Episode 161

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Published on:

26th Feb 2025

How to Negotiate Your Medical Bills | E161 Dr. Virgie Bright Ellington

You can save thousands if you negotiate your medical bills. Wait, you can do that?

Yeah, this was new to me too. Maybe it was the confusing medical jargon or the assumption that hospitals charge fair prices, but negotiating never crossed my mind…and you know I love to negotiate just about everything.

Not only should you be negotiating your medical bills, you should be scrutinizing them for errors. As you’ll learn in this episode, 80% of medical bills have errors, and go figure, they almost always work out in the favor of the medical provider.

Today, Dr. Virgie Bright Ellington joins me to share her three-step process for negotiating medical bills. As an internal medicine physician and former health insurance executive, Dr. Virgie thought she understood the system - that was until she was diagnosed with cancer and saw firsthand how patients get crushed by medical debt.

After witnessing her hospital roommate get taken advantage of by balance billing, Dr. Virigie had had enough. Now she is on a mission to help Americans fight back against excessive healthcare costs, one bill at a time.

If you want to protect yourself from medical debt and take control of your healthcare costs, this episode is for you.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with medical billing expert and 2-time cancer patient…Dr. Virgie Bright Ellington.

Key Takeaways:

  • The devastating impact of medical debt on Americans
  • How to identify errors on your medical bills
  • Why the first bill from your provider isn’t the final bill
  • How to research fair pricing for medical services
  • A step-by-step script for negotiating lower costs with your provider’s billing department

More of Dr. Vrigie:

Website: www.crushmedicaldebt.com


More of The Struggle is Real:

Find show notes and more at https://www.tsirpodcast.com/

Connect with Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinleepeters/

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FI Minded - Financial Independence, Early Retirement & Lifestyle Design
Achieve Financial Independence & Have Fun Doing It
Pursuing financial independence, financial freedom, or early retirement often leads to the same questions: How do I become financially independent? How much should I save? What happens after I reach FI?

FI Minded helps you use money to create more freedom, without turning your entire life into a financial optimization project.

Host Justin Peters explores the decisions behind building a flexible, work-optional life, from reaching financial independence and navigating Coast FI and Slow FI to spending your money, changing careers, stepping away from work, and figuring out what comes after FI.

Each episode combines practical personal finance with conversations about early retirement, lifestyle design, work, spending, healthcare, self-employment, and life after financial independence. The goal isn't simply to reach FI as quickly as possible. It's to make progress toward financial freedom while actually enjoying your life along the way.

On FI Minded, you'll learn how to:
- Reach financial independence without burning out
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- Navigate Coast FI, Slow FI, and other paths to FI
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- Think through the tradeoffs behind major money and lifestyle decisions
- Make progress toward financial independence while actually living your life.

Some of our past guests include Carl Jensen (1500 Days), Jeremy Schneider (Personal Finance Club), Nick Loper (Side Hustle Show), Andrew Giancola (The Personal Finance Podcast), Jordan Grumet (Earn & Invest), Rachael Camp (Work Optional), Jillian Johnsrud (Retire Often), Sean Mullaney (FI Tax Guy), Jill Sirianni (Frugal Friends), Jackie Cummings-Koski (Catching Up to FI), Joel Larsgaard (How to Money), Cody Garrett (Measure Twice), Jesse Cramer (Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors), Jess (The Fioneers), Chris Hutchins (All The Hacks), Diania Merriam (EconoMe), Andy Hill (Marriage Kids Money), Fritz Gilbert (Retirement Manifesto), Maggie Tucker (Inside Out Money), Cody Berman (The Financial Independence Show), Joe Saul-Sehy (Stacking Benjamins), Doug Cunnington (Mile High FI), and and others helping you rethink how to approach financial independence.
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