The folks at medical billing offices? They are very experienced with being stiffed, lied to, and held out on with payment plans. That's why simply calling up and offering to pay right now can yield surprising savings.

Photo by ernstl.

It's not quite the same as negotiating with a doctor for a lower bill—it's just paying a portion of a bill, but offering to pay the full flight all at once, right away. It worked for Consumerist editor Phil Villarreal, responding to the New York Times' Bucks blog over email. He used this "script" to knock $1,000 off a $4,000 bill for his daughter's birth, and found similar success at other offices:

"Hey, my friend told me that if I offer to pay the bill in full over the phone, I get a 25 percent discount." And the response he generally received was "O.K." "It was the same conversation with the doctors as it was with the hospital. There was no negotiation whatsoever. Just standard procedure," Mr. Villarreal said by e-mail.


Had a similar success just straight-up asking for a discount for not making billers deal with your voicemail? We'll take any tips or success stories in the comments.

One Way to Lower a Doctor's Bill [Bucks Blog]