Weekly email · October 2026
Is my medical bill right? How to check it
Short answer. Compare the bill to your insurer's Explanation of Benefits (EOB) line by line. If the amounts differ, or a line does not match what happened, ask the billing office to explain before you pay.
What to do
- Ask the billing office for an itemized bill with the billing codes (CPT or HCPCS codes for services, revenue codes for hospital charges).
- Find the Explanation of Benefits (EOB) for the same date of service, the statement from your insurer that shows what the plan paid and what you owe.
- Compare the EOB's 'patient responsibility' amount to the total on the bill; the two should match.
- Check each line against what you remember: the dates, the number of items, and anything you did not receive.
- Call the billing office about anything that does not add up, and write down the date, the name of the person, and what they said.
I'd like to request an itemized bill with the billing codes. I'm not refusing to pay; I'm asking for a bill I can verify.
Watch out for: Paying the bill before the EOB arrives. Once you have paid, getting money back for an error is much harder than getting the bill corrected first.
Stay one question ahead.
Amanda · Rerouted Health