After an accident in an all-terrain vehicle crushed a doctor's left arm, he was whisked by air ambulance to the closest trauma center for specialized care. Soon he was fighting over the $56,603 bill.
Gaps in a wide-ranging law covering employee benefits can blindside consumers whose health coverage is provided by company and union health plans that pay claims out of their own funds.
A survey by the research group NORC at the University of Chicago shows 57 percent of American adults have been surprised by a health care bill that their insurance didn't pay for.
"I don't feel any consumer should have to go through this," says Drew Calver, of the huge surprise bill he got from an Austin hospital after his 2017 heart attack. He's worried about other patients.
An insured Texas teacher, 44, faces a "balance bill" of almost twice his annual salary from an out-of-network hospital's treatment of his sudden heart attack.
A young grad student worked out a way to pay for life-changing gender-confirmation surgery. But she still had to fight to resolve a billing discrepancy that ran into the tens of thousands of dollars.
After surgery for separate hand injuries, a father and son endured lengthy occupational therapy, which their insurer considered to be an alternative treatment. The family owed more than $8,500.
The latest installment in our Bill of the Month series about a huge bill for four orthopedic screws drew lots of responses from readers and listeners. Some had ideas for improving the health system.