Blogging Away Debt

Hospitals – Gotta Watch Them Like a Hawk

I was very fortunate that my old insurance company covered my prenatal visits 100%. Since I knew sometime in the future I would like another child, I was curious to see what the charges looked like so I asked for an itemized bill of all charges.

To my surprise, I was being billed for procedures I didn’t have! What really bugged me was that there is no way I could have one of them performed or they would have killed me!!

To put it lightly, I was furious. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t paying any money out of my pocket – I couldn’t believe the errors that I saw. I went back and I fought them and they removed the erroneous charges. No wonder health insurance is so expensive when the hospitals are constantly overcharging for things. It’s not just me, there’s an article over at MSN about Hospital Overcharging. I really feel sick to my stomach when I think about this subject.

Health care is a real sore spot for me because it’s the one expense where you really can’t shop around for the best price. I’ve tried asking before how much a procedure would cost and they couldn’t tell me. Only after I got it and it went through billing would I know. How are they allowed to do that?

I’ve been fortunate and since the birth of my son and I haven’t had a hospital stay. I know I will be checking the next bill over and over and I will be incorporating the following (thanks to the article at MSN) to help make sure I am not overcharged and have some control of what I am paying for:

1.) I am keeping a log of all tests and procedures done. When I receive my bill, I will compare the log with what the hospital said was done.

2.) I am going to ask if I am going to have to pay for disposable things in my room even if I don’t use it. If I am forced to pay – they go with me when I leave.

3.) I am going to call ahead (if possible) and ask about items that I will be supplied with in the hospital room and will be charged for, but I don’t have to have. I will tell them that I do not want them and I will bring items from home.

Yeah, I’m going pretty extreme with this but it really does get me hot under the collar how hospitals get away with this. And it makes me very sad that there are people in financial despair because of a catastrophic medical event occurring and some of it could be from overcharges.

In my opinion, credit cards may be sneaky with their tactics, but I think hospitals are lower on the scale.

Today’s the Last Day if You Want My Book!!

by Tricia

UPDATE: Thank you to all who entered – Kassy at Sparing Change was picked as the winner and you can read her entry here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you haven’t heard yet, I want to give my copy of “The Millionaire Next Door” to someone who really wants to read it and today is the deadline!!

There’s no catch, except I’d like you to give it away to someone else when you are done reading it. Each person is invited to sign the book their own way as I will do. I’ll pay for the media mail shipping so only US residents please.

To enter, all you need to do is write a very brief explanation of why you would like to read the book. I’m only looking for three or four sentences, so no novels here. Please submit your entries to bloggingawaydebt [at] yahoo [dot] com by 11:59 ET TODAY. I will announce a winner on Monday July 3, 2006 which is the day I am hosting the Carnival of Debt Reduction.

I’d also like to include some of the entries on my blog so if that is okay with you, please grant me permission to post it as well as your name or nickname (if you’d like) and blog address (if applicable). If you do not grant permission, I will assume that you do not want your entry posted. And please, just add one sentence saying that you will give the book away when you are done reading it. You can give it away any way you like, but I would just like your word that you will give it away and ask that that person gives it away, and so on. I may be old-fashioned, but I still value someone’s word and hope that it will remain true.

Recap:

1.) Three or four sentences on why you would like the book.

2.) A sentence stating that you would give away the book to another person.

3.) Your name or nickname and/or blog name if you’d like your entry posted on my blog. You can also choose to have it posted anonymously, but please state that it is okay for me to post your entry.

4.) Email it to bloggingawaydebt [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Today is the last day!!