I recently had an appendectomy. It was 40k according to the hospital. My insurance negotiated 27k of that down to 3k(3k is my policy max for an appendectomy app

I recently had an appendectomy. It was 40k according to the hospital. My insurance negotiated 27k of that down to 3k(3k is my policy max for an appendectomy apparently) and then left me to pay for the other 13k. In the end, my insurance paid 3k and I paid 13k. The initial bill is written knowing that some people won't pay, some will get huge discounts, and others will get stiffed with the entire thing. The discount is far from guaranteed--even with insurance. The problem is you have no idea what kind of terms that Hotels Club card gives you. I had no idea what my insurance deemed is the maximum reasonable charge for an appendectomy, how much the hospital would bill, etc. If I knew how much my hospital was going to bill I would have passed on certain procedures. For example, I would have saved $800 by not having a CT...which is actually acceptable care if you have enough clinical symptoms of appendicitis(and I did). I would have also refused an overnight stay and left immediately after the operation.