“So my friend with the gall bladder surgery is still on the hook for 30% of 70K on top of the increased premiums?”
Not really right? I mean, he should only have to pay 30% of the CONTRACTED amount. I just had an MRI that was billed to my insurance company at $2,610. The contracted amount was $500. Insurance paid 80% of that, and I was left with a bill of $100.
The amounts they bill are ludicrous.
Now, this involved a three night stay and an ER initial visit with quite a few tests because they did not know what was causing the acute pain he was in.
He later had some complications where he couldn't urinate die to the anesthesia and they had to catheterize him. (Which caused the third day)
Realistically, though, this could be ANYONE's midnight heart attack scare, gall bladder attack --etc. Once you are there, you are there and pretty much at their mercy. And every step of the way, they are racking up charges. Every charge was itemized. Also, he went in at 2am on a Monday night and the surgeon could not perform the surgery until 9 pm the next next. Meanwhile, he's waiting in the hospital and they are racking up the charges. You are pretty powerless at that point. I guess you can rip the IV and walk out...or endure some unknown pain.
I don't know what you do at this point, honestly.