We just got an out of network bill for an assistant surgeon at an in network hospital for thousands of dollars - close to five figures. Never heard of the guy, never saw him, didn't know he existed until we got the bill. It was a relatively minor follow up outpatient surgery and so far he has billed our insurance double what the main operating surgeon (the person we actually met and knew was out of network going in) agreed to bill us. And who knows how many of these surprise out of network bills at an in network hospital will keep rolling in.
I am sure the insurance company will pay at last some and I'll negotiate the bill down much further, but it is really depressing that a system even exists where sticker shock like this can happen. This is on top of the over $6K out of pocket max and extra we agreed to pay for a an out of network specialist. No wonder for average Joe's medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. (62%).
One of our relatives was asking me to help recently with picking the right policy for travel insurance for a foreign country and I can't even relate to what is enough insurance in almost any other country in the developed world because the U.S charges for everything are so crazy high in comparison, like this chart:
21 Graphs that Show U.S. Health Care Costs are Ludicrous
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ow-americas-health-care-prices-are-ludicrous/