Last updated by BillFighter · Written from the Before You Pay series on our Facebook, Instagram and TikTok pages
Five steps. Not twenty-six tasks. Every rule from the posters sits under the step it belongs to. Save this for the day a bill comes.
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Not the summary. The itemized statement with the codes, every line and every charge.
Say these exact words: “Please send me the itemized statement with the codes.” From a doctor’s office: “the claim you sent my insurance.” It exists; they sent it. If billing says there is no such thing, ask medical records instead. Billing records are your records under federal privacy law, and they have 30 days to give you a copy, on paper or by email if you ask for it that way.
The paper from your insurance that says "this is not a bill," or your Medicare Summary Notice. It is the answer key.
With insurance, this is the statement your plan mails after a claim (your insurer calls it an explanation of benefits). On Original Medicare it is the Medicare Summary Notice, mailed every three months you had a claim. On a Medicare Advantage plan it is the plan’s own statement. It is not a bill. It shows what was charged, what was allowed, what the plan paid, and the most you can be billed.
The only number on the bill that should match the statement is what you owe. Everything else is a question.
Put the bill and the statement side by side. The amount the bill says you owe should match the amount the statement says is yours. If the bill is higher, that gap is the question. Then look for the same code twice on one date, a date you were not there, and a description for something you did not get. That is everything you need to spot without reading a code.
A letter, not a call. Dated. Certified. A copy in your hand.
Never by phone. A letter has four things a call does not: a date, proof they got it, a copy in your hand, and with a collector, the legal trigger that makes them stop and prove the debt. Say what line you are asking about and what you want: an explanation, a corrected bill, your records, a refund by check, or the financial assistance application. Ask for the answer in writing, by a date.
They have to answer, and the clock is on your side. Here is the order things happen in after the letter goes out.
Have a bill in your hand right now? Upload it. BillFighter reads every line, names the rule a charge breaks, and writes the letter.
Check your bill — freeThe check is free. The letter is the paid part: you print and mail it yourself, or we send it by certified mail for you. No account needed to start.
Yes. Asking for your itemized statement, your records, and proof that a debt is yours is your right under federal rules, and putting a dispute in writing is legal. What the other side has to do in return depends on who they are: a collector has to stop and prove the debt; a hospital has to give you your records, and a nonprofit hospital has to show you its financial assistance policy. This is the general rule. BillFighter is not a law firm. If you have been sued, that is the day for a lawyer or legal aid.
You do not have to read a single code to spot the three most common problems: the same code twice on one date, a date you were not there, and the description next to a code for something you did not get. Everything past that is what BillFighter reads for you.
The same paper. Ask for "the itemized statement with the codes." That exact wording gets past the front desk. From a doctor's office, ask for "the claim you sent my insurance." If billing says no, medical records has to give it to you under federal privacy law, within 30 days.
The check is free: upload the bill and BillFighter reads every line and shows what looks wrong. The letter is the paid part. You pay once, for that bill, and either print and mail the letter yourself or have it sent by certified mail for you.
It goes by certified mail, so you get a receipt and a delivery date. A collector that gets a written request for proof within 30 days of its first notice has to stop collecting until it answers. A hospital has no federal deadline to answer a dispute, so the letter asks for a written answer by a date, and a follow-up letter is ready if the date passes. Nothing you win is shared with us.
I’m not a lawyer. I’m the person who built BillFighter.
My son was born, and the bills came. At three months he needed a pretty major surgery, and those came too. We just paid them — I didn’t read a single one. That’s what you do. And I still don’t know what was on them.
So I started reading. It turns out every one of those bills has rules attached to it, and the whole system runs on you not knowing them.
BillFighter does the reading. It checks the bill, names the rule a charge breaks, and writes the letter. Free to check.
— Ali, founder
This is the general rule, in plain words. BillFighter is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. If you have been served with court papers, that is the day for a lawyer or legal aid.