Whether you had a serious injury or have an ongoing medical condition, all the medical bills can make your head spin! If you have stacks of medical bills, there is a way to make sense of it all. Here are some ideas to sort it out – just take one step at a time:
- Gather all your bills and explanation of benefits (EOB) from your insurance company. You will need a pencil/pen, highlighter, and a notepad/notebook or several sheets of paper. If you prefer – you can make a spreadsheet. A few file folders, stapler or paper clips will also help keep you organized. Make sure you are at a table or desk where you can spread out!
- If you have bills for more than one family member, separate all the bills and EOBs by family member first, making two piles per person. One for bills and one for EOBs. If you are having a hard time reading the information on the EOBs, you can take a few minutes to go through them one by one, highlighting the patient’s name, date of service, provider, total charges, and amount member is responsible to pay. Having this information highlighted will make it easier to find the information needed for the steps below. Complete the remaining steps for one family member. Then go back and work on the next family member.
- Start with your EOB pile. If you will be making a paper list, organize the EOB pile by the date of service – oldest on top. If you are making a spreadsheet, you can put them in order by date as you go. (Many insurance companies will have this information on their website that you can access. You may also be able to download a spreadsheet with all the claims they have received and processed. If you have alot of ongoing bills, I recommended you copy and paste them into your own spreadsheet or print it out. It will make it easier to keep track of what bills you received and which ones you paid – since this information won’t be on the insurance company’s spreadsheet.) On your list/spreadsheet, you will want to have the following column headings: Date of Service, Provider, Total Charges, Amount Owed (from EOB), Rec’d Bill, Date Paid
- Take the first EOB and enter the appropriate information into the Date of Service, Provider, Total Charges, and Amount Owed columns on your spreadsheet. (The amount owed may be listed on your EOB as member responsibility or amount you are responsible for, etc.) If more than one date of service or provider is listed, make separate lines for each claim. Keep logging this information onto your list. It should be in order by date, oldest first. You can file them in a folder labeled -“Recorded EOBs”
- Now you are ready to tackle the bill pile. It may be easier for you to sort by date if you have a lot of bills or several duplicates. Many times you will get a bill before the provider receives insurance money and one after or there may be several of the exact same bill. If the bill is from the same provider, same date of service, same total charges then just keep the most current one (don’t throw these away – staple the older ones to the current one or shred them). If you do not have a lot of bills, you can skip putting them in chronological order; it shouldn’t be hard to find them on your list. You can now put a check mark in the Rec’d Bill column on your list. Put these in a “Medical Bills to Pay” folder. You can attach the EOB to the bill so it all stays together or keep them in the recorded file. (Attaching them may not always be feasible because they may contain several claims on the same page.) If the amount that you owe on the bill does not match the EOB, clip together and put in a folder marked “Review/Call” with a note reminding you of the discrepancy.
- You have now sorted your bills and know which ones need to be paid. If you cannot afford to pay them in full, make a note and put them in the Review/Call folder to call to discuss making a payment plan. Set aside time in the near future to make your calls and to pay the bills. Once you have paid the bills, mark the date of payment in the Date Paid column of your spreadsheet. If you are making payments, always record the date and amount of each payment so you can make sure the provider is crediting your account properly.
- When new bills come in, check them against your list. If you have already paid the bill, you may want to call the provider and make sure they received your payment and credited your account properly – especially if you paid it awhile ago. If the insurance hasn’t paid yet, put it in a folder marked “Bills Not Yet Paid By Ins”. Also check the folder when you receive a bill to look for duplicates. As new EOB’s come in add them to your list, also checking the “Bills Not Yet Paid By Ins” folder.
This may still sound overwhelming. If you just take one step at a time, you can get a handle on these bills. This will save you from paying things twice or paying things that you don’t really owe. It is well worth it! If you are still overwhelmed or just don’t want to take the time to sort through the mess – give me a call. I will be happy to help you out!