Be your own advocate

As the title of this blog states... you've got to be your own advocate. I called OHSU this afternoon to pay the last of my bills. The first one I paid, since I paid in full, I got a 10% discount off of the bill. However, I had to ask for a discount. So make sure if you're paying in full to ask if they give any discounts. All they can say is, "No," right? All my bills I've been asking if they discount if I pay in full. On one of the bills, the lady said she was going to write it off. So I saved myself $19 and then I got another 10% off the bigger bill. :) And yes, be nice.

Back to today... then I had to call another department to pay a different OHSU bill. I asked the billing agent to tell me how much I owed on my account. It was a lot bigger than what I had expected. She said it was bigger because there were three other bills that needed to be paid. I asked what they were. They were for treatments from February. Hmmm... February? I paid for that. So I asked when I was billed out. She then said I already paid for those treatments, as well as the one that I was calling in about. OMG! I am so glad that I challenged the charges. So instead of double paying, I got a billing rep who sort of knew what she was doing. She said that she would send the billing information up to get it taken off of my record. She also said that she would send me out a new statement. So I saved myself $300+ today.

Again, like I said, you need to be your own advocate.