These items should include an error-free medical bill
Private patients usually receive an invoice from the doctor treating them, which they first have to pay themselves. Patients with statutory health insurance must sometimes cover medical expenses themselves, since the health insurance company does not cover every medical service. Medical bills, like any other bill, can also be incorrect, as typographical errors can occur, the wrong treatment is stated on the bill or more is billed than was actually paid. Anyone who receives a medical bill can check it for errors themselves.
Basically, doctors in Germany have to calculate their services according to the fee schedule for doctors, GOÄ for short. Each medical service is given an individual GOÄ number, also known as a fee item. The same regulation states that patients do not have to pay their medical bills until they are error-free. According to the Legal-Tech company, an error-free invoice should contain the following items: “The date the service was provided, the fee number including specific service descriptions, an increase rate and the resulting amount for the individual services, any costs for travel allowances or travel compensation, amount and type the expense for reimbursement of expenses (e.g. medicines).”
It should therefore be checked whether the name, the date and the service provided are correct. It can often happen that minors are issued an invoice, although it should actually be sent to their legal representative. Teenagers don’t have to foot the bill. If an invoice appears too high or if services are specified that were not provided, this must be investigated. In any case, the medical bill should be checked before it is paid. The invoice can then be forwarded to the private health insurance company for further examination.
Prevent excessive bills – ask for a cost estimate
In order to prevent excessive medical bills, a doctor is obliged to provide the customer with a written cost estimate for the services to be paid for privately before the treatment. If the invoice issued after this deviates significantly from the cost estimate, although no greater service expenditure than discussed was necessary, the patient should prick up his ears. Because the invoice issued may be a maximum of 20 percent higher than the amount stated in the cost estimate.
If the invoice is wrong
If there is an error in the invoice, the patient does not have to pay the invoice until it has been corrected or adjusted. To do this, the patient can come back to the doctor and ask him for clarification. If there are still ambiguities, the questions can be forwarded to private or statutory health insurance.
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