8. Confirm—and reconfirm—that health care providers are in network.

The odds that you will be responsible for a big share of a medical bill skyrocket if you are treated by a doctor or hospital that’s out of network. Caitlin Donovan, director of outreach for the National Patient Advocate Foundation, recommends these steps to avoid problems: 

  • Ask your insurer whether hospitals and doctors are in network; ask providers whether they are in network for your insurance. Use email, if possible, as proof of the responses.
  • Use the search tools on your insurer’s website to find additional evidence that providers are in network. Take and save screenshots.
  • Get the name of every doctor who will be involved in hospital procedures—including anesthesiologists and radiologists—and confirm that every one of them is in network.
  • When you check into the hospital and are instructed to sign forms agreeing to pay, also write: “I do not agree to receive treatment from out-of-network providers without my consent.”