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Comment by estsauver | Hacker News Reader

Thanks! We'd love feedback as to what processes are painful. Keep us in the back of your mind when you're filling out paperwork and send us an email if it feels especially tedious? :)

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I personally do not like having to call every year to re-negotiate my internet service price at a resonable rate for another year. If that service was something you could provide, I would be tempted to use it! Especially if you kept track of when my intro rate would expire etc.

Have you considered getting into the business of dealing with health insurance companies?

Direct pricing negotiation with hospitals might be easier. From what I understand many hospitals will reduce your bill, or set up a limited- or no-interest payment plan, if you're uninsured or underinsured and can make a coherent case about your inability to pay the full amount.

Interesting, but hard. Due to HIPAA, most hospitals can't/won't speak with anyone but the patient about their bill. I sometimes have a hard time handling negotiations for my own spouse, depending upon how picky they are being.

You know, we have considered it and we want to eventually. The problem is that hospitals typically want to deal with a company that's both more established than we are. They also typically have a much longer sales cycle.

If you have any specific use cases/contacts, please reach out to us though. We might be able to make something work?

I don't, I just happen to know someone who does insurance company negotiations professionally, is pretty successful at it, and is looking to leave their current gig.

This exists, it's called an "advocacy service," and some employers offer access to these services as a benefit to employees. Aon Hewit operates such a service, for example. I recently received a large, surprise medical bill due to an error by the hospital, and the advocacy service did all the legwork/phone calling necessary to get it written off.

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