Collection Side News Today

The intelligence hasnt been collected to make that hypothesis anything more than that. and whats really kind of remarkable about this is in the four years since this -- since we started tracking this in havana, there really wasnt been much of a change on the intelligence collection side of it, but the number of people who are coming forward to say this is what happened to them has increased dramatically. >> marc, what do you think happened to you? >> well, clearly it was something pretty dramati...

We started tracking this in havana, there really wasnt been much of a change on the intelligence collection side of it, but the number of people who are coming forward to say this is what happened to them has increased dramatically. >> marc, what do you think happened to you? >> well, clearly it was something pretty dramatic happened. one of the biggest things is after i finally got -- after a battle with the u.s. government for health care, when i finally received treatment at walter reed, i re...

The bill if they pay the hospital directly within 30 days. >> for those patients in a position to pay the bill promptly, its good for them because they get a discount. its good for the hospital because it saves us money on the back end on the collection side. >> administrators say collecting payments cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. after they bill the insurance company, it can take up to six months to get reimbursed. only then do they bill the patient. bad debt is putting hospitals at ris...

>> reporter: good morn, martha. hard to believe you might save money by not using your insurance but across the country today hospitals are offering cash digs counts and other incentives to patients so they get their money faster. at marin general north of san francisco patients with insurance who settle the hospital bills right away can get 25% off. even those without insurance could get as much as half off the bill if they pay the hospital directly within 30 days. >> for those patients that ar...