know it sounds too good to be true…and depending how you take the title…it is. This article is meant for people that don’t have insurance and need to go to the doctor, dentist, specialist, etc. This is not meant to be interpreted by you as good ole Don has another loophole for us that lets us cancel our insurance and still get cheap medical bills.
That’s just not the case.
If you don’t have insurance and you need to go to the doctor here is what you do. I will use a dentist office for this example. Say you need to have your wisdom teeth pulled. What you do is call up the dentist and ask them for a free consultation visit. (Most dentist offices will do this for you. If your particular one doesn’t, call around until you find one that does.)
Now, when you go to the dentist he will do their diagnostic or whatever it is that they do. Typically before they do any real work to you they will give you some options. What your going to do is try and strike a deal with him basically. Let them know that you don’t have insurance so you can’t afford to pay “amount” price. Ask them for a 25% discount (or whatever feels appropriate). What you essentially doing is getting a settlement in advance.
One of two things will then happen. They are either going to tell you yes or no. If they say yes then go on with the procedures you need. (If you need payments you need to tell them that after they say yes.) On the other hand, if they say no, I want you to come back with this rebuttal:
“(politely)Listen Dr. (name) I know when people come in here with insurance and you file it and it actually pays (pause) you guys have to take a big write-off, all I’m asking for is a small write-off myself so I can actually afford to pay your bill unlike the customers that you turn for collections.”
Now what goes on in the doctor’s head is… you know what he/she’s wight we do have to take a big write-off with insurance. The doctor will also realize that they also take typically another 25% loss when they have to turn the bill for collections. The doctor will also that with insurance write-offs (assuming they actually pay) and collection fees they usually lose about 60% of the bill. They will say yes most of the time.
Use this technique… it works.
-Don-
