Re-checking if a bill is accurate is quite a common practice to do– and then finding a few errors is not exactly rare. However, when this man recalculated
his hospital bill, the inaccuracy was not just about a “few errors”, but the entire bill ended up reducing to half! The man shared about an incident on Reddit, where he claimed that he had an “outpatient procedure” at a hospital in January. After the procedure, the bill that he received had a sum-total of “$1,100 (Rs 1,01,888) after insurance”. Before paying the bill, he asked the “billing department” to provide an “itemised bill first”, only to find services in the list that he did not even use. In the end, his bill ended up reducing to USD 618 (Rs 57,242). Recalling the incident, the man stated that the hospital “apparently” often does this, which is why it's always smarter to re-calculate the bill and ask for a detailed invoice. Allegedly, the correction took 2 weeks, after which the man was able to pay the bill in full. As soon as the post went viral, netizens began to react. Times Now could not confirm the details of the video. Times Now could not confirm the details of the video. Check out the viral post: “Asked for an itemized hospital bill on a whim and found out they charged me for stuff that literally never happened,” the post read. “Had an outpatient procedure done at a regional hospital back in January, got a bill for like $1,100 after insurance. I was just gonna set up a payment plan and deal with it but someone at work told me to always request an itemized bill first so I did and got a 6 page document with like 40 line items on it. I spent an evening going through it and found a charge for anesthesia consultation ($340) which I never had, the procedure was local numbing only. Also found a duplicate charge for a supply kit listed twice,” the post continued. “Called the billing department and honestly expected a fight but the lady was actually pretty calm about it, said she'd flag it for review. Took about 2 weeks and they removed both charges, bill went from $1,100 to $618. I had a little extra money so i just paid it off in full and moved on but if I didn't I genuinely wouldn't have caught this. Apparently billing errors are insanely common and hospitals count on people just not looking. Call and ask for an itemized bill, not just the summary, the full itemized one. Take 5 minutes and you might find something,” the post continued. The post was shared on Reddit by the handle ‘LongjumpingOffice432’. The viral post was shared a day back and pulled more than 19K views from people. Internet’s reactions: “You always ask for an item and watch the bill drop 20 per cent,” a user said. “An anesthesia consultation charge is such a common mistake,” added another. “They always cheat healing people,” added another. ALSO READ: Foreigner Claims He Was 'Deported' From Switzerland To India; Internet Says 'Something’s Off' | VIDEO “My daughter was seen in the ER last month and we found a charge for $1235.00 on the itemized bill for ibuprofen. They gave her 2 tablets. The charge should have been $12.35, which is still ridiculous for 2 pills, but I'll take it,” added another. “It is not an error if it is always in their favor. That is intentional,” commented the next person. “Also, always ask if there is a discount for payment in full. Sometimes there is,” advised the other person.
