Negotiating Medical Expenses

I am pulling back the curtain and showing you how I negotiated discounts on my hand surgery.

Back at the end of last year, I needed to have a medical procedure. It wasn’t urgent, so I chose to wait until work slowed down and my out of network deductible was met and I had vacation time to use. I wanted to use my doctor, whom I know and trust. We have been patients of the practice for years, and he has done a few surgeries for the family, but he was out-of-network.

I have admit that insurance sometimes baffles me, but I was bound and determined to figure it out. After discussing the details with my doctor, I chose to have the procedure at the hospital’s surgery center – which that cost was in-network. First step done easily and I wouldn’t have to pay for anything.

Next, I contacted the surgeon’s business office to discuss the fee. I knew I would have to pay something and the 80/20 isn’t really 80/20. I had a lot to learn here. I learned that an out of network provider doesn’t have to get prior approval from my medical insurance, so they couldn’t tell me what I would owe ahead of time. They could only tell me the surgeon’s cost. Then to understand this better, I spent well over and hour on the phone with a really helpful person at the insurance company. I found out what the insurance would probably cover – that was actually about 58% of the cost – not really close to the 20%. I was now two business days before the surgery and still trying to figure out if I have the money to pay my part or was I going to cancel the surgery at the last minute.

Lastly, I learned from my insurance company that I could be responsible for the anesthesiologist as well, if they were out of network. I contacted the surgical center and was given the number for the anesthesiologist and contacted them. Since they were in network, this step was fairly easy. But, they did bill me for the full amount after the surgery. So back on the phone with the insurance company to straighten out this bill, that I wasn’t supposed to pay for.

Now I still had to deal with the surgeon’s fee. I decided to contact the doctor’s office and explain my situation. I really wanted to the have the surgery and I wanted it with that doctor, but I was struggling with the portion of the fee that I would have to pay. (My portion would have been a couple of thousand dollars) After 24 hours, the office got back to me, and the surgeon reduced his fee to a number I was comfortable with and that I could afford. Yes, this took a lot of effort on my part but my budget said thank you.

Bottom line, you can negotiate with all types of services and possibly come to an understanding. I did it this time, with several calls and a few hours of my time. For me this was worth the time and effort, to end up paying a few hundred dollars, a number my budget liked.

Stretching Your Dollars With Discounts

Are you looking to s-t-r-e-t-c-h your dollars with a discount? Here are some ideas you may not have thought about:

1. Free food on your birthday – many restaurants offer you something on your actual birthday (some during your birthday week).

2. Using your situation discounts – I am talking more than senior discounts. There are others such as military, memberships, student, government worker, etc. I have used my student discount for admission to museums, my senior discount to pay less for hotels and more.

3. The day after discount – if you shop the day after a holiday you can usually receive a 50% or more discount on those items. Think more than wrapping paper and greeting cards the day after Christmas, there are other holidays throughout the year.

4. Double dipping your coupons – some stores will let you use multiple coupons for the same item to get an even bigger savings. I have used the case price discount and a manufactures coupon for items on sale to save even more.

5. Don’t forget to ask for price adjustments and coupons. It never hurts to ask if there are any other discounts or coupons available at the checkout. Sometimes a sales person has that ability to give you even greater savings. If you get a coupon after the purchase, go back and ask for an adjustment for the original purchase within a certain time limit.

6. Remember to buy off season. With the particularly warm month of December here in the northeast, winter merchandise seemed to go on sale even earlier. When you buy a snow blower in the spring or swimsuit in October you can save money.

7. Sign up for emails (remember to use another email address) as there can be many emails to deal with. Companies offer coupons and discounts to their subscribers.This works for more than products, I have received discounts for concerts too. You can also try leaving items in the cart without checking out. Sometimes they will email you with a discount to place the order.

8. Free Stuff – there are so many special days in a year it’s impossible to keep track of. National days such as donut day will give you a free donut, ice cream day etc. National Parks days throughout the year will waive the entrance fee. You can get some prescriptions filled at your local supermarket for free. The list goes on and on.

Let me know what you do to get discounts and free stuff.

Saving For Retirement

We all want to save for retirement, but there never seems to be enough money left over to save. Does this sound familiar?

