It is no fun to be in the hospital. And it's certainly no fun to finally get home and then get the hospital bill in the mail. If you have insurance that pays it all, you probably don't even look at the bill. But if you are paying, you do look - and you try to make sense out of it.
Many, many people cannot pay their hospital bills. Many go bankrupt trying. And many go to court over the charges - and often lose, only to be confronted with the original debt, plus court fees and lawyer's fees.
I had the chance to interview Hal Stern, who makes hospital accounts receivables (a good part of these are now patient debts) his work. Hal is the Founder and CEO of Financial Health, a company who helps hospitals manage their account receivables and helps patients manage and pay their hospital bills.
Financial Health will help a patient make sense out of a hospital bill. What was this for? Did I really get this? Is this correct? Why was I charged for this?
Hal says that hospitals want to help patients and more and more, they are deep discounting patient self-pay charges.
Watch the interview and learn how patients can be helped with hospital bills they find overwhelming.
