It's important to point out that in California, if you are treated "out of network" AND your health insurer is an HMO (such as Kaiser), you WILL NOT receive a s

It's important to point out that in California, if you are treated "out of network" AND your health insurer is an HMO (such as Kaiser), you WILL NOT receive a surprise bill (see https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-supreme-court/1001051.html https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ca-supreme-court/1001051.html). Anecdotally, our family have been Kaiser members for nearly 25 years, and we've NEVER been party to a billing dispute. Perhaps Kaiser fights with SF General or other ER providers, but they thankfully keep their members out of it. Finally, my yearly cost to remain with Kaiser tends to be about 10% less than our company's other PPO options.