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What is an insurance collector and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

Insurance collectors generally work for healthcare facilities and mediate between insurance companies and medical patients. They file insurance claims and follow through with the procedures until payment.

Working in this position, you will be responsible for appealing denied claims, fixing billing errors, and keeping records of insurance documents and filed claims. You will report to the collection manager and escalate tough or recurring issues to them.

A high school diploma is usually enough to get hired for this position, with training to complete on the job, which generally lasts a few months. You will need a thorough understanding of laws regulating insurance procedures. Great negotiating skills will also be necessary, as much will depend on your communication skills when it comes to hammering out fair deals for the patients you assist.

ScoreInsurance CollectorUS Average
Salary
3.1

Avg. Salary $39,463

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
7.9

Growth rate -8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
5.8
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.48%

Asian 3.27%

Black or African American 13.37%

Hispanic or Latino 22.64%

Unknown 3.86%

White 56.38%

Gender

female 87.55%

male 12.45%

Age - 46
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46
Stress level
7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level
4.9

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance
7.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Insurance collector career paths

Key steps to become an insurance collector

  1. Explore insurance collector education requirements

    Most common insurance collector degrees

    Associate

    28.9 %

    Bachelor's

    22.4 %

    High School Diploma

    19.0 %
  2. Start to develop specific insurance collector skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Patients19.50%
    Medical Billing7.72%
    Healthcare6.69%
    Medicaid5.04%
    Appeals4.72%
  3. Complete relevant insurance collector training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New insurance collectors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an insurance collector based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real insurance collector resumes.
  4. Research insurance collector duties and responsibilities

    • Verify accuracy of claims, work EOB's for all insurance company types, identify and solve problems with unpaid claims.
    • Handle workers' comp., HMO, PPO correspondence.
    • Identify incorrect charges base on proper CPT coding and payment methodologies.
    • Utilize ICD9 and CPT code medical directories for billing purposes to get paid on claims.
  5. Prepare your insurance collector resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your insurance collector resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an insurance collector resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable insurance collector resume templates

    Build a professional insurance collector resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your insurance collector resume.
    Insurance Collector Resume
    Insurance Collector Resume
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    Insurance Collector Resume
    Insurance Collector Resume
    Insurance Collector Resume
  6. Apply for insurance collector jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for an insurance collector job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first insurance collector job

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Average insurance collector salary

The average insurance collector salary in the United States is $39,463 per year or $19 per hour. Insurance collector salaries range between $33,000 and $46,000 per year.

Average insurance collector salary
$39,463 Yearly
$18.97 hourly

What am I worth?

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How do insurance collectors rate their job?

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Insurance collector reviews

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A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2024
Cons

Pay is too low especially in my country. And as we are a small firm, so career progression is super narrow. And regardless of how long i work there, pay will still be low.


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A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2020
Cons

Failure to achieve my targets


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A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019
Pros

I like to work with the Claim Submission, Followup on the claim process, work on the denials of the claims by the insurance companies, submit the corrected claims for reprocessing for the prompt payment on the claims by the insurance companies, post the payment received from the insurance companies and maintain an accurate patient's account, communicate with the patients about their accounts for their balance and post the payment received into their account, answer to all the queries from the patients and insurance rep and work with appeals for the claims denied by the insurance companies.

Cons

I don't like when the insurance companies give hard time and deny the claims even if it is a payable code.


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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