The first rule of saving for retirement is, if you are offered free money take it. If your employer sponsored retirement plan offers you matching funds, take it. Contributing to a retirement plan through your paycheck is a great way to get started on the path of regular automatic saving. The earlier you start this habit the better off you will become. On the other side if you haven’t done this, it’s never too late to start now. In this case, free money is a good thing

Next you want to manage your debt. Debt is the enemy to your budget, so you want to avoid it at all cost. I am not saying don’t borrow or use credit, what I am saying is to use it wisely. Don’t become a slave to your debt and that you live paycheck to paycheck trying to keep up with your debt payments.

Charge wisely and only amounts that you can pay off easily. If you find yourself with an emergency and you have to borrow money, evaluate your options and make the choice that is best for you and your budget. Pay back the debt as quickly as possible to avoid as much of the finance / interest charges as possible.

Lastly, gratification – are you someone who needs instant gratification? Do you buy without a payback plan? Look at the food cost (groceries, dining out, take out etc.), shopping, memberships, entertainment etc. These are the expenses, that where the instant gratification that can harm your budget. These are the first defense against the leaks in your budget. Plug those holes to have more money for your retirement.

Think about your finances then make a plan to implement these strategies one by one. Once you master one, start the next. Remember that your finances will not change overnight, be patient and remember it takes time.

Your Emergency Savings Account

What’s your emergency savings account look like? Suze Orman suggests that you have eight months of income in your emergency savings. Dave Ramsey and Jean Chatzky both say 3 to 6 months. Hello Wallet suggest that you think of emergency saving in three ways – minor emergencies, major emergencies and job loss. Bottom line, you need an emergency savings account.

As with any goal, start with a plan – then automate it. When we started our emergency savings, our goal was to save $1,000. That would get us through the unexpected small expense. We started by saving $20 per week to reach that $1,000 goal in one year.

Once you accomplish your goal, I would like you to about your next savings goal. Sometimes unexpected emergencies cost more than you expect, especially if you are a homeowner. I have always thought that the major repair emergency fund should be in the $5,000 range. So then we started on this goal. $100 a week gets you to $5,000 in a year. We divided this between both our paychecks. My husband gets paid weekly so he contributes $50 each week. I get paid every other week, so I put in $100. We then have achieved this goal of $5,000 in a year.

Remember, this is not a save for one year and done type of thing. You may need to use this money, so you need to replace what you use. You can never have too much money saved for the what if’s of life.

Different Types of Refinancing

We’ve all heard the word “refinance”, but what typically comes to mind is mortgages. Yes, you are correct. It also can apply to other areas of your finances such as car loans, student loans and credit cards.

As with any borrowing, you want to pay off the debt as quickly as possible. But sometime you cannot afford to purchase a car with cash, so you take a car loan. You may want to look into refinancing your car loan if you can get better terms – lower interest rate.

For student loans lower interest rate is probably not the answer. You may have several loans and several payments. It might be easier for you to keep track of and have only one payment per month, if you consolidate. Check out your options to determine if this is right for you.

Credit cards are a good example. You may be payoff debt and it may seem like it takes forever. It could if you have high interest rates. Refinancing a credit card balance to a lower or zero percent interest rate will help you pay back what you owe quicker and pay less in finance charges.

As with any financial transaction, do your research and compare all terms and conditions to see if this is the right move for you and your finances at this point in your life.

Making Budget Choices

You know that I think everyone should track their income and expenses to really know where they stand. We personally do this a few months of the year. But when I discuss this with others, I sense a resistance – maybe it’s too complicate, a time issue – I don’t know. So I am going to discuss budgeting from a different angle.

These are the things that we have chosen to give up, don’t have or do it ourselves – it’s our choice.

· No data plan on our cell phones – just calling and texting

· Driving older cars – they are 1995 and 2006

· Home maintenance – we do our own yard work, snow removal, house cleaning, etc

· Trash – we take our trash and recycle to the dump ourselves

· Personal care – I cut my husband’s hair and I stretch the time between haircuts. I do my own pedicures, etc.

