People who decide not to challenge incorrect or unaffordable medical bills might be missing out on money, according to researchers at the University of Southern California (USC).
Problematic medical bills are common: a fifth of people they surveyed said they had recently received a medical bill they disagreed with or couldn't afford—but only 61.5 percent of those people had contacted a billing office to address their concerns.
"Our study found that most people who reached out to the billing office about a troubling bill got financial relief or bill corrections," lead author ErinL. Duffy told Newsweek.
"People most commonly contacted a billing office by phone, and most people reported spending less than one hour addressing the issue.
"Two in five people did not reach out, and the vast majority of them felt that reaching out wouldn't make a difference."
Specifically, 86.1 percent of those who chose not to contact a billing office about a problematic bill said they didn't think it would make a difference.
Yet the study found that 74 percent of whose who had reached out about a billing error said the mistake was corrected, 76 percent of those who reached out over an unaffordable bill said they received financial relief, and 62 percent of those who sought to negotiate their bill said the price was dropped.
"Many people are hesitant to pick up the phone to question the accuracy of a problematic medical bill or explore financial options, but our findings indicate it's worthwhile and typically takes less than one hour," said Duffy in a statement.
The researchers said that people who had certain personality types—more extroverted and less agreeable—were at an advantage, because they were more likely to reach out about a problematic bill than those who were more timid or agreeable.
"Current health care billing practices generally require patients to practice a lot of self-advocacy, and those who cannot self-advocate well are missing opportunities for financial relief," said study co-author Erin Trish in a statement.
Duffy told Newsweek that this system of self-advocacy was likely to exacerbate inequalities in the medical system.
"Those without a college degree, [with] lower financial literacy, and without insurance, were less likely to reach out about their medical bills," she said.
"These patients may be missing out on financially beneficial options, which may in turn exacerbate socio-demographic disparities in the burden of medical debt."
Duffy added that changes could be made to make the system easier and fairer for patients.
"Patients face administrative hurdles while navigating the financial aspects of their health care," she said. "Providing information about payment plans accompanying a bill could spare patients the burden of calling to inquire.
"Wider uptake of the practice of preemptively screening patients for financial aid based on their address and public information about them would also enable more patients to get financial aid without requiring an application."
The study was conducted by researchers at the USC Schaeffer Center. It included 1,135 U.S. adults who were randomly selected from the Understanding America Study, conducted by the USC Dornsife's Center for Economic and Social Research, between August and October 2023.
Responses were weighted to be nationally representative. Survey results were published today on the JAMA Health Forum.
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Reference
Duffy, E. L., Frasco, M. A., Trish, E. (2024). Disparate Patient Advocacy When Facing Unaffordable and Problematic Medical Bills, JAMA Health Forum 5(8): e242744. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamahealthforum.2024.2744
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