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How San Diego hospitals bend will reduce charges on your bill
continued.. I have NO problem giving them what they need to look at my case for Discounted care. So here is where I am thus far. I am wondering if I do only send in the info for Discounted care will I be disqualified due to me "...fail(ing)s to provide information that is reasonable and necessary for the hospital to make a determination..." ?? After writing all of this it seems logical that Discounted care will cut at least %40 off an emergency room hospital bill if not more , otherwise why would they protect that option so much? Whoever read this far thanks and any advice will be greatly appreciated. Continue the good and just fight!— August 6, 2010 4:02 p.m.
How San Diego hospitals bend will reduce charges on your bill
OK update. Made my first call to the hospital billing dept to attempt to take care of the emergency room part of the bill. Explained I am unemployed and uninsured and that the bill was too much to handle, also mentioned about 5 times I was prepared to make payment while I was on the phone. The woman I spoke with asked me what I could afford. I offered to pay 1/3 of the bill. The woman said they could offer a discount of 30% , leaving me to pay the rest. I thanked her for the offer, reiterated my situation and brought up the AB774 bill. She told me I would need to apply for Charity care and Discounted care at the same time and I think she said I had to go thru CMS as well. I asked her if I could come in and speak to someone in person and she gave me the run around that it's not how their office is set up. I politely pushed her to give me someone else to speak to who was her superior. The next person I spoke to, a man, asked what he could do for me. I reiterated once again my situation and after a short period he said they could offer up to a %40 discount. I again thanked him and explained about AB774 and how I understood the law, that "For the purpose of determining eligibility for discounted payment, documentation of income shall be limited to recent pay stubs or income tax returns." He repeated basically what the woman told me but did say I didn't have to fill out all of the info for bank acct#'s, etc but that I would then be eligible for less of a discount. My understanding is Charity care can pay for the entire hospital bill depending on the situation. Discounted care (by name actually) is a "discount" "..to the amount of payment the hospital would receive for providing services from Medicare, Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, or any other government-sponsored health program of health benefits in which the hospital participates, whichever is greater." Why can I not choose specifically which programs I apply for?? again.. "..Any patient, or patient’s legal representative, who requests a discounted payment, charity care, or other assistance in meeting their financial obligation to the hospital shall make every reasonable effort to provide the hospital with documentation of income and health benefits coverage. If the person requests charity care or a discounted payment and fails to provide information that is reasonable and necessary for the hospital to make a determination, the hospital may consider that failure in making its determination. (1) FOR THE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR DISCOUNTED PAYMENT, DOCUMENTATION OF INCOME SHALL BE LIMITED TO RECENT PAY STUBS OR INCOME TAX RETURNS."— August 6, 2010 3:59 p.m.
How San Diego hospitals bend will reduce charges on your bill
Jake I hope you read this. Excellent article in the Reader BTW and I agree, VERY TIMELY. Here is the scenario. I am currently on unemployment, I am uninsured and do not qualify for Medi-Cal but may have too much money in the bank to qualify for CMS. I think I might qualify for the discount payment policy as per Assembly Bill No. 774 I just got my ER bill (still waiting on the Dr. bill) from a recent visit for a hand wound. The ER bill is just ridiculous for the service I actually received. Here is the question, according to AB774 it seems all I would have to provide to the hospital to see if I qualify for the the discount payment policy would be recent pay stubs or income tax returns. The hospital (which will remain nameless) apparently asks for more info, according to their paperwork they ask for checking account #, savings account #, CD/IRA/Stocks/Bonds value, etc. They seem to use the same form for both Charity Care *and* discounted payment, that seems sneaky to me. What info did you provide?? I cut and pasted the pertinent section (1) of the bill below. Any help is appreciated. (1) For the purpose of determining eligibility for discounted payment, documentation of income shall be limited to recent pay stubs or income tax returns. (2) For the purpose of determining eligibility for charity care, documentation of assets may include information on all monetary assets, but shall not include statements on retirement or deferred-compensation plans qualified under the Internal Revenue Code, or nonqualified deferred-compensation plans. A hospital may require waivers or releases from the patient or the patient’s family, authorizing the hospital to obtain account information from financial or commercial institutions, or other entities that hold or maintain the monetary assets to verify their value. Information obtained pursuant to this paragraph regarding the assets of the patient or the patient’s family shall not be used for collections activities.— July 31, 2010 2:05 a.m.