Professionals Who Negotiate Medical Debt

There are a variety of ways to find help with negotiating medical bills.

• Ask your local and/or national non-profit disease specific organization.
• Check with members of your support group.
• Contact a reputable group or experienced individual, such as the ones described below. To quote an advocate who was interviewed for Time Magazine: “I can pretty much always get (a hospital bill) down 30% to 50% simply by saying the patient is ready to pay but will not pay $300 for a blood test or an X-ray.. They hand out blood tests and X-rays in hospitals like bottled water, and they know it.”  Before hiring a particular person or company, ask the questions also described below.

Reputable Groups

• Reputable medical bill negotiating groups include (in alphabetical order):
  • CoPatient   For free, the service analyzes medical bills and sends you a report detailing how much it believes you should have been charged - and the reasons. You can use the information to negotiate yourself or hire Copatient to negotiate for you for a percentage of what the compay saves you.
  • Insnet, LLC. Click on www.MyMedicalNegotiator.com 
  • Medical Cost Advocate
• Reputable groups that negotiate non medical bills - eacho fwhich scharge a percentage of what they save you. 
  • BillCutterz
  • BillFixers
  • BillShark
  • Shrinkabill

If any company you contact to negotiate a bill for you asks for money to start the arrangement or to cover expenses, consider this a red flag and move on to another company.

NOTE: you will likely have to send the company a copy of recent bill. They may ask for personal details such as the last four digits of your Social Security number. They need this information to identify themselves as your representative to your creditors. Alternatively, you can be on the phone when the company makes the call on your behalf -- or a creditor can call you to verify that it is okay to speak with the negotiator.

If you find a particularly helpful company, please share the company's name and contact information, as well as the details of what happened. Email to: dlanday at survivorshipatoz dot org

Experienced Individuals

You can find experienced medical negotiators through one of the following sources:

• Medical Billing Advocates of America, which has advocates in each state. To locate an advocate in your area, see: www.billadvocates.com  Click on "Find A Medical Bill Advocate" or call tel.: 540.387.5870
• The Alliance of Claims Assistance Professionals: www.claims.org . Tel.: 888.394.5163
• The internet. Search in your favorite search engine on words such as "professionals to negotiate hospital bills" or "medical bill advocates."

Professionals charge on an hourly basis or a percentage of the amount the professional saves you. The amount depends on the region of the country and the person's experience.

When you locate a person or company that you think is reputable enough to represent you, at least ask the following questions:

• What is the person's experience in the field?
• What sucess has the person had with situations like yours?
• His or her Training?
• Fee structure?
• For references from three former clients, with name and contact information. Call these people! The only way to know that references are real is to contact them.
• Is a license required in your state? 
  • If so, is the person or company licensed? 
  • If licensing is required, you can check the person's or company's reputation with your state's licensing bureau.

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