Author Topic: Earned $6,000 an hour today.  (Read 5768 times)

ncornilsen

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Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« on: September 21, 2018, 03:21:44 PM »
Well, for like 10 minutes.

I finally got the bill from DDs NICU stay... the HSA plan left me to pay my $5,000 out of pocket max. I called the provider, and told them I could pay $4,000 today. Otherwise, I'd have to call back right before it was due to pay.

They accepted it!

When I hung up the phone, I'd been on the line for something like 9:35 seconds.

Not too bad!

Linea_Norway

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2018, 03:25:31 PM »
:-)

You saved 1000 USD in under 10 minutes. Well done!

terran

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2018, 03:57:07 PM »
Interesting, so you're saying you offered them $4000 today or $5000 when the bill is due (but didn't say anything about not being able to pay -- just that you'd stretch it out until the due date) and they went for it?

ncornilsen

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2018, 04:42:57 PM »
Interesting, so you're saying you offered them $4000 today or $5000 when the bill is due (but didn't say anything about not being able to pay -- just that you'd stretch it out until the due date) and they went for it?

Yep. Didnt lie, just made the offer that for $1,000 they could move a bill to the paid pile. And they got something like $100,000 from my insurance company for their trouble too.

erutio

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2018, 05:35:29 PM »
Well, for like 10 minutes.

I finally got the bill from DDs NICU stay... the HSA plan left me to pay my $5,000 out of pocket max. I called the provider, and told them I could pay $4,000 today. Otherwise, I'd have to call back right before it was due to pay.

They accepted it!

When I hung up the phone, I'd been on the line for something like 9:35 seconds.

Not too bad!

Nice!
For this 9:35 on the phone, was it mainly on hold, or did you have to escalate this past the front line CSR to a "supervisor"?

ncornilsen

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2018, 05:46:55 PM »
Well, for like 10 minutes.

I finally got the bill from DDs NICU stay... the HSA plan left me to pay my $5,000 out of pocket max. I called the provider, and told them I could pay $4,000 today. Otherwise, I'd have to call back right before it was due to pay.

They accepted it!

When I hung up the phone, I'd been on the line for something like 9:35 seconds.

Not too bad!

Nice!
For this 9:35 on the phone, was it mainly on hold, or did you have to escalate this past the front line CSR to a "supervisor"?

It took a few phone tree selections to "speak to a customer service representative"... then like 45 seconds on hold. I gave her my credentials, then made them the offer. She put me hold for 3 or 4 minutes to speak to her supervisor, then she came back and said they could accept that, if I could make the payment by the 30th. I said I could make the payment right now... and I did.  It surprised me how easy it was. I was prepared to accept defeat or play some phone games... but I had none of that.
YMMV.

jnw

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2018, 05:49:12 PM »
Hopefully you got something in writing. Otherwise they might say it was just a $4000 payment and that the $1000 is still due.

fh2000

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2018, 08:10:33 AM »
Good job.

My local hospital also offers 'pay now and get 20% off' so we did that a couple of times.

boarder42

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2018, 08:43:21 AM »
I've tried with our hospital before and the simply won't negotiate. You have to go on a payment plan.

HAPPYINAZ

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2018, 12:10:52 PM »
Wow!  Nicely done.  Did you get it in writing?  Or did they say they would send a bill saying the balance owed was zero?

crispy

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2018, 12:36:16 PM »
This works more often than not! After the birth of each daughter and when my oldest broke her arm, we needed to pay around 2k. I offered to pay each right then and there and got a 20% discount each time. I didn't say I could afford it - just asked for a discount for an immediate payment.

jnw

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2018, 01:48:03 PM »
I had a hospital bill for over $30k.  But the Medicare approved amount was around $10k.   They were happy with $10k.  I bet a hospital would be glad to get 50% to 40% of what they charge if you pay immediately.

momcpa

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #12 on: October 02, 2018, 07:42:35 PM »
My husband owed a few thousand net balance at a hospital after knee surgery.  We had 2 insurances and they each paid some before that balance, but argued over who should pay the next amount.  We went round and round with the insurances, talking to their reps, sending emails, quoting their policies, etc.   Finally after months of going round and round, we knew the balance would land in our laps.   Talked to the hospital and asked about the balance.  They talked about putting us on a payment plan.  Somewhere in the conversation I just asked how much would they deduct if I paid it ALL today.   They gave me a nice adjusted amount and so I paid it.

meatgrinder

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #13 on: October 23, 2018, 12:51:45 PM »
Had a $2,000 bill for me (stitches) and my daughter (concussion) and they only gave me a 5% discount for paying all up front...better than nothing though.

