Matthew Ungs and Patient Fairness: Empowering Patients and Reforming Healthcare

Matthew Ungs, founder of Patient Fairness, is tackling one of the most pressing issues in the U.S. healthcare system: unfair medical billing. His platform, Patient Fairness, helps individuals confront surprise or inflated medical bills, empowering patients to reclaim control in a system that often feels overwhelming. Ungs’ unique platform has already helped countless Americans navigate a world of hidden fees, incomprehensible charges, and surprise bills, delivering real relief to those burdened by unjust healthcare costs.

Changing Healthcare for the Better

Ungs’ mission is simple but revolutionary: to give patients the tools and strategies they need to dispute medical bills and seek fair treatment from providers. His company provides a much-needed lifeline in an industry where patients often feel powerless. In Ungs’ own words in a discussion with us here directly, “I started Patient Fairness to give power to patients when they otherwise might be vulnerable to the high prices and iniquity fostered by providers and health plans. Patient Fairness helps patients stick up for their rights as consumers and challenge instances in which they are not treated fairly.” The problem of opaque medical pricing is well-documented, and many patients find themselves stuck with bills they don’t fully understand or feel they shouldn’t owe. Ungs explains, “Patient Fairness wants to change healthcare financing positively by helping patients stick up for themselves as consumers when confronting surprise or other problem medical bills. Prices and billing for medical services are notoriously opaque. Patients often are stuck paying problem bills, not because they think they really owe them, but because they feel helpless to know how to fight them.” The core of Patient Fairness is to make healthcare billing more transparent and give patients the information and tools they need to dispute unfair charges successfully. As Ungs further says, “Patient Fairness wants to make patients better and determined consumers by giving them strategies, tools, and insights to successfully dispute problem medical bills.”

What is an Unfair Medical Bill?

A major question surrounding this issue is what constitutes an unfair medical bill. Ungs defines it clearly: “An unfair or problem medical bill is a bill that: 1) includes charges or other terms to which the patient did not agree in advance, and about which he or she was likely not informed; 2) is not in compliance with the No Surprises Act or other laws and regulations; or 3) the patient reasonably considers to be unfair or dubious.” In many cases, patients are charged for services or terms they didn’t explicitly agree to, or they’re hit with surprise bills that violate existing consumer protection laws. Patient Fairness is designed to fight these exact injustices.

The Patient Fairness Process

The process Patient Fairness uses to assist individuals in lowering or eliminating unfair medical bills is straightforward and effective. The company uses a three-step process to guide patients through disputing questionable charges:

1. Examine the Bill & Identify Concerns: A customer completes a Problem Medical Bill Assessment to open a case, sharing key details about the bill. Patient Fairness uses this information to pinpoint potential issues that can be raised in a dispute.

2. Dispute the Bill: Once the issues are identified, Patient Fairness creates a Letter of Dispute tailored specifically to the customer’s medical bill and situation. This letter is the foundation of the challenge to the provider.

3. Pursue Resolution: With the Letter of Dispute in hand, customers use Patient Fairness’ tools and strategies to either reach a settlement with the provider or influence the provider to stop billing them. This approach provides patients with a clear, actionable path to fight unfair charges, often resulting in reduced or eliminated bills.

As Ungs emphasizes, Patient Fairness exists to help patients achieve real results: “Customers use Patient Fairness’s tools, communications, and strategies either to reach a settlement of the dispute with the provider or to influence the provider to cease billing the customer.”

The Motivation Behind Patient Fairness

Matthew Ungs’ experience within the healthcare industry provided the foundation for Patient Fairness. After decades of working within health plan provider networks, he saw firsthand how patients were often treated unfairly by the system. Ungs recalls his disillusionment with the system’s financial priorities: “Over my decades running health plan provider networks, I became disillusioned as hospital systems, medical groups, and health insurance plans financially thrived while healthcare prices and insurance costs soared. By the time I left the industry, I understood that individual patients got saddled with unaffordable medical prices and insurance premiums because insurance networks benefited providers and health plans at the expense of patients.” Moreover, Ungs recognized that patients were often used as pawns in financial negotiations between providers and insurers: “I also witnessed providers and health plans use patients as collateral in network negotiations, so threats of a physician going out of network or a hospital balance billing above insurance benefits were used to scare and anger patients to help a provider or health plan in negotiations.” He founded Patient Fairness to shift the balance of power back to patients and ensure they are treated fairly.

Proud to Be American

Despite the systemic issues within U.S. healthcare, Ungs remains deeply proud of his country and its core values. As he puts it, “I am immensely proud to live in the world’s strongest democratic republic; one that respects individual liberties and strives to treat every person as equal under the law.” His company reflects that spirit of fairness and equality, empowering patients to demand fair treatment and helping to reform an unjust system. Through Patient Fairness, Ungs and his team are reforming the system and giving people across the country the tools to fight back against unfair medical practices, helping to further reform lives and restore fairness to healthcare!