Organizing Your Medical Bills

Article submitted by Medical Bill Review.
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Keeping your medical bills and related paperwork, organized is a stressful task. Here are some tips on organizing and keeping track of your medical bills.

Sort Your Bills

Make a separate file folder for each provider (doctor, hospital, lab, ambulance service, suppliers, etc.).
Arrange each provider's bills by date with the most recent one on top.

Sort Your Explanation of Medicare Benefits (EOMB) or Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) Forms

Medicare sends you an EOMB or MSN for each claim, showing you the amount of the bill, amount carrier approved and paid, and amount you still owe.
Match each EOMB or MSN with the corresponding medical bill in the folders for each provider.
Some EOMBs or MSNs list claims from more than one provider, you should make copies of these for each provider's folder.
If you don't have an EOMB or MSN for each bill, it probably means that Medicare hasn't finished processing.

If You Have Supplemental or Secondary Coverage

Wait until you receive your EOMB or MSN from your primary carrier.
If your provider did not submit your claim to your supplemental/secondary carrier, then submit the provider's bill along with the Primary EOMB or MSN to your Supplemental/ Secondary Insurance Carrier.
Keep a copy of what you send, with the date you sent it, in your folder.
Sort your Secondary claims by provider and match them to the corresponding provider bills and EOMB or MSN in the same folders.

Make Payments

Pay your portion of the providers' bills by personal check.
If you get a check for a provider from Medicare, deposit it in your account and write your own check.
Your cancelled checks and bank statements will provide proof of your payments, as well as back-up records of your medical spending.