If you are a savvy consumer you probably review all the bills you receive before you pay them, to make sure they are accurate. This is a really good habit. Have you ever received a bill that was not yours, or a credit card statement with charges that are not yours, or the wrong discount/sale price taken off your retail purchase, or cell phone charges that you should not have been billed for? This happens to consumers all the time. Human errors, billing errors, software updates – there are lots of reasons these errors occur. Whenever you receive a bill for health care services, utilities, charge card statements, electronic purchases and sometimes even groceries – you should take a minute to review the bill for accuracy. When you purchase an item on sale, or use a coupon, don’t you always look at your receipt to make sure you were charged the right amount? This same "double checking" rule applies to medical services. When you receive a bill (or statement) from a provider or an EOB from your insurer, take a minute to review the information to make sure it is accurate. If you have a health insurance policy that covers screenings, office visits and lab tests, make sure you are not being billed for these services.

You also need to review your health plan coverage very carefully so you know exactly (1) what services (exams and lab tests) are covered at 100%; (2) what services you will be billed for; and (3) what percentage you are expected to pay for these services. Some employer health plans are starting to cover 100% of the full cost of routine exams and preventive services (such as physicals, colonoscopies and mammograms) to help employees stay healthy. This can be a great benefit, but if you’re not careful, you might erroneously get billed for these services. Patients are sometimes billed for preventive screening exams that their health plans cover at 100% because of errors in billing/coding at the doctor’s office. Patients can unknowingly receive care that their health plans don’t consider preventative.

Always review your bills for errors. An article in the Healthy Consumer in last week’s Wall Street Journal discusses why patients may be billed for free exams.