A few weeks ago, I tweaked my back by putting weights on a rack at the gym. After a week of rest and taking ice and ibuprofen, my symptoms didn’t improve, so I decided to go to an orthopedic surgeon.
After giving my medical history and injury details to the nurse, I sat in the exam room, fiddling with my phone, waiting to see the doctor. However, the next person who knocked on the door was not a doctor, but an engineer.
“Please come down the hall for an x-ray,” she said.
“Oh, good,” I must have thought. “They can figure out what’s wrong.”
Instead, I felt fear.
Earlier this year, I went to see an allergist in an attempt to sort out my skin condition. They said they do a standard test where they prick you with about 50 different allergens to see which ones you react to. It worked well enough. It turns out I’m not allergic to almost anything.
A few months later, the bill for the test arrived in the mail. It was nearly $500. I hadn’t reached my annual deductible yet, so I was nervous about everything. I was shaking quite a bit. At no time did any of the doctors I saw discuss that this surgery might cost a lot of money. They simply ran the test and scheduled a follow-up appointment.
So even though I hadn’t met my deductible yet, when I got my x-rays and went back to the orthopedic surgeon’s office, all I could think was, “How much did this cost me?”
In retrospect, I shouldn’t have just kept silent. However, I felt it was rude of the X-ray technician to refuse to accompany me until I offered him a price. Furthermore, how will she know the cost? The amount you pay for a particular procedure depends on your insurance coverage and the rates your insurance company negotiates with your provider’s billing office.
I’m not the only one recovering from the shock of medical stickers. A 2024 study by the Commonwealth Fund, a private healthcare foundation, found that 45% of insured working-age adults had received an unexpected claim in the previous year.
The first step to avoid unexpected bills is to talk to your healthcare provider. That might mean speaking up during a medical consultation or having a more in-depth conversation with your insurance company or your doctor’s billing department, says Carolyn McClanahan, a physician, certified financial planner, and founder of the financial planning firm Life Planning Partners.
McClanahan said it can feel intimidating, especially if you’re there. You want to be upfront about yourself and avoid surprise bills, but if you’re like me, you don’t want to ruffle feathers when you need care.
How to avoid unexpected medical costs
I have not yet received the bill for the X-ray examination. But McClanahan says the discomfort he feels when discussing costs with engineers is common. Still, she says there’s value in speaking up and advocating for yourself before and after treatment.
Talking with your health care provider in advance can help you understand how much your procedure will cost and help you get the treatment you can afford. Even if you need expensive treatment, doing your research and trying to keep costs down can help you avoid sticker shock in the future.
Here are McClanahan’s three recommended steps to avoid surprise charges.
Step 1: Consult your doctor
If you’re like me and faced with a procedure of uncertain cost, the first thing to do is ask your provider if you really need it, McClanahan says. You may find that you have more time, or that there are cheaper alternatives to the procedures and medications your doctor has recommended.
McClanahan suggests possible scripts. “This has a very high deductible and I’m trying to get my bill under control. Can you tell me what it’s going to cost or confirm if I really need this right now?”
Discussing your concerns with your doctor ahead of time may help create a treatment plan that’s more in line with your budget, she says.
Step 2: Shop as much as you can
Even if you are concerned about price, there are always some steps you need to take. And if you haven’t met your deductible yet for the year, you probably will have to.
If you need to make an appointment for treatment at a later date, McClanahan says you may be able to save money by comparing the costs of different providers.
That means calling various health care providers in your area and asking the billing department how much the treatment you want will cost. But getting the answers isn’t always easy, McClanahan says.
“The challenge is that each insurance company negotiates different rates,” she says. “The person sitting at the billing desk probably doesn’t know off the top of their heads what that charge is going to be.”
Additionally, something that starts out as a single treatment, like a colonoscopy, can become a more expensive procedure if the surgeon finds something wrong and has to perform a biopsy, McClanahan says.
In other words, it may not be easy to pinpoint a healthcare provider’s billing department with an accurate price. But do your best to explain to them that budget is an important factor when it comes to being able to receive treatment at their facility, McClanahan says.
Step 3: Inspect your bill
I have not yet received the bill for my orthopedic surgeon’s visit. But in that case, McClanahan says it’s wise to request an itemized list of charges.
“You need to see what they actually charged you,” she says. “Then compare it to actual reasonable rates on the internet.”
McClanahan likes FAIR Health’s search tools. This search tool displays estimated in-network and out-of-network treatment costs based on provider rates in your area.
McClanahan says if the bill you receive is much higher than the average cost, or if your doctor’s office has added fees that you don’t think are commensurate with the care you received, call the billing department and file a lawsuit.
In the case of my allergy testing, my health care provider is unlikely to negotiate with me, McClanahan says. The prices matched those of providers in my area and I was billed correctly.
In more extreme cases, such as when patients with high deductibles face bills in the thousands of dollars, providers may be willing to cut costs, McClanahan previously told CNBC Make It.
Earn more and get ahead with CNBC’s online courses. Black Friday has begun! Use coupon code GETSMART to get 25% off select courses and 30% off exclusive bundles. Offer valid from November 17th to December 5th, 2025.
Plus, sign up for the CNBC Make It newsletter for tips and tricks to succeed at work, money, and life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn to connect with experts and colleagues.
