But the current study offers fresh evidence that surprise bills can arrive even after people plan ahead and schedule procedures where their benefits should be accepted, researchers note in JAMA. In more than one-third of cases when patients got surprise bills, a surgical assistant or anesthesiologist was the source. Surprise out-of-network bills averaged $3,633 when surgical assistants didn’t accept patients’ insurance and $1,219 when anesthesiologists were the ones out-of-network, the study found. Surgical complications made surprise bills more likely, resulting in unexpected bills 28% of the time, compared with 20% when operations went off without problems. And people shouldn’t just pay the surprise bills without protest.

Source: National Post February 11, 2020 21:11 UTC