Consumer Reports: How to avoid medical bill shock
NEW YORK (WABC) -- More people than ever have health insurance, but we're also paying more out of pocket.
Insurance companies and hospitals make it confusing to know how much you'll owe.
Consumer Reports tells you how to avoid a surprise bill.
Eric Christensen had shoulder surgery this year. He thought everything would be completely covered by his insurance.
"A couple months after the surgery, I received a bill," he said.
That surprise bill was for over two thousand dollars!
And a new survey from Consumer Reports found Eric isn't alone.
"In our survey, we found that one third of Americans got a bill where they had to pay more than they expected for their medical costs. The key to not being caught off guard is to know how much you'll pay before you go in," said Consumer Reports Health Director Doris Peter.
But that varies widely, even within the same state. In California, the amount patients pay out of pocket for a total knee replacement ranges from being fully covered to almost 13-thousand dollars.
And out-of- pocket costs for a C-section range from being fully covered to more than 14-thousand dollars.
"Many insurance companies have tools on their websites called cost estimators and you can go on there and look up how much you might pay before you go in and you can even compare the charges between providers," said Peter.
In Eric's case, his surprise bill was for an out-of-network anesthesiologist who wasn't covered by his insurance.
To protect yourself from going out of network, ask that everyone on your medical team be within your insurance network.
"If you do have to go out of network, make sure you call the provider before you go to find out how much you'll have to pay and you may be able to negotiate a better rate," Peter said.
And if you still get stuck with an unexpected bill, fight back. Eric called his insurance provider to explain the problem.
"About a month or so later, I received a statement saying that they had paid the entire bill," he said.
