Is it common practice for a hospital to require payment for a surgery up front even when the co-pay is several thousand dollars?

Answer 1

Yes, this is becoming more and more common. Hospitals do not want to be the collection agency for these large amounts of money. My husband recently had back surgery. The bill for a 48 hour stay was $131,000 dollars. This was not the physician's charge, the anesthesiologist's charge, or the radiologist's charge. He was Medicare, his deductible and coinsurance for the hospital bill was $1057.00. He was called on Monday before the Friday scheduled surgery and requested to pay that amount by phone. He did.

This is becoming more and more common, and a good reason for employees to really look at their benefit packages and make sure that for high deductible policies they are using their Health Care Spending Accounts wisely.