Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin
How Nicole Negotiated Medical Debt: Listen and Learn!
Wed, 20 Nov 2024
Last year, Nicole had a medical scare... which only got scarier when the bills started rolling in. Today, Nicole shares how she negotiated her medical bills and takes you behind the scenes of a real conversation she had with a medical provider.
Chapter 1: What was Nicole's medical scare?
I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. All right. Last year, you might remember I had a medical scare. I was all of a sudden reading a script and felt like I was seeing double. And then I laid down for a second and I was like, I'm fine. I'm fine. And then all of a sudden I started getting numb and it was my arms.
And then I thought maybe that's just a fluke. It kind of spread and my speech started stirring.
that's when i got really scared i knew something was wrong and because of how i was feeling i couldn't see i couldn't speak at that point i couldn't drive myself to the hospital i mean maybe i could have called an uber or lyft but i didn't want to pass out in a car with a stranger so i called 911 and i rode in an ambulance i spent the day in the er and over the next several weeks i had to take tons of tests and was under doctor's orders to take at least a week off of work
I was scared. Honestly, I had no idea what was going on with my body or my brain. I WebMD'd the heck out of all of this, and it just scared me more, as it always does. Also, I think we can all agree that there's nothing more stressful than someone telling you, especially a doctor, not to be stressed. It's like when someone tells you not to think about something.
Obviously, you start thinking about that thing, right? So there I was trying not to be stressed about my health or work, and then... money because the bills started rolling in because of all of these special tests and doctors. One of the biggest bills I got was for the ambulance, which was around two grand. That felt like an outrageous amount of money for emergency care.
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Chapter 2: How did Nicole handle her medical bills?
So despite doctor's orders, I did what I do whenever I feel like I'm being overcharged. I went to dispute the bill. I called up the ambulance company and of course I recorded it. Here's how it went.
Thank you for calling PMS Services. May I have the account number you are calling about?
Yes, certainly. How are you?
I'm good, and you?
Okay, good. Great. Doing well. The account number is... Okay.
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Chapter 3: What steps did Nicole take to negotiate her medical debt?
Thank you for the account number. Thank you for calling LAFD. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking to today?
You have such a great voice. This is Nicole. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?
My name is Mark. Give me your ID. Hi, Mark. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. May I call you by your first name?
You certainly can.
Okay. Thank you, Nicole. Nicole, may I have a good phone number in case we get disconnected?
Absolutely. 310- Oh, okay.
Got a landline or cell phone?
It's a cell phone.
3784.
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Chapter 4: What advice did the representative give Nicole about her bill?
It is. Okay.
All right. And thank you for that. Thank you for verifying that. And how can I help you today? I received a bill for $2,000 for my ambulance service. Okay. Provided on 8-15-23. Do you know if that's been submitted to insurance?
No.
okay let me take a look here okay the claim was filed to your insurance on october 19th of this year we have to allow about eight weeks for processing so that should come back right before christmas by december 19th okay so i don't know anything right now right now as far as only no because we're processing with your insurance And we'll know more around December 19th or after.
Okay, so do you have any idea of how much they would cover?
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Chapter 5: How long does insurance processing take for ambulance bills?
That, I don't know. Your insurance can give you more insight into that. Normally, I can tell you they pay 80%, but that's going to be about the best that we can do on our end.
Okay. And I just want to make sure that this isn't being sent to collections, because that's what the notice says.
Okay. On that, that's a little more bark than bite. They do that to make you do just what you did today, give us a call. That's the first of three, so you're going to get two more. Okay? May I make a suggestion for you, Nicole? Please do. Okay. Enjoy your Thanksgiving. and check back with us before Christmas and we'll let you know what's going on with the account.
Okay, great.
So the bark, the little bark notices that I'm getting, I guess to use your terminology, that's just to scare me?
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Chapter 6: What should you do if you receive a high medical bill?
Well, just to get you to call in, you know, they do that with billing. You know, could the account go to collections? Yeah, but You know, we just got, just got the insurance. That's your first invoice. So no, you're not, you're not going to collection that fast. No.
Okay. I mean, we just got through Halloween. Like I don't want to be, keep getting scared, you know, for no reason.
No, you're not going to keep getting scared. It takes eight weeks. So we won't know anything until right before Christmas.
Okay. Do you suggest that I call the, um, insurance company?
You can call them. They can let you know where they are in processing.
Okay.
Okay.
All right. And then is there a different fee for ambulances that don't turn on their lights and siren?
No.
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