Northern Light Health gives uninsured patients a price break
Northern Light Health has begun offering uninsured patients a discount to align their bills with the costs insurers typically pay Maine's second-largest health care system.
Effective Nov. 22, self-pay uninsured patients get an automatic discount on their total charges, according to a news release. The discounts only apply to patients who are completely uninsured and the price cut cannot be used in place of existing insurance coverage.
“Uninsured patients often are asked to pay more than an insurance company would for services. We wanted to be mindful of that and make sure those patients were paying what a third-party payer would,” Christy Jolliff, Northern Light’s vice president of enterprise revenue cycle, told Mainebiz.
Jolliff said it was difficult to predict how many patients this new policy would affect in a given year.
“It’s not uncommon for a health system to make these adjustments,” Jolliff said.
Northern Light had no plans to advertise the new policy, but patients can talk to registrars as they come in for services, Jolliff said.
“The truly uninsured patients will get these discounts."
Payment plans can be arranged.
For all patients, there's a prompt-pay discount. For patients making a full payment prior to or on the day of service or discharge, a 20% discount is available. For patients who pay in full within 30 days of their first statement date, there's a 10% discount.
“We know that cost is a barrier for many people who need care. Talking about money can be hard, and many people put off care they need because they don’t know how to get information or assistance,” Northern Light said in a statement.
Brewer-based Northern Light Health, which operates 10 hospitals, employs more than 12,000 people.
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