One Way to Keep Down Your Healthcare Costs

If you have an illness or accident, one way to make sure your insurance, if you are lucky enough to have insurance, is to make sure you use in-network providers for all services provided to you. I have worked in medical billing for a long time and I don't know of an insurance company that doesn't have a provider network. You either use the doctors and hospitals in the network or you will end up with steep out-of-network charges to pay. The only major insurer that allows you to go use any hospital or doctor of your choosing without the out-of-network penalty is the government-run Medicare. But, NOT the new Medicare HMO plans sold by private insurance companies, some of those require you use their doctors/hospital network, which has come as a shocker to some Medicare patients who suddenly don't have the choices they once did. Be sure you always pay attention to the fine print with insurance.

Don't think if you use an in-network hospital or surgery center, that all your expenses will be covered. Wrong. You could have a test sent to an out-of-area lab that is not in your network. You could need medical supplies that are given to you at the surgery center but billed for by a medical supply company that is not in your network. If you are having an elective procedure or you are not in an emergency situation, you should talk to a financial advisor at the clinic and find out who bills for what. Your next step should be to call your insurance company and ask if the provider is in-network. If not, require that the clinic use an in-network provider for your services. This could save you hundreds.

Legally, medical services rendered are owed by the patient to the provider. Whatever costs not covered by the insurance company are the responsibility of the patient. I've had patients insist the insurance company owes the bill, but it is not the insurance company that gets turned over to collection agency.