We made the mistake of going to the emergency room. I was there for 2 hours and got stitches: $1400.  Daughter was there for 1 hour, did not even see a physician but saw a physician's assistant: $600.  I have a high deductible plan at work and the total paid by insurance and me was $5,000 for 3 total hours in the emergency room WTF!

I'm a red panda

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #14 on: October 23, 2018, 01:08:44 PM »
I've tried with our hospital before and the simply won't negotiate. You have to go on a payment plan.

Ours doesn't either. They will not reduce bills. But they have an automatic payment plan for anything over $150. Interest free.  They divide into 12-, 24-, or 36- payments depending on the size of the bill.

So we have a shit ton of scheduled monthly payments to them from past bills. Because why pay that ahead of time? 

ncornilsen

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #15 on: October 23, 2018, 01:32:39 PM »
I've tried with our hospital before and the simply won't negotiate. You have to go on a payment plan.

Ours doesn't either. They will not reduce bills. But they have an automatic payment plan for anything over $150. Interest free.  They divide into 12-, 24-, or 36- payments depending on the size of the bill.

So we have a shit ton of scheduled monthly payments to them from past bills. Because why pay that ahead of time?

Indeed.

I got a letter indicating nothing more is owed, so it worked!  It's worth a try anyway.

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #16 on: October 23, 2018, 01:38:17 PM »
My wife negotiated a $600 orthopedic bill down to $200 once, which impressed the hell out of me. But that was when we were first married and legitimately had no money. It hasn't occurred to me to negotiate medical bills since times have improved. Hmmm....

foobaz

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #17 on: October 26, 2018, 09:27:07 PM »
Negotiating hospital bills seems like such a strange concept to me. I once had to pay a few thousand for an ambulance ride and now I feel like I could have paid a lot less if I tried.

TomTX

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #18 on: November 03, 2018, 08:25:43 AM »
Negotiating hospital bills seems like such a strange concept to me. I once had to pay a few thousand for an ambulance ride and now I feel like I could have paid a lot less if I tried.

"List price" for something medical related (especially hospital or ER related) is usually HUGELY inflated. Like 10x.

elgee

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #19 on: November 07, 2018, 06:57:00 AM »
This is awesome.  What's your advice on how to negotiate/get the bill lowered? I've gotten smaller bills from the hospital (under $1,000) but after they've gone through my insurance and I finally get it in the mail - the due date is normally within a week so I don't have the "pay right now vs. later" argument.

flashflooder

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #20 on: November 14, 2018, 07:24:33 AM »
Well, for like 10 minutes.

I finally got the bill from DDs NICU stay... the HSA plan left me to pay my $5,000 out of pocket max. I called the provider, and told them I could pay $4,000 today. Otherwise, I'd have to call back right before it was due to pay.

They accepted it!

When I hung up the phone, I'd been on the line for something like 9:35 seconds.

Not too bad!

Wondering how this will work out on your HSA provider's side... Will they still treat it as you meeting your $5000 out of pocket max, or will they recognize that you only paid $4000?

I've always been aware of "cash" discounts on medical bills, but I figured since the insurance company is involved (even if using a high deductible plan, and you end up paying 100% of the expense out of pocket) that this discount wouldn't apply.

At any rate, thanks for sharing.

powskier

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #21 on: November 17, 2018, 09:48:38 AM »
Good for you I guess, but It's so strange for us all to think this is so cool. Every other country on the planet mostly gets it paid for by their universal ( country wide) plan, at a fraction of our costs and with better outcomes.

soccerluvof4

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Re: Earned $6,000 an hour today.
« Reply #22 on: November 18, 2018, 04:13:47 AM »
Why not ask when the worse they can say is No. I personally haven't done this with medical bills but I find as I get older I pretty much try to negotiate everything. We just had our cabinets re-faced and the guy did an amazing job. at the end I offered him 10% less and he took it. Contractors are usually pretty easy though. Stores I always say your going to give me 25% of today right? its amazing how many times they will give me something just for being upbeat and nice.