All these are the choices we have made for our lives. These choices let us travel. We have been to most of the Caribbean, a good part of Europe and more. We are able to take yearly vacations all because of the choices we make day in and day out to do with less in our daily budget.

Budgeting is about choices – where you chose to spend or not spend your money. Everyone is different and has different values / priorities and will make different choices about what they do with their money. I wanted you to see how the money works in our household. Now you can see what we don’t do that lets us do more of the things we want to do.

Paper or Plastic?

We are not talking about the grocery store. Paper or plastic is how you chose to pay for your purchases – paper (cash) or plastic (debit or credit). The choice may seem simple but there are benefits and drawbacks to each.

Here are some pretty common situations to think about:

· You have to make a large unexpected purchase now and don’t have to cash to pay it all off in one month

· You are purchasing an electronic item

· You are going out to dinner

· You are shopping for clothing

These are everyday situations that come up in our lives and this guide will give you some pros and cons to each method of payment. Yes, you want the least expensive way, but sometimes there are benefits to one choice versus the other.

You are probably going to use all three at certain times. Being aware of what the pros and cons are will help you make the choice that is best for you each and every time.

Here’s what I did after breaking my new tablet

For those of you that were not aware, this summer I purchase a new Microsoft Surface Pro – a 2-in-1 tablet that can be used as a laptop… only to have the screen damaged when we were hit by turbulence on an inter-island flight. 🙁

Since it was really new, I wanted to see if it was covered by someone other than me.

First, I filed a claim with the airline. I found out that carry-on luggage is not covered by the airline. Ugh!

Next, my homeowner’s insurance would probably cover it but we have a large deductible, so that wasn’t the answer for me.

Lastly, I filed a claim with the credit card company. I had used my MasterCard, so I was covered by an Extended Warranty which doubles the warranty period. But that didn’t work because this type of damage isn’t covered under warranty.

However, MasterCard does offer Purchase Assurance for 90 days from the date of purchase.

I wasn’t sure how close I was to the 90 days, so I initiated the claim from Hawaii to be safe and completed the paperwork when we returned home. Good thing, because it happened at 86 days. This is one of the many benefits of using a credit card to make a purchase.

So, I was safe right? Wrong. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t covered because I purchase a refurbished item. It was a hard and expensive lesson to learn that refurbished items are not covered by the credit card protection from MasterCard. The financial industry is ever changing and you must always read the fine print.

In the end, I found out that Microsoft has a replacement policy so I was able to purchase a new tablet for substantially less than full retail price. The people at the Microsoft store were wonderful. Now I have my new laptop /tablet and am ready to go – this time with a new shatter proof case!

Get your first report for 2016

This month use Experian

Hello, it’s Jill again, reminding you to get your New Year started off right.

How to Order Your Credit Report

The only authorized source for your report is AnnualCreditReport.com. You won’t be charged and they won’t force you to sign up for “credit monitoring”. It’s yours to review by law. Learn more.

Select your state, then click Request Report.
Fill out your information, then click Continue.
When it asks you to select a service, select Experian.

Not comfortable ordering online? There are other ways to order your report:

Mail your postal order by downloading the form at AnnualCreditReport.com
Call in your order at 1-877-322-8228

What should you do with your report?

Review it for accuracy!
Follow the instructions to correct any errors.
And, always remember to keep copies for your records.

Were you hoping for your credit score instead?

Try CreditKarma.com. It doesn’t give you a FICO score, but it comes close by providing scores from TransUnion and VantageScore. And, there’s no charge for you. CreditKarma funds their service through website advertising.

It’s so nice to start the year with a clean slate!

P.S. I’ll send you another reminder in May so you can enjoy your summer.

Happy New Year!

You’ll be facing new choices this year. New purchases, opportunities to invest in new savings plans, whether or not to travel. Maybe you’re thinking of making an addition to your family, retiring, or moving to a new home.

I’ll be there for you. Use this newsletter and my website as a resource when you’re researching the smartest choices for your money.

Visit me at JillRussoFoster.com and put your topic in the search field or email me at jill@jillrussofoster.com

A new look for the newsletter

It will be called “Money Choices” and will be in a phone-friendly format. Here’s the new logo: Watch for it on January 15th.