To: President Donald Trump
Make medical billings user friendly, so patients can pay!
Establish regulations to make medical billing systems more uniform and user friendly. Provide clear information to patients on what bills to expect (this also would eliminate fraudulent invoices) and whom to contact. Explain deadlines and payment systems. This information should be standardized so that patients don't suffer further confusion and anxiety and so that doctors, hospitals and services get reasonable compensation rather than losing money.
Why is this important?
Our son recently suffered traumatic brain injury and miraculously survived. However, it has taken months to determine whether we have all the bills, whom to contact (13 separate billing agencies), what actual costs are, whether there could be adjustments, payment plans (all different), how to pay, and how to avoid bills going to collection agencies. This is often an impossible task for patients recovering from illness or injury or, as in the case of our son, trying to work to pay the bills. It is a lose-lose situation if people get trapped in the maze and give up - doctors and hospitals don't get paid and individuals suffer destroyed credit and, often, refusal of future treatment. Both elderly and younger patients are affected, but those who are not yet on Medicare are most vulnerable because of so many separate billing requirements. Why make the system so punitive for those who actually want to pay their bills?