Insurance clerk vs billing representative

The differences between insurance clerks and billing representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become an insurance clerk, becoming a billing representative takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a billing representative has an average salary of $35,002, which is higher than the $33,089 average annual salary of an insurance clerk.

The top three skills for an insurance clerk include patients, insurance verification and data entry. The most important skills for a billing representative are patients, customer service, and data entry.

Insurance clerk vs billing representative overview

	Insurance Clerk	Billing Representative
Yearly salary	$33,089	$35,002
Hourly rate	$15.91	$16.83
Growth rate	-3%	-3%
Number of jobs	147,755	95,425
Job satisfaction	2	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 29%	Bachelor's Degree, 30%
Average age	44	46
Years of experience	4	2

What does an insurance clerk do?

An insurance clerk usually works to process insurance, reinstatement, changes, or cancellations for a company or an individual account. They are responsible for monitoring, processing, and organizing different insurance claims for a client. They usually work closely with the company's insurance agent to provide necessary information to process the clients' application. This career requires a broad knowledge of local and state insurance policies, good attention to detail, excellent communication skills, customer service skills, and administrative skills.

What does a billing representative do?

A billing representative assists with the overall operations of the organization's billing department. Billing representatives post payments timely on the database, update account statements, generate financial reports, release invoices, and resolve account discrepancies. They also perform client accounts reconciliation as needed, monitor account receivables, review overdated balance, and notify clients of payment updates to ensure accurate and timely billing. A billing representative must have strong analytical and communication skills to manage clients' accounts, as well as comprehensive knowledge on the accounting industry to explain the payment terms and policies of an organization to a client.

Insurance clerk vs billing representative salary

Insurance clerks and billing representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Insurance Clerk	Billing Representative
Average salary	$33,089	$35,002
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $39,000	Between $28,000 And $42,000
Highest paying City	Henderson, NV	Worcester, MA
Highest paying state	New Hampshire	Massachusetts
Best paying company	Lenoir Memorial Hospital	Relevante
Best paying industry	Finance	Technology

Differences between insurance clerk and billing representative education

There are a few differences between an insurance clerk and a billing representative in terms of educational background:

	Insurance Clerk	Billing Representative
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 29%	Bachelor's Degree, 30%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	Stanford University

Insurance clerk vs billing representative demographics

Here are the differences between insurance clerks' and billing representatives' demographics:

	Insurance Clerk	Billing Representative
Average age	44	46
Gender ratio	Male, 8.3% Female, 91.7%	Male, 15.7% Female, 84.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 13.8% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 3.9% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 7.3% White, 57.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage	11%	7%

Differences between insurance clerk and billing representative duties and responsibilities

Insurance clerk example responsibilities.

Manage front office check-in, insurance verification and certifications from doctors.
Establish and implement procedures for completion of patient super bills with proper diagnostic coding utilizing ICD-9 and CPT code manuals.
Maintain patient medical records insuring diagnosis codes (ICD-9) are itemized correctly and name and address of insurance carriers record.
Schedule and obtain authorization for outpatient procedures for patients via private insurance, worker's compensation, and Medicare/ Medicaid.
Complete several ICD-10 training courses.
Perform medical coding with most accurate and descriptive HCPCS code.

Billing representative example responsibilities.

Manage software programs for MSP accounts, monthly billing and EMC file transfers to Medicare.
Accept and process healthcare claims and confidential medical records; verify patient eligibility and manage the Medicare and Medicaid billing process.
Process orders in compliance with Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance verification guidelines; confirming customer's eligibility and insurance coverage.
Verify insurance eligibility for schedule appointments, and verify cash pricing for private pay patients who request cost by CPT code.
Submit and receive Medicare and Medicaid claims electronically on a daily basis.
Utilize extensive computer skills and coding knowledge to produce and submit physical therapy and occupational therapy claims through medicaid and medicare.

Insurance clerk vs billing representative skills

Common insurance clerk skills

Patients, 25%
Insurance Verification, 7%
Data Entry, 7%
Customer Service, 6%
Insurance Coverage, 5%
Computer System, 3%

Common billing representative skills

Patients, 18%
Customer Service, 13%
Data Entry, 6%
Medical Billing, 5%
Medicaid, 5%
Patient Accounts, 4%

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Office and Administrative Industry
Insurance Clerk
Insurance Clerk vs Billing Representative

Updated January 8, 2025

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