Medical bill advocates can help you save on medical bills.

Whether you have health insurance or not, a Medical Billing Advocate will save you money, time, and reduce the stress from having to deal with expensive, usually inaccurate medical bills. And their services are contigency-based, which means that they make money only when they save you money. If they do not save you money on your medical bills, there is no cost to you.

What is a Medical Billing Advocate?
Medical Billing Advocates will review both your medical bills and insurance documents (if you are insured) for errors and they will assist you in better managing your health care bills and dollars. They will review all different types of medical bills and expenses, and work as your advocate to save you money. Studies show that over 80% of bills have errors, and they can help identify these.

While an advocate can also negotiate a bill, there are other professionals who specialize in negotiating medical and hospital bills. More.

How will they save me money?
They will review every medical charge you have to ensure that all charges are accurate and reasonable. Medical Billing Advocates will also audit, organize, and file all of your medical documents and bills and tell you who, why, and how much you should pay, and ensure you do not pay a cent more. They serve as a Patient Advocate to ensure you are treated fairly, dispute claims, address billing errors, and file appeals. They will even negotiate the medical bills on your behalf to ensure you have the lowest possible price.
 

What other options do I have?
Medical expenses are some of these easiest types of bills to get help with. While a medical billing advocate can help you save on bills, find billing errors, negotiate, and more, there are other steps you can take, such as contacting a charity for help, receive free prescription drugs, and more.

What services are usually offered?
A variety variety of services are offered by advocates. It can include reviewing bills, negotiating, and much more. Learn more on the services they offer how they can help.

What if I just need someone to negotiate?
There are specialists who will just negotiate your bills, and some studies show that they have up to an 80% success rate in negotiating lower hospital and medical bills on your behalf. The truth is that whether you receive a bill from your medical provider or insurance company, the usually expensive bills are oftentimes difficult to understand and patients don't know if they're getting ripped off and being overcharged. Read more on specialists who can negotiate.

A real life story of savings:
Detroit landscaper Steven O'Shea was landscaping a tree when he slipped and fell. As he fell down, right on his chain saw, it severely sliced into his arm. O’Shea says it sliced right up to the bone. It cut through all the muscle, and the tendon.

O'Shea, who is uninsured, received a bill that cost $39,000 for a three-hour operation. He called the hospital billing office asking for help to pay the hospital bill.

Like countless of millions of Americans, O'Shea found his medical bill confusing. It was a baffling list of codes. So after a quick Internet search, he found Nora Johnson, who is a medical billing advocate.

A medical billing advocate is kind of medical detective, an advocate who is trained to help find mistakes on hospital bills. She found a big mistake on O'Shea's. For people going to a medical provider, there are often two big issues: mistakes and higher than average charges and mistakes. And in medical bills that are often hundreds of pages long, the errors can be costly and significant. According to a Harvard study, 90 percent of all hospital bills have at least one error.

The hospital repaired only six tendons, but O’Shea was sent a medical bill to pay for nine tendons. That billing mistake cost an extra $11,000 on his bill, said Johnson, of Medical Billing Advocates of America. Johnson says that almost every hospital bill she helped review has an overcharge.

Another example. Consider Joe Manchin's bill. After his recent knee replacement, Manchin says most of his $34,000 medical bill was a list of charges simply labeled "hospital extras." Also, by the way, Manchin is the governor of West Virginia. He also says that nobody can understand what each hospital extra fee is. The best accountant in the world can’t possibly understand this, he says.

Nora Johnson, the medical billing advocate, strongly believes that every patient can, and needs to be a watchdog. First, she says, never settle for a summary bill: You need to get an itemized medical bill. Look for fees or charges on procedures doctors did not perform, and then you need to be sure to check for duplicate charges.

Also, for the increasing number of patients without health insurance, a bigger problem is the fact that patients are charged more than insurance companies for the same services. Medical Billing Advocates say that it is probably in the neighborhood of about 70 percent.

After Steve O'Shea found a medical billing advocate, serious negotiations began with the Henry Ford Health System, where O’Shea was admitted to. In O'Shea's case, his medical bill advocate, Nora Johnson, found more than $11,000 in errors. 

They were charging me twice for some items, such as a nerve repair, O'Shea said. Then the medical bill advocate negotiated a 75 percent discount to get O’Shea’s bill closer to what an insurance company would need to pay.

O'Shea ended up paying a little more than $6,300 on his bill / debt.

O'Shea was obviously very happy to pay the adjusted bill. He said that his doctors did a great job saving his arm and his medical billing advocate did a great job saving his bank account and house.