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Effectively disputing a hospital bill requires that you know exactly what you are being charged for. Preserve every bill that you receive from the hospital. Also hang onto bills from medical centers, labs, and the doctor’s office. When a hospital bills for medical care, the bills are often incredibly vague and wordy. Also, you may receive multiple bills for one procedure or visit. Oftentimes you will get separate bills from surgeons, hospitals, medical groups, specialists, and other physicians. Finally, it is not uncommon to receive a bill six to eight months after treatment. Be aware of all of these things when collecting your medical bills.  To make things easier, have a giant folder that you can throw bills into once you have looked over them. You can also scan bills so that you have a PDF of the bill on your computer. All bills should be itemized, i.e., broken down by individual charge. These are called “line-item” or “detailed” bills. Call the hospital and request a detailed bill if you are not sent one. You want to make sure that the hospital hasn’t double-billed you or made other errors. For example, an exam charge could show up on a hospital bill but also on your doctor’s bill. You want to make sure that you catch all errors.  Make sure that the hospital doesn’t charge you for medications you brought from home. Also, check that the hospital does not charge the full-day rate for the room if you were discharged in the morning.  Also look to see if you were charged for supplies like sheets, gowns, or gloves. These supplies should already be included in the cost of the hospital room. Before disputing the hospital bill, you should see how much of the bill is covered by your insurance. Try to get your insurer to cover all legitimate charges.  Your insurer might claim that your policy does not cover certain drugs or procedures. Take out your policy and check.  You can appeal any rejection by a health insurer. For more information, see Resolve a Claim Dispute With Your Health Insurance Provider.
Hold onto all of your bills. Review your bills. Find out how much your insurer will cover.