Here's a way to save money on your medical expenses -- fight back if your medical claim is denied by your insurance. The details from Money magazine:
Your insurer refused your claim? Fight back. Begin with a phone call to customer service, and if that doesn't work, put your appeal in writing. Document everything, including the times of calls and the names of the reps you spoke with. "Every plan has an appeals process that you must follow to the letter," says Robert Bland of Insure.com, a consumer information website. For more information, download the Kaiser Family Foundation's guide to handling disputes with your employer or private health plan (kff.org).
I can tell you from personal experience that this tip works. My wife has challenged numerous medical claims/denials during our marriage, and very often she gets it resolved to our satisfaction. The main issue seems to be the useless (and often mindless) bureaucracy that insurers use to track claims often results in many claims being automatically denied. I'm not sure, but I think this is partly by design. They reject a ton of requests and only finally pay up when people contact them. Seems like a built in way to "save" money for the company.
That said, when the insurers are contacted, they do give us the run-around, but quite often finally give in. Not always, but over half the time for sure. So if you have a bill, and especially a big one, it's worth it to fight back.
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