[singletracker]

I had a cervical TDR in May 2010. Everything was preauthorized by the insurance, and I confirmed that the hospital was in my network, as well as, the surgeon. The only problem is that the surgeon's office visits were only covered as in-network at one of his office locations.

Long story short, the insurance paid as it should on everything until the surgeons bill came due. The primary surgeon and the assistant surgeon (also a neurosurgeon) billed out at the same amount. The insurance only paid about 25% of the assistant surgeons bill, which left me with an unexpected $8,700 bill. I didn't even know there was going to be a second surgeon involved. They also considered the primary surgeon as out-of-network, which raised my out-of-pocket maximum by $1,000. Total unexpected charge of $9,700. The insurance wouldn't budge, so the surgeons gave me a break and wiped out the remaining $9,700. I think the primary reasons were because they new everything had been preauthorized, the second surgeon was probably being trained on the ADR and they actually care about their patients. What a relief!