# What are "Adjustments" to my medical bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 17, 2024, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-adjustments-to-my-medical-bill/1007398 "2024-09-17T18:38:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-adjustments-to-my-medical-bill/1007398/21 "2024-10-09T23:06:19Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > That means the doctor cannot give a break to an uninsured person, because then that becomes their “lowest rate” which the insurance company is entitled to as well. They could certainly charge the uninsured person the same thing they’d charge the insurance company, couldn’t they? I know they can write off some fraction of the bill; A friend’s daughter was billed 4K by the anesthesiologist for her colonoscopy - he was out of network - and I knew it was bullshit. My own procedures had the anesthesia billing at about 1,300 dollars and they paid maybe 250. IIRC, the friends paid something like 400 and the rest was written off. > [@md-2000](#): > > I recall reading about situations in the USA especially where injured parties were told they could not refuse the ride. I’m not sure what your rights are. Since someone in the US is legally entitled to refuse medical care, that’s surprising - maybe under some oddball circumstances? ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-adjustments-to-my-medical-bill/1007398/22 "2024-10-10T00:06:03Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > They could certainly charge the uninsured person the same thing they’d charge the insurance company, couldn’t they? But that’s a decent amount of money, unless the doctor wants to work for peanuts for every patient. I’m not sure how the agreement applied if the doctor nominally charged the whole amount and then “wrote it off” in whole or part. I vaguely recall something that th US medical insurance is now forbidden ( for-biden?) from having suprise “out of network” doctor charges? (Anesthesiologists seem to be the ones I most often read complaints about… waking up to a suprise mutli-thousand dollar extra bill not covered by insurance.) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-adjustments-to-my-medical-bill/1007398/23 "2024-10-10T00:08:26Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > I vaguely recall something that th US medical insurance is now forbidden ( for-biden?) from having suprise “out of network” doctor charges? (Anesthesiologists seem to be the ones I most often read complaints about… waking up to a suprise mutli-thousand dollar extra bill not covered by insurance.) I had exactly this happen to me in April: surgery to repair a broken elbow, at an in-network hospital, with an in-network surgeon, but the anesthesiologist (and his bill) were out-of-network. If it’s now “forbidden,” it’s still being done, at least in Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-adjustments-to-my-medical-bill/1007398/24 "2024-10-10T01:29:53Z")
An out of network doctor billing you isn’t forbidden under certain circumstances , but it shouldn’t be a surprise. [Know your rights with insurance | CMS](https://www.cms.gov/medical-bill-rights/know-your-rights/using-insurance#notice-and-consent-may-cause-surprise-bills) ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-adjustments-to-my-medical-bill/1007398/25 "2024-10-10T02:52:52Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > I vaguely recall something that th US medical insurance is now forbidden ( for-biden?) from having suprise “out of network” doctor charges? (Anesthesiologists seem to be the ones I most often read complaints about… waking up to a suprise mutli-thousand dollar extra bill not covered by insurance.) Hah - I literally in the past 5 minutes read a message to that effect on the hospital’s patient portal. Yes, supposedly they are not allowed to charge you for stuff like that, if you are in a hospital that otherwise takes your insurance. It includes things like anesthesia, radiology, emergency care and so on. I don’t know how it works if it’s an outpatient center, like the place where I have my colonoscopies, and where my friend’s daughter had hers. I remember, when my daughter was an infant, seeing someone online bemoaning that their child was in a NICU at a hospital that was in-network… but the only neonatology group that practiced there was NOT. Not exactly a situation where you can readily go to another hospital. Re the doctors charging less: there’s “I’ll just bill you 50 bucks for that brain transplant”, and there’s “I’ll bill you 50,000 for the brain transplant (but I know you can never pay that, so imma write off 49,950 of it)”. Possibly the second option, which is kind of a wink-wink-nudge-nudge thing, might fly. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-adjustments-to-my-medical-bill/1007398/26 "2024-10-10T11:55:44Z")
FWIW, I am still fighting with the outpatient center about a surprise anesthesia bill during my colonoscopy in February. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-adjustments-to-my-medical-bill/1007398.md?page=1)