Manage Healthcare Bills

What is this service?
Health insurers are moving toward more complicated plans designed to shift more cost to the consumer.  As a result, more insurers and providers are directly billing consumers.  Smart Health Decisions works with consumers to monitor and pay medical bills and resolve any questions or problems that might arise.  We can help you get a cost estimate before you receive healthcare services and coordinate healthcare paper work afterward, making sure statements accurately reflect the services delivered, correct payments by various payers, and the right balance.  If errors are identified, we make sure records are corrected.  As appropriate, we help you take the necessary steps to trigger payment from different insurers so you pay no more than required.  And, if desired, we can help you negotiate a reasonable payment schedule with providers.

How do consumers benefit from this service?
Managing medical bills during an illness can be more stressful than the illness itself, occurring when the consumer is not at their best, and when their care supporters are already very busy.  Medical bills are generated and processed by computers with no human ever seeing them.  They are complicated and often contain errors, totaling $51 billion annually.   It is estimated up to 90% of hospital bills contain errors averaging $1300 in overcharges per bill.  Uncorrected overcharges cause your insurance premiums to be higher than necessary, raise the amounts you must pay out-of-pocket, and cause insurance limits to be reached prematurely, possibly resulting in you being denied coverage for care. Furthermore, providers can be very aggressive in collecting unpaid bills.  For all these reasons, Smart Health Decisions can help consumers when they no longer want to deal with the hassle of medical bills by themselves.  (Harvard University, 2008; U.S. General Accounting Office, 2005.)

When should healthcare consumers use this service?
You should seek assistance with your medical bills any time you have a question or do not understand your bill.  For example, if your bill has codes you do not understand, unfamiliar services, providers you have never heard of, or amounts that seem unreasonable you should seek help as soon as you receive the bill and before making any payment. 

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