doesn't have an annual out of pocket maximum? Some insurances do have this and are typically $3-5k but it depends on your plan. Any decent hospital should be willing to work on an interest-free monthly payment plan that you can manage.