Statements of Financial Responsibility

by Marc Manor

So, there you are at your pre-op appointment with your surgeon and you are asked to sign a “Statement of Financial Responsibility” or similar document.  This document is the “Cover Your Assets”/CYA insurance for the providers involved in the procedure.  Even the most minor surgeries can cost tens of thousands of dollars, so it is not surprising with the expense of healthcare these days, providers want some CYA.  I think they also do this to motivate patients to submit complete and current insurance information.  These acknowledgements are required by providers even if you have comprehensive healthcare coverage. Here are a few steps you can take to increase the chances your claims are properly processed.  

Courtesy of pexels.com

Here are some things you can verify with your provider and insurance company to make sure you have the required coverage:

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! It’s a bill!

By Marc Manor

Those of us old enough to remember “Gomer Pyle”, can visualize the scowl on Sergeant Carter’s face when Gomer revealed his many surprises!  Surprises can be great but not when it comes to healthcare insurance claims, most of us want to our bills to be exactly what we expect – NO SURPRISES! 

Healthcare insurance claims are based on a long list of medical codes that are associated with each treatment, diagnosis, and/or medical procedure.   The codes are entered by medical data entry people to base them on a patient’s chart or doctors notes.  The codes have a variety of uses in the medical field but the codes that are probably most important to us as healthcare insurance beneficiaries are the ones correlated to our healthcare benefits.  The codes submitted to the insurance company will determine how claims will be processed.  Allow me to provide you with some examples that may help in understanding how the codes affect healthcare insurance claims:

“I received a bill for a recent lab test.  I thought lab tests associated with qualified preventive care was 100% covered!”

Courtesy Pexels.com