Daddy's hospital bill

[Granbonny]

I called the hospital before I left..It was $33,000 for an 8 day stay... He was on Medicare and had Unitedhealth..Paid..$335.00 a month... to Unitedhealth......Now, do we wait for all bills to be paid? How long do we wait? Put aside $5,000 for any surprises........ any Insurance members that can give me an idea..if we owe the hospital, doctors, ect...He was in a private room..with an Iv.. for nothing more than I think, maybe something for his cough?Then several x-rays for his chest and 1 MRI???Why?.....No private care..Sister and I stayed 24 hours with him.......That was so much.......$$$....for nothing..Bonnie

 

[Mary]

Bonnie,
When the will is probated, all the expenses will be brought up at that time. Whomever the executor of the will is will have the responsibility of paying from his estate.
In Mom's situation, she had Medicare plus a private Blue Cross supplemental that paid most of her hospital bills. We're still trying to settle one with Medicare about home health durable equipment charge.

 

[Phyllis]

Mary is riight about the executor of the will being responsible for the book keeping and paying of the bills. Just wait for all the Medicare and Insurance statements to come in and they will state what they allowed and paid and most likely with a supplemental policy, you won't owe much if anything. You will also get the hospital bills, so compare them carefully with the Medicare statements. In Dick's case, I kept a file with the original bill stapled to the corresponding Medicare statement. It takes forever for it all to get straightened out, but it will!

 

[Guest]

Bonnie,

Wait as long as you possibly can. Along with what has already been written, don't let any one of those places try to tell you how much you owe them. They won't know until the insurance company figures it all out. For my last surgery, the hospital forced me to sign a contract as to a payment plan based on the coverage of my health insurance company. Problem with that was that other bills came in before theirs...and thus, the contract (after much protest from me) was finally voided ... because it was based on false/inaccurate data....


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[Ross]

Bon it'll take most likely a year or more before you'll know for certain where things stand, but it is the executor or executrix responisibility for the execution of estate and payment of the bills. If he died insolvent, they aren't going to get a penny. Now you have to let go and let time reveal what it does.

 

[hensylee]

Pay nothing til all insurances have remitted their portions. If he has a deductible you might have to pay that, but you probably won't have any costs billed to him.

 

[Cris N]

There is a defined way that this all happens. While each state has its own specific regulations the executor or personal representative (as named by the court) of the estate will notify each known creditor and publish a notice in the newpaper giving creditors a specified amount of time to submit claims against the state. There are forms for this. If you want to get a better feel for it you can contact an attorney in the state where he died, or google "florida probate".

Good luck.

Cris

 

[tobagotwo]

Remember, unless you specifically signed to pay for his hospital bills from your pocket, you yourself owe nothing toward them.

Only his estate pays toward them. Don't allow any of these medical concerns to target you personally as the payor. Only as the executor, and then only out of the estate itself.

Best wishes,

 

[Mary]

Bonnie,
Hopefully the executor was appointed in your father's will. If so, you will avoid the cost of a court appointed one. Don't forget there will be expenses associated with the cost of administering the probate. Newspaper publication costs, court costs, and the attorney who will handle most of the work. These costs will be deducted from the total estate. No legal property transfers can take place without probate, so it's not something that can be ignored.

We're still in probate with mom's estate, so I have lived this myself!

 

[Dennis S]

Probate

Probate

Most likely your state has, by statute, a priority for what bills get paid first. For example, the costs of probate may well have a higher priority than medical expenses. In addition, funeral expenses are probably a higher priority than medical bills.

You probably should not pay anything until an executor/executrix is appointed, and then you need to be sure higher priority bills are paid first. This is especially important if there is not enough money to pay all creditors.