I am due with baby #2 in just a few short weeks. I got a call the other day from the hospital that they wanted to pre-register me. I thought that sounded like a good idea. Imagine my shock when it seemed they expected me to take out a $1000 loan or more?! I figured they would be taking my information so that when we showed up on D-Day (or C-Day as it might be since we have a scheduled c-section) I could just walk in and go straight to my room.
It soon became clear that they had a different motives. This “pre-registration” had nothing to do with my planned stay at the hospital and everything to do with money. After going through the initial pleasantries, congratulations, and basic personal information, they tell me that they had spoken with my insurance company and based on the information they received I owe them a little over $6,000! I emphasize “owe them” because she said it just like that… not I will owe them but that the money was actually due now.
For someone who may not be as well versed on insurance, medical billing, or just caught off guard, they may think that they actually do owe the hospital this money! I kindly reminded her that I had not even set foot in the hospital yet, let alone received any services, so in fact I owed them nothing. I went on to explain that they have no idea what I will end up owing them. My doctor’s office has yet to submit anything other than my ultrasound bill to the insurance company. They wait until after I deliver and then submit the whole chunk of bills at once. They do however {according to them anyway} get their bill in before the hospital. So the hospital’s assessment of my deductible and what I will owe them is quite off.
However, so long as I don’t go into labor somewhere completely unexpected, I obviously will end up owing them something. The “kind” woman on the phone reminded me of this and {threatened} that if I didn’t make a payment now, I would have to “check out with the finance department” before I left the hospital after having my son. This may have annoyed me more than her use of the present tense of “owe.” Is checking out that much of a hassle that she thinks she will brow beat me into giving her money now? Even then they won’t know completely what I owe!
But she did get me thinking… it probably would be simple enough the day or so before my scheduled c-section to call her up and make some sort of a payment to make “check-out” easier. I have to pick a number that will satisfy them that at the same time I can afford. I have an “accident” insurance policy that will actually pay me close to $3,000 for my hospital stay but I won’t be getting that money until after I submit the claim upon release.
Have you ever taken out a loan (either conventional or payday) to cover medical costs? It is not something I ever considered until I started stewing over this telephone call. The interest rate on credit cards can be absolutely ridiculous these days, and lets’ be honest, no matter how much I say I will repay it right away, I rarely do. I have never looked into payday loans before, but I recently did and do you know that, according to CredLoans, it is also possible for some borrowers to completely avoid fees and sometimes qualify for refunds of any interest charges?? Several states have mandated that borrowers who pay back the full amount owed before their official due date can qualify to have their interest or finance charges dismissed or have a portion of those charges refunded. I have no idea which states those are, but that is definitely something to look into further!
Have you had an experience with a hospital similar to mine? How did you handle it?
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About Amanda
Twitter: rockindeals
says:
I’ve heard of hospitals doing this. Since our son was adopted we didn’t have to deal with it. Crazy that you have to prepay.
Twitter: CourtneyJoyner
says:
We gave a SMALL deposit to the hospital. Then asked them to bill us (they came in to my room the day after Little Man was born to talk “payments”. I just said “bill me”. When we got the bill in the mail I sent a check for whatever we could afford. The next month they sent another bill (minus the payment I had made). I paid whatever we could afford. This went on until the whole bill was paid. Some months were small payments, some months were bigger payments. It just depended on what we could afford. They seemed fine with that as long as we were making a payment every month.
I haven’t had to take out a loan to cover a hospital bill, but right now my kids and I have no health coverage so if one of us did end up in the hospital I’m sure I’d need to go that route.
Yes I had this same experience in greeley through banner they are hard up for your money! They will set up a payment plan with you! I would not invest to much to soon just in case they don’t submit the insurance claim before other people like the doctor and the anesthesiologist, because then it is not fun to chase down your money from them!
The hosptial in my area also offers an advance check in so “you wont have the hassle of it when you get there” while you are possibly in labor. I did this with my first child, and much to my surprise, still went through the whole process when I got there in hard labor. Gotta love the fact that they will do anything for money!
Twitter: Jwinstedblogs
says:
I too had issues with this with my last child who I planned on having naturally but ended up having an emergency c section which caused me so much more grief money and pain wise.
Twitter: Craftsexaminer
says:
I was surprised as well with the hospital requesting a prepayment for your stay. Further more, how can they claim that your insurance company informed them of what your outstanding balance would be after they have paid the insurance balance.
I obviously had never heard of prepaying a hospital stay either. I have heard of a hospital requesting a prepayment for emergency room services in the case of a patient without insurance. My friend told me that happened to her. They asked for a minimum of $50 but really wanted more.
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Twitter: AlannaB
says:
For my first child I had to pre-register and we had to make a “down payment” which was about 1/2 of the total cost, which were made in 3 payments BEFORE the hospital stay. My baby was born a month early and had to pay that last portion of the down payment before I filled out the admission paperwork. I can kinda see how they want to ensure that they are going to get their money, but at the same time I thought that it was crazy that they were basically getting an interest free loan from me (because my insurance would have paid an emergency c-section if I needed it, in which case I would have got that money back). I was so glad that the hospital that I delivered at for my second son was not like this and I did not pay a penny (not counting dr. visits) until after he was born.