In my experience I would have to agree with the 80% error statistic. When my mother was in the hospital a few years ago, my wife and I helped sort the mountain of medical bills for my father.

His employer made errors by changing plans in the middle of the year and reset their annual deductibles. Many claims were sent to the wrong insurance even though the latest insurance card was presented. The insurance paid in-network claims out of network. Medical providers attempted to bill for their write-off amounts. We even had the hospital force my father to pay for the deductible up front. Of course the hospital charges did not get processed first so there was no deductible on their claims.

We estimated that we saved my father over $10,000 in incorrect processed claims and inappropriate charges from medical providers.

Most people do not understand how all of this works and just make the payment requested by the medical providers bill. At minimum you must compare the bill to the Explanation of Benefits from the insurance company. First that will ensure the insurance has received and processed the bill. Second it will show how much the provider can charge you!

The number one error that I see is providers attempting to bill for the entire original amount without deducting their contracted write off amount!