3) Contact your insurance agent or your employer's insurance agent if you insurance is through your job. Not everyone has an agent, but if you do, they can help you work through this because they are a third party and can talk to both the provider and the insurance on their terms.

4) If the appeal fails or only goes through for a portion of the charges and you've exhausted all other options, ask to speak to a supervisor at the provider and offer a payoff of something like $0.50 on the dollar of the balance, if you pay within 1 month. Make them send you it or fax it to you in writing! Ask your agent to do this for you, if you can. Remember, that medical debts, on national average, only collect about $0.19 of every dollar billed to an individual. No one pays the billed amount for medical services! Insurance companies typically get between 20 and 50 percent discounts with network providers. Medicare is often worse and Medicaide is often much worse. Approach it like someone who is in a bad situation through no fault of your own and you just want to settle the debt. They do, too.