So I went to a hospital the other day and was told I have a de-deductible of $3,000. I am not sure how much my insurance paid (if anything). At some point I have to talk to the hospital about payment and I want to talk them down to accept a lower amount. I do have some savings to offer, but I would like to get them to agree to take that amount and write off the rest rather than just admit I have that safety net and still have payments.
If it helps the discussion my insurance is supposed to be “managed”. Which means that I call them and they then tell me where I can go and not have to pay anything out of pocket. It just happened that I had been having some pretty bad stomach issues I was hoping would go away. I then realized I had spend just under 2 days like this, but it was memorial day so their number was closed and any small clinic, so I went to the ER worried my appendix was bursting or something serious was happening to me.
If you don’t expect to meet your deductible, like if it’s near the end of your insurance year, asking for a cash price is a good option.
Its pretty hard to get off with as low as a few k from the ER. Just going there would likely hit the deductible.