Imagine getting a bill in the mail for tens of thousands of dollars and the bill doesn't even tell you what the charges cover.

Well that's exactly what happens to thousands of consumers every year consumers who end up in hospitals. Liz Crenshaw is here to offer some help if this ever happens to you or someone in your family.

Liz Crenshaw
Everybody's heard there's a medical crisis in this country. But that crisis can really hit home when you open a hospital bill filled with errors and overcharges. It's a case of trying to decipher the undechipherable...and it can make you sick.

CHRIS OVERCASH IS ABLE TO HEAD OUT THE DOOR THESE DAYS TO TAKE THE DOG FOR A WALK. BUT IT WASN'T THAT WAY LAST CHRISTMAS.

Chris Overcash, Warrenton, VA
About 3am on a Monday morning coming off a weekend. I woke up in the middle of the night it woke me up. I mean it really hurt. And I just put it aside as indigestion. And then I got up and went to work. A co-worker said I didn't look so well, and then my left art started to hurt.

OVERCASH WAS HAVING A HEART ATTACK CAUSED BY A CLOGGED ARTERY.

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THE DOCTORS PERFORMED A HEART CATHERTERIZATION TO CLEAR THE BLOCKAGE...PUT IN A STENT...PLACED HIM THE CORONARY CARE UNIT FOR 3-AND-A-HALF DAYS...THEN SENT HIM HOME. OVERCASH WAS VERY GRATEFUL FOR THE CARE HE RECEIVED.

What are you thinking?

Well, I'm just thinking wow, they just saved my life, and then they've just dropped this bomb on me of this much money.

THAT BOMB CAME IN THE FORM OF A 39,000 DOLLAR HOSPITAL BILL. THE PROBLEM WAS THAT OVERCASH HAD JUST STARTED A NEW JOB AND WAS NOT YET ENROLLED IN A HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN. THE MONEY WOULD HAVE TO COME FROM HIS POCKET.

SO OVERCASH ASKED THE HOSPITAL FOR AN ITEMIZED BILL TO HELP HIM UNDERSTAND THE CHARGES.

What's LHC-Retro-PERC?

I have no idea.

$4-thousand dollars

Yeah.

What is that?

I'm not really sure.

NURINCR-CCUPCCU

Yeah.

IN FACT, OVERCASH HAD TROUBLE DECIPHERING MOST OF THE ENTRIES ON HIS 5-PAGE ITEMIZED INVOICE...EXCEPT FOR THE BIG DOLLAR SIGNS ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE.

I'm sure this means something to somebody.

Sure.

Mean anything to you?

No.

No?

I need somebody to be able to tell me what it is.

AND SO DO MANY OF THE MORE THAN 43-MILLION AMERICANS WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE. MORE AND MORE ARE TURNING TO PEOPLE LIKE NORA JOHNSON A MEDICAL BILLING ADVOCATE ABLE TO DECIPHER "HOSPITAL CODES AND HOSPITAL-SPEAK."

Why does the average person need someone like you?

There can be 20 people that have input into that bill. There's so much room for error just because of all of the hands that are participating in putting that bill together.

MEDICAL BILLING ADVOCATES SAY THERE ARE ERRORS AND OVERCHARGES IN 80-TO-90 PERCENT OF HOSPITAL BILLS SUCH AS. 90-DOLLARS FOR A 70-CENT I-V. NEWBORN BABY BLOOD TESTS FOR A HIP-REPLACEMENT PATIENT. $129 FOR A MUCOUS RECOVERY SYSTEM, BETTER KNOWN AS A BOX OF KLEENEX.

OTHER ESTIMATES SAY HOSPITALS OVERCHARGE CONSUMERS 10-BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR WHICH IS WHY CHRIS OVERCASH TURNED HIS MEDICAL BILLS OVER TO MEDICAL BILLING ADVOCATES OF AMERICA WHICH CHARGES A FEE BASED ON THE MISTAKES AND OVERCHARGES IT FINDS.

THE AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION SAYS GOVERNMENT AND INSURANCE COMPANIES CREATED THE UNDECIPHERABLE CODES AND TERMINOLOGY, AND AGREES THE SITUATION IS CONFUSING FOR CONSUMERS.

Rick Wade, American Hospital Association
The fact of the matter is when you look at a hospital bill, all those objects...behind all those objects is the cost of the people and the technology and everything else that makes a hospital stay open 24-hours a day and do what it does.

THE ASSOCIATION SAYS IT'S PUSHING FOR PATIENT FRIENDLY BILLING WHICH WOULD CLEAN UP THE GIBBERISH. BUT UNTIL THEN, EXPERTS SAY THERE ARE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO PROTECT YOURSELF.

REQUEST AN ITEMIZED BILL.

LOOK FOR ERRORS IN LENGTH OF STAY AND TYPE OF ROOM.

LOOK FOR DUPLICATE BILLINGS.

CHECK FOR PHANTOM CHARGES.

LOOK FOR CHARGES FOR UNREQUESTED OR UNUSED ITEMS.

AND IF YOU FIND AN ERROR, CONTEST IT.

CHRIS OVERCASH SAYS ALL OF THIS HAS BEEN A REAL MEDICAL LESSON FOR HIM.

I feel very humble and very good that I've survived this heart attack, but there is some disappointment from the business portion of the hospital.