Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - How Nicole Negotiated Medical Debt: Listen and Learn!

Episode Date: July 30, 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. All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. Brokerage services for US-listed, registered securities, options and bonds in a self-directed account are offered by Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA & SIPC. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank. Brokerage services for alternative assets are offered by Dalmore Group, LLC, member FINRA & SIPC. Brokerage services for treasury accounts offering 6-month T-Bills are offered by Jiko Securities, Inc., member FINRA & SIPC. Banking services are offered by Jiko Bank, a division of Mid-Central National Bank. Securities investments: Not FDIC Insured; No Bank Guarantee; May Lose Value.  Brokerage services for Regulation A securities are offered through Dalmore Group, LLC, member FINRA & SIPC. Risks at public.com/disclosures/alts-risk-and-conflict-of-interest-disclosure See public.com/#disclosures-main for more information.

Money rehabbers, you get it. When you're trying to have it all, you end up doing a lot of juggling. You have to balance your work, your friends, and everything in between. So when it comes to your finances, the last thing you need is more juggling. That's where Bank of America steps in. With Bank of America, you can manage your banking, borrowing, and even investing all in one place. Their digital tools bring everything together under one roof, giving you a clear view of your finances whenever you need it. Plus, with Bank of America's wealth of expert guidance available at any time, you can feel confident that your

money is working as hard as you do. So why overcomplicate your money? Keep it simple with Bank of America, your one-stop shop for everything you need today and the goals you're working toward tomorrow. To get started, visit bofa.com slash newprosmedia. That's b-o-f-a dot com slash n-e-w pros p-r-o-s media. bfa.com slash newprosmedia. 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. And 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. 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. 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 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. Okay. Got a landline or cell phone? It's a cell phone number in case we get disconnected? Absolutely. 310- Oh, okay. Got a landline or cell phone? It's a cell phone. Okay. And patient's date of birth? 3784.

And mailing address? 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? Okay. Let me take a look here. Do you know if that's been submitted to insurance? 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 owe anything right now? Okay, so do you have any idea of how much they would cover? that I don't know your insurance can give you more insight into that normally they say I can tell you they pay 80 percent but um I I really could that's that's gonna be about the best that we could do on our end okay um uh 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. um what 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 uh notices that i'm getting i guess to use your terminology uh notices that I'm getting I guess to use your terminology that's just to scare me well just to get you to call in uh you know hey they do that with billing um you know it could they can't 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 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 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. Because they didn't do that. Really was really upset i was like i think i'm dying guys but they were like you have a pulse it's fine okay so like why did i even take an ambulance like can i dispute that because they didn't like they didn't get me there any faster i mean if you felt like you needed to dispute, yes. Alright, let's do it. Okay. You'd have to put that in writing and, and, uh, fax

that in. A fax? Mark. Yes, ma'am. Where the heck do you find a fax around here? If you don't, if you don't, okay, well well they prefer us to tell facts first um i can give you an email where you can send it yeah like welcome to the 21st century okay that's well let me know when you're ready oh i'm ready they so okay, so this is fascinating protocol. So they send notices to scare people into calling and then giving fax numbers to dissuade people from sending stuff in because where the heck do you find a fax until you have to ask for like a real mode of communication that we use in this day and age? Is that right?

Yeah, unfortunately. mode of communication that we use in this day and age is that right yeah unfortunately well thank you for your help um okay what's the email address ems escalation services at digitechcomputer.com uh is that a real website digitechcomputer.com okay great okay all right great and then what do i put in this email um basically what you told me okay so i don't have to like have a particular form no they don't really have a form okay so i just write like my account number the date of service and say like to whom it may concern your account okay so okay great so just say I don't think I should be charged for this because nobody put the sirens on like right thank you goodbye okay anything else i can do for today um no so if i send this email does it disrupt the chain of submission to the insurance no we're still going to submit it to the insurance well it's already been submitted to the insurance on the 19th okay all right sounds

good is there anything i should know? Any other pro tips? No, ma'am. All right. Well, you've been so helpful. Thanks, Mark. You're welcome. You have a wonderful rest of the day. You too. Bye. So can I just say, this was so confusing to me, which is another reason calling is always a good idea. I didn't realize this was going to be submitted to my insurance. It was a bill that was sent to me. The instinct is to just pay it, so if i had just paid it i would have missed out on insurance coverage but anyway right after i got off the phone i sent an email to my new friend mark and i wrote to whom it may concern

i just spoke with your representative mark and informed him that i would like to dispute this bill from 10 17 23 as the ambulance did not put its lights or sirens on. I did not get there any earlier and it was more stressful, not less. Thank you, Nicole. Yep, I was ready for a fight. And then days later, I heard back. Hello, I am confirming we received your dispute. I have sent this to be reviewed. Thank you. And then the manager's name. Months later, nothing happened. So I followed up and obviously still had my game face on and said, hello, I did not hear back on this. I assume that is because you waived this erroneous charge. And then they turned a friendly corner and said, hello, I will be happy to assist you with your inquiry. I am seeing that there is a balance on the account. The balance is $344.47. It looks

like your insurance paid $1,617.53 of the total charged. The remaining balance is the patient responsibility. Okay, so this is a huge improvement. Of course, my goal is to pay $0 here, and I always try to shoot my shot. The worst they could say is no. So I said, thank you. I am disputing my part of the charge. As stated below, the siren was not on. I don't believe I should be responsible for anything. After that, I didn't hear back. Until I did. The ambulance company sent that debt to collections. Then I started getting phone calls from debt collectors. And while I believe in negotiating every unfair bill, I certainly don't recommend waiting until that debt goes to collections. If you wait that long to pay a debt, your credit score can be affected,

and we definitely don't want that. But if you do talk to a debt collector, you should know that you can negotiate that debt, which is what I did. My debt was for $344.47. But again, my goal was to try and pay nothing, which at that point wasn't going to happen without digging my credit score. But I could try and pay less than what I owed because, again, on principle, I didn't and don't think I should have paid anything. The siren was indeed off. I essentially could have taken an Uber or a Lyft and it wouldn't have been two grand. It probably would have been 75 bucks. So that's what I tried to pay. The debt collector, of course, tried to get more and we met closer to what I was

getting at and settled for around 100 bucks. Remember, it is the debt collector's job to get anything back, even pennies on the dollar. Oftentimes, they do have approval to settle for a lower number. I mean, think about it. If I think someone is going to give me nothing back, I would certainly rather take something versus nothing. And that something is exactly what you should aim to pay. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. In a medical emergency, you're not going to call the insurance company or you shouldn't to understand what's covered. Let's just be realistic about that. So I recommend finding some time when you're not in the middle of an emergency to call your insurance company and find out what is covered. Is an ambulance covered? Is an overnight hospital stay covered? Are these things covered out of state? What about

internationally? Knowing this information before you need to use it will help you make sure you don't have to have a fight with the ambulance company in the first place. Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan Lavoie. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions, moneyrehab at moneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me and follow us on Instagram at money news and Tik TOK at money news network for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously. Thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself,

which is the most important investment you can make. Thank you.