- Americans share that they are asked to pay hospital bills in advance.
- Many worry that they will not be able to receive care if they cannot pay in advance.
- Hospitals Try to Avoid Rising Uncompensated Patient Care Debt
A growing number of Americans share that they are asked to pay medical bills up front so they can receive life-saving health treatments.
Hospitals have resorted to requiring patients to pay for services in order to receive them, in an effort to combat debt as operating costs rise. In the past, the hospital typically billed patients after a procedure.
American hospitals have provided more than $620 billion in uncompensated care to patients over the past 20 years, according to the report. American Hospital Association reported in 2020.
To combat the growing number of unpaid care, social media users say hospitals are increasingly asking them to pay up front.
‘Yo MedStar Health, what’s with this damn payment before surgery? Are my options to fight for $6k in two weeks and not pay the bills afterwards or not walk and be in pain? Great, great,” said Robert Crews in X.
Hospitals have resorted to requiring patients to pay for services in order to receive them, in an effort to combat debt as operating costs rise.
“My partner will have hip surgery on April 11. We have already spent over a thousand dollars on pre-surgery costs and have set up payment plans for afterward,” Morgan Lee said.
“The doctor called 20 minutes ago saying if we can’t pay $554.89 by April 9, the surgery won’t happen.”
“We’re barely paying rent and bills as things stand, and things are getting tougher without partner income during the recovery,” Lee said.
‘My second grader developed appendicitis overnight. The hospital required a prepayment of $1,463.93 in the emergency room before taking him into emergency surgery, but no one could tell us how they calculated that amount. Our emergency copay is $250 and is waived if you are admitted,” said Dr. Emily Porter in X.
‘This seems to be something new for hospitals. I had knee surgery scheduled last month and the hospital called me at least 5 times in the few days before asking me how much of my estimated costs I wanted to pay up front. He was also asked again upon entry. My answer? Bill me,’ said a user named Andy.
About 23 percent of what patients owe is collected by hospitals before treatment, according to an analysis of this year’s first quarter data from 1,850 hospitals by healthcare software and consulting company Kodiak Solutions. The Wall Street Journal.
“No one would say ‘pay up or we won’t treat you,’ but we’re saying you have a big out-of-pocket cost and we want to know how you’re going to pay it,” Jonathan Wiik, a director at TransUnion Healthcare, said. Consumer Reports.
However, a KFF Healthcare Debt Survey found that 41 percent of adults in 2022 had some debt caused by medical or dental bills.
According to the survey, three in ten of those who currently have no health care debt are vulnerable to falling into debt. They said they couldn’t pay an unexpected $500 medical bill without borrowing money.
The tendency of hospitals to require payment up front has many worrying that they will not be able to receive care until they pay, even delaying necessary treatment.
“I have an echocardiogram in 2 weeks and now I just received a notice that I owe $1,445.50 at check-in based on my estimated insurance coverage,” said one Reddit user.
‘This appointment was made months in advance and all this time I have been planning to negotiate a monthly payment right after the appointment. There’s absolutely no chance I’d have that much to give them now on two weeks’ notice.’
‘Was someone else expected to pay at check-in and couldn’t do so? Will they really reject me? the user asked.
Federal law requires hospitals to treat patients with emergency medical conditions, regardless of whether they can pay.