OK, I has surgery a about six weeks back. Nothing major, but after insurance took over still ended up with a couple grand of out of pocket expenses, the bulk of which came from the hospital.
I get emails from the insurance company about what has been submitted, what they paid, and what I’m on the hook for, and there are about three or four other claimants waiting to be paid.
I could theoretically pay them online from the insurance EOB, but I haven’t. I’ve just been waiting for paper bills to arrive. So far, only the bill from the hospital has arrived, which I have paid.
So. . . would you wait for the people to bill to send a bill, or go ahead and pay them? I don’t think they’ve forgotten about me, but it’s strange that it sometimes takes a long time to get a bill. I had an issue with broken toes some years back, and it was several months before I received on of the bills from that visit.
Myself, I wouldn’t pay a medical bill until I received an itemized list of services rendered, from the provider, and had checked it over carefully for errors.
I am not from the usa but had family member and friends out there who got some big bills and they don’t pay it , they just don’t pay it ,but I think eventually,it may take years, might show up on your credit report
If you’re interested, you might investigate the weird way that money works in paying medical expenses and insurance. In effect the prices are bizarrely overinflated and the hospitals and practitioners negotiate actually paying only a fraction of the stated prices. That means the part left over for you is way overstated relative to what the hospital or provider is actually trying to get paid. I’ve read that if you merely ask a provider’s office staff they may routinely knock half off your bill without even checking.
It’s some kind of funny money. A nurse told me years ago “you’re not really supposed to pay it”.
Sometimes I get payments to my business before I have sent out a bill. It drives me nuts! It interrupts the flow!
I am just one person doing billing for one very, very small company. Imagine if I worked at a hospital. I’d probably sit there with the check in my hand for a half hour and stare blankly at the wall.
Don’t mess up the flow. It’s like tennis, man - it’s their serve now.
Some years back, the company that keep my heating oil tank filled sent out sample invoices to show how their billing was changing, but since I was a new customer, I didn’t know it was just an example (it’s not like the invoice had SAMPLE in big red letters, and yes, I kinda scanned the accompanying letter) so I just sent them a check. Imagine my delight when I got the check back a few weeks later with a nice note explaining my goof… oooops!
Wait for the actual bills to arrive. The insurance statement isn’t always accurate, and you want to make sure the money is going to the right place. The only thing you might want to do is set aside some money now (even if it’s just money in your savings account that you allocate), so that you are prepared when the bills do come.
I’ve recently started a new policy of waiting until I get the second notice for medical bills.
What’s been happening with me is, I’d pay the bill (whenever I received it via snail mail), and then, several weeks later, my insurance sends me a partial refund because I paid too much.
Hopefully, with my new method, they’ll get the correct amount due by the time they send out the second notice.