Why Hospitals Now Require Patients to Prepay for Treatment

WSJ Your Money Briefing

The Wall Street Journal

News, Business News

3.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2024

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

More hospitals and surgery centers are calling for patients to pay their full deductible before treatment begins. Wall Street Journal reporter Melanie Evans joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss questions you should ask as well as financial aid programs available. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.0	Here's your money briefing for Friday, May 10th. I'm J.R. Whelan for the Wall Street Journal.
0:41.0	For years, hospitals sent out an invoice after a patient undergoes treatment.
0:46.0	Now patients are likely to hear from the hospital that they have to pay before the procedure even starts.
0:52.0	It cost them time and money to collect before the procedure even starts.
0:53.0	It costs them time and money to collect after the fact.
0:56.0	So if they can get it up front, they will.
0:59.0	In some cases, they may also have a contract with an insurance company, and in that contract are terms that
1:04.9	stipulate hospitals need to collect deductibles or co-insurance before a procedure.
1:10.6	We'll talk to Wall Street Journal reporter Melanie Evans after the break. More hospitals are asking patients to pay up front before receiving treatment.
1:36.0	Wall Street Journal reporter Melanie Evans joins me.
1:39.0	Melanie, is the idea of hospitals asking patients to prepay something new?
1:44.0	No, but hospitals are collecting more from patients ahead of scheduled surgeries or visits.
1:53.0	So in the first quarter of this year,
1:55.0	hospitals collected about 23% of what patients owed
2:00.0	before they set foot in a hospital or a doctor's office.
	...

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