Amy,
I am so sorry that you are having to go through this. I was in a similar situation with my car accident, although the woman who struck me was not on drugs. I fought with insurance agents and had to eventually resort to hiring a lawyer. Turns out, the woman didn't have enough coverage. I researched having an ADR done, and knew it was the surgery I wanted with regards to my age and lifestyle. My BCBS insurance refused to pay for the surgery. The cost would have been $150,000+ for the ADR, plus I needed to have an additional surgery on my L5/S1. I was beside myself and became desperate for pain relief.
I too heavily researched all the options and decided to go with option #4. I chose to travel to Cyprus to have my ADR done. My local surgeon, Dr. Peterson, told me about a program he was involved in. Basically, I would have all my pre-op stuff done here at home. We would then fly to Cyprus and have the surgery done there, and then he'd to all my follow up care once I went home.
I wasn't sold at first, but I knew I couldn't deal with the pain too much longer. I got the maximum payout from the woman's insurance company ($100,000 although my lawyer got to have her 1/3) and then started pricing ADR surgeries overseas.
I knew that Europe was ideal for the ADRs. I looked into Spain, Germany, and England, but decided that Cyprus was the best bang for the buck. I was quoted an ADR price of 30,000 Euros. That included my surgery, medications, and my stay and all meals in a 5 star hotel for my husband and I. Also, part of the program that the surgery was under included visits to ancient ruins and cities, shopping trips, and any sight seeing that I wanted to do. My "guide" was the most wonderful person. She was British Cypriot and so she translated for me. She has a proper British accent, so she was easy to understand We became such good friends that I still Skype her once a month.
All the other countries were 40,000 Euros and up when I priced them. I also wanted to go someplace warm and sunny to recover. It was beautiful 80-85 degree weather and it was amazing!! The food was delicious and the people were wonderful. Since Cyprus is a former British colony, almost everyone speaks English as a second language. We were able to get around because the bus line was really easy to use and there were plentiful and cheap taxis everywhere. All the signs are in English, so it was easy to find out where I wanted to go. The people were really easy going, and accommodating. I swam/floated in the Mediterranean prior to my surgery, got a lovely suntan, and gorged myself on the most delicious baklava I have ever tasted.
Since Cyprus is part of the EU they have to meet certain standards. The hospital that I used was one year old and was impressive. It was all state of the art and super clean. I had a private room and my own little TV. I will say that the hospital food wasn't too bad either. I was out the next morning and back in my beautiful hotel room. My surgeon, Dr. Peterson, checked on me before and after the surgery and talked with my husband about everything. It was just like being back home.
I would be more than happy to tell you more about my experience and the program I used, if you want to know more.