Audit Your Bills and Get Out From Under Overcharges
How accurate are your medical bills? Do you check them carefully? Are you aware that consumers who report errors in medical bills may be eligible for considerable rebates if an audit determines there was in fact a mistake in the billing?
And what about that statement from your lawyer, the utility bill or your pension check? How well do you scrutinize every bill that comes into your home?
A young couple received bills from two providers when their son was circumcised. One bill was from the hospital where the procedure had not been performed, the other was from the pediatrician’s office, where it was performed. As the result of a medical audit, not only was the hospital’s $1,700 fee refunded to the insurance company, the couple received a reward of 50% of that amount from the insurance company, which was more than their original co-pay.
Another woman, whose $2,900 hospital emergency room bill was being submitted to a collection agency due to nonpayment, felt she was being charged for services she had not received, but she could not get the insurance company to respond to repeated requests to have the bill evaluated. Finally, after her credit was adversely affected, she turned to a medical bill auditor whose expertise resulted in the insurance company agreeing to pay the co-pay portion of the bill.
And those are examples from just the medical field. Complaints and confusion come up over legal bills, workers’ compensation claims, property taxes, pension funds, utility bills for multiunit apartment buildings, telecommunications, IRS debt, adjustable-rate mortgages, commercial leases, business licenses, freight bills, refuse bills and Yellow Pages advertising--to name a few areas.
An office building in the San Fernando Valley received more than $700,000 in refunds from both telecommunications and utility company errors. A Los Angeles university received gas and electric refunds in excess of $70,000 for its off-campus residential housing and continues to realize $50,000 per year in billing savings.
The services of an auditor are often free, but can be charged on a contingency basis, which means that the auditor will receive a percentage of any “found money.”
Two Southland women, Marsha Miller and Carla Chadwick, spent the past year researching this field. As a result of their discoveries, they formed a company called Refunds Unlimited and put together a guide to refunds and auditors.
This Refund Pages Guide is available online and in print. The online version is on the Internet at https:/www.refundpages.com for a one-time fee of $10.95. A print version for $15.95 plus $4 for shipping and handling can be ordered by calling (888) 282-6100.
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