HELP WITH MEDICAL BILLS is finally here!

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Why is it not surprising that Europeans are astounded at the high cost of healthcare in the United States? A new statistic courtesy of the NerdWallet Health Analysis has found that 60% of all Bankruptcies in the United States are related to the inability to pay healthcare bills.  This is what happens in the United States if you have to use the health insurance you pay for every month.

Another astounding statistic is that 50% of all negative marks on your credit reports are due to healthcare bills. That is the plight of what we face here as a country. There are so many people who have health insurance who STILL can't pay their bills when they have an emergency situation or when they simply have to use it for a needed scheduled hospitalization for an operation, such as a knee replacement or even heart surgery. So what do we do about this? Do we also need to know how to negotiate medical bills? What is the root of the problem we face?

We need to be aware of the inherent nature of our health insurance system. If you have a PPO and its something other than Medicare, everything they promise you looks good on paper until you actually use it. You have to protect yourself from the entity you pay to protect you. So, now it becomes, how do we protect ourselves when we have to use our medical insurance?

Always know your basic coverages. Make sure you know what your hospitalization plan is. Right now do you know if your plan is a 70/30, 80/20 or 90/10? If you don't even know what that means, you need to get on the phone ASAP with your insurance company and find out. ( I will get into insurance basics in another article) What is your emergency coverage? Your co-pays? Your deductibles? Not sure? Just because you have insurance does not mean that you have enough coverage in those basic areas of care. You need to know what you have and what you would pay out of pocket should you need to use it for something planned or an emergency.

Attributing the error rate in medical bills is a major contributor to the problem. When 80-90% of medical bills contain errors,  and then they are as difficult to read and understand as your cellular bill, most of the time errors are over-looked.

You fall into one of 3 categories when it comes time to paying your medical bills. 

A. You might think it's too high, and aren't sure why. However,  you have the money, so you just pay it.

B. You don't have the money and let it go all the way to collections leaving a negative mark on your credit report.

C. You don't have the money and the bills are so high that you decide to declare bankruptcy.

None of these are good options. You may think you are at the mercy of the system, or you may even think the system is on your side. Some health insurance companies even call their associates "Advocates". Don't let that fool you. You need help with medical bills from a 3rd party unbiased source. Someone who can evaluate your situation objectively and really be an advocate for you. You don't need a lawyer or a debt consolidator. You need experts like HealthCare Advocate Network who don't charge you unless they save you money. Don't depend on the insurance company to resolve these issues for you. They only have their own best interest at heart. We work hard to give you the best possible result and have saved tens of thousands of dollars so far for our clients. We will do the same for you.