[consz]

As far as I can tell, this is the correct way to handle this? I haven’t paid attention to any medical bills sent in the mail since I started working 15 years ago (I generally pay what they ask at the point of service), and I’ve never noticed any consequences (no denial of service anywhere, has never shown up in any way on my credit report, etc) — as far as my experience has shown, any bills sent after the fact are completely optional to pay.

[tomrod]

If you are in the US, you are probably often paying for the wrong services as billing errors are quite common.

[consz]

Maybe? I don’t really care, that sounds like an error for the hospital to fix or get right the first time. Ignoring it seems to have no repercussions.

[tomrod]

My experience has been that bills can often be 5X the actual services. It can matter if you have any sort of real interaction. For minor common stuff you're right it is immaterial -- like a doc visit with a copay. But get a frenectomy? Mole removal? Vein ablation? Ortho surgery? I highly, highly recommend reviewing the procedure codes for anyone who recognizes they are their best, and often only, advocate.

[consz]

I don’t understand why it’s worth doing that work — ignoring and not paying the subsequent bills in the mail seems to have no downside, so why bother reviewing the procedure codes afterwards? Maybe we’re talking past each other.