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Article: Medical bills ailing you? Negotiate; Even if you have insurance and a decent income, you have more options than you might realize.(BUSINESS)(CONSUMER LOOKOUT)
- Article from:
- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
- Article date:
- November 5, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Star Tribune Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Jackie Crosby; Staff Writer
If your medical bills are piling up, you're not alone.
Thanks to high deductibles and copays, the average out-of-pocket medical cost for workers doubled between 2000 and 2005, according to Money magazine. Salaries, by comparison, have gone up by only one-fifth that much.
But before you do something drastic, like putting your bills on a credit card or taking out a second mortgage, call the hospital's billing department.
You've got a lot more room to negotiate a full or partial discount on your bill than you might think. That's true even if you've got insurance and a good job.
"A lot of ...