{"id":3774,"date":"2023-03-02T15:00:38","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T21:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/texas\/resources\/medical-bills-and-your-consumer-rights\/"},"modified":"2023-03-06T09:19:48","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T15:19:48","slug":"medical-bills-and-your-consumer-rights","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/texas\/resources\/medical-bills-and-your-consumer-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical bills and your consumer rights"},"featured_media":44586,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[173],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"resource_type":[90],"region_tax":[],"state":[2],"topic_tax":[147],"class_list":["post-3774","resource","type-resource","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[147],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":90,"event_type":false,"campaigns":173,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[2],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":147}},"subtitle":"It's Consumer Protection Week, do you know your medical billing rights?","excerpt":"","featured_image":44586,"caption_override":"Consumers spend a lot of money on health care. It's important to know your rights to protect yourself from over-charges.","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":"","related_event":"","hide_hero_image":false,"location":"internal","external_link":{"publication_name":"","url":""},"file":null,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":16,"people":"130"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"helper_downloads":{"title":"Downloads","files":null},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than <a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/diagnosis-debt-investigation-100-million-americans-hidden-medical-debt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a third of adults<\/a> in the the United States feel the burden of medical debt. It\u2019s not shocking when you consider the high prices people pay for<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/report-section\/ehbs-2022-section-1-cost-of-health-insurance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">insurance<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fiercehealthcare.com\/payer\/nationwide-out-pocket-spending-grew-10-to-1-650-per-person-2021-expect-to-continue-through\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">out-of-pocket costs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/aspe.hhs.gov\/reports\/prescription-drug-price-increases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">prescription drugs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consumers should understand their medical billing rights to avoid over-charges and prevent medical debt from ruining their credit history.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWe've got a series of tips to help.\r\n<h4><strong>If you have health insurance, know your protections from surprise bills:<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The No Surprises Act protects insured patients from surprise medical bills sent by most out-of-network providers. Learn about your protections using our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/articles\/patient-guide-surprise-medical-billing-protections-you-can-use-now\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Patient Guide: Surprise medical billing protections you can use now<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/articles\/patient-guide-surprise-medical-billing-protections-you-can-use-now\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the No Surprises Act,<\/a> some doctors are allowed to ask you to give up or \"waive\" your surprise billing protections. Learn how to avoid that trap by reading our guide: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/resources\/one-way-to-avoid-higher-medical-bills\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One way to avoid higher medical bills<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\nMedical bills can be expensive so it's important to understand your protections and use them.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>If you have a question about your rights, reach out to the federal government's No Surprises Help Desk at 1-800-985-3059.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>If you have received a surprise medical bill, file a complaint using this link: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/nosurprises\/consumers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/nosurprises\/consumers<\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nUnfortunately, the No Surprises Act does not protect you from ground ambulance surprise bills. We're working to close that loophole. If you have an ambulance surprise bill, please share your experience with us. Read how here: <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/articles\/have-you-ever-received-an-ambulance-surprise-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Have you ever received an ambulance surprise bill<\/a>?\r\n<h4><b>If you d<\/b><b>on\u2019t have health insurance, you can get a good faith estimate and hold your provider to it.\u00a0<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn how to get a price estimate in advance of medical treatment if you are paying for your care yourself. Providers cannot bill you more than $400 over the written estimate: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/articles\/why-you-can-now-have-faith-good-faith-estimates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why you can now have faith in good faith estimates<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<h4><b>Erase paid-off medical debt from your credit report.<\/b><\/h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have paid off your medical debt, it should no longer be listed on your credit report. Use this helpful guide to spend ten minutes clearing up your credit report<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/edfund\/articles\/how-make-sure-your-credit-reports-dont-include-paid-medical-debt-0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to make sure your credit reports don\u2019t include paid medical debt<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\nMedical bills can be expensive. Know your rights to protect your credit score and to avoid being over-charged.","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_large_image","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_large_image":{"width":"wide","image":"","caption_override":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"","":null}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_featured_action","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_featured_action":{"action":"","action_query_string":""}}],"site_specific_content":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Medical bills and your consumer rights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/texas\/resources\/medical-bills-and-your-consumer-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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