>I'm not going to have a surgery... because nobody can tell me what the cost would be. Exactly this! I thought having my friend appeal to the provider's intere

>I'm not going to have a surgery... because nobody can tell me what the cost would be. Exactly this! I thought having my friend appeal to the provider's interest in being paid might spur them to figure it out. Surprise! It didn't. Even when explicitly mentioning that the point of asking for this information was to ensure that (s)he had the $$ to pay them, the provider('s billing team) still balked at being asked to figure out out of pocket cost(s). When (s)he threatened to cancel the procedure, they just said "Fine." (s)He tried w/another provider, who was a little more diligent in trying to figure things out, but the best that they could do was figure out that the insurance company would approve the procedure, and what some of the involved parties were billing. Mind you, (s)he was actually dealing with the hospital where the procedure was to be performed. But of course, since all of the people involved are not hospital staff, they "can't" figure out everything. It's all ridiculous and the result of bad policy and planning. On a separate note, I once noticed a billing error. When I called the insurance company to ask if they had any standards/definition for what constitutes delivery of a particular service/procedure, the rep said, "No. We just look at the amount charged and pay if it makes sense."