DON’T PAY!!! I just felt I needed to shout that out. Now, I thought I would do something really fun this week.

Yes, something fun with insurance.

And well, I think it’s fun.

So I’m always teaching my clients how not to pay the bill, I tell you to wait till things go to collections.

Today I’m going to show you what happened in a real-life example.

Earlier this year, a family member had some labs done.

• Got the initial statement. It was $168 – ridiculous for what was done.
• That first statement was in March. R PAYSo put it on my desk.
• Next month. The second notice is the same amount. And yeah, still not paying it.
• Next month, the third statement. Third, notice, yep, same I’m out.
• Fourth month, ooh, scary – “past due”. Again, goes in the pile.
• Then yay – the next month, month number five. The first collection notice goes in the pile.
• Next month, six months – next collection notice. Still the same amount, and it goes in my pile.
• Now we are in September. Another “past due” notice from the collection agency.
• Finally, I got a collection notice offering a 50% one-time opportunity discount. Sold.
• So, instead of paying $168 for the labs, I paid $84.
• es, it takes a while. You have to do nothing but open the mail and stick it in a pile.
• You can choose to try to call when it goes to collections. Sometimes they will give you a 50% discount immediately. I did try calling initially when it first went to collections, but they wouldn’t talk to me. Because I wasn’t the person the labs were done on.

Doctor’s offices may or may not do this, but hospitals, radiology, and ERs will usually do this. Why pay more on a bill if you can wait until it’s a reasonable amount and then pay it? I knew $160 for those labs was ridiculous, $84 is ridiculous. But at this point, I’m not going to spend a whole bunch of time I’d rather pay $84 and $168.

If you have questions about how NOT to pay your first bill, please feel free to reach out to me.