How It Works
A complete guide to checking your Medicare bill for mistakes.
What You'll Need
To check your bill, you'll need two documents:
Your Medical Bill
This is the bill from the hospital or doctor that asks you to pay. It may also be called a patient statement, billing statement, or invoice.
Your Medicare Summary Notice (MSN) or EOB
This is not a bill. It's a notice from Medicare (MSN) or your Medicare Advantage plan (EOB) that shows what was billed, what was paid, and what you owe.
What Barley Checks
- We compare your bill to your insurance statement (EOB or MSN) to make sure you are not being asked to pay more than your insurance says you owe — this is the most common billing mistake.
- We verify that your cost-sharing is calculated correctly — your coinsurance, deductible, and copay amounts.
- We check for coding errors, like a visit billed at a higher level than what was provided.
- We look for duplicate charges — the same service billed more than once.
- We check for "unbundling" — charges that were split up to make you pay more.
- For Original Medicare patients, we compare charges against Medicare's published fee schedule.
What You'll Get
Clear Report
A plain-English explanation of exactly what looks wrong and how much you may have been charged incorrectly.
Dispute Letter
A ready-to-send letter that explains what's wrong and asks for a correction.
Phone Script
Step-by-step guidance for calling the billing department.
Complaint Guide
Instructions for filing formal complaints if the provider won't cooperate.
Barley's bill review is for a bill you already have. The free guides cover more ground than that, and one of these may be closer to what you need:
- Joining Medicare— if you are still deciding, or changing coverage
- Medicare enrollment guides— if a decision is already made and something has gone wrong