So I finally got the paperwork for my hospital stay in November. Um, wow. Thank goodness for insurance! From Novermber 26th to December 5th, 2008, my hospital stay came to $43,969.15 and the insurance company adjusted the amount to $27,591.00. (Krista you had asked about adjustments, basically this is the amount the insurance company has agreed to pay for these services as part of their pre-negotiated contracts with the health care providers.) The difference between the two is my portion.
For each of the three admissions, I incurred a bill of $300. (I'm going to fight the 2 hour admission on 2/4/09 and see if I can get them to reverse the charges, since I was admitted before my test results came in and before I could talk to my doctor...plus the fact that my doctor discharged me two hours later!) Anyway, I payed the first two installments of $300 since I had about $600 in my pre-tax flex account through my office...which in essense makes these free since I get the money back as soon as I show I've incurred the qualified medical expense. But then I got the 3rd request for payment related to my November stay. On the bill they say you can contact Sharp to make payment arrangements. I thought, well you know, they've billed me $900 in one month. I've already paid $600, surely they will let me make payments on the rest. This would help tramendously with our reduced income.
I was hoping to request to make payments of $100 over three months, or something like that. Well, it went even better than I expected. She said if I made a one time payment of $195, they would reduce the total due to that amount and I'd be done!! So with a simple phone call I saved $105! Now if only I'd know ahead of time, maybe I could have had the rest reduced as well! I guess this is a good lesson for next time...when they offer...take them up on it!!
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