Back surgery saved him from paralysis. Then the bills arrived: over $650,000 [View all]

[tenderfoot]

Frank Esposito says it started last March with unrelenting back pain. He could barely move, and an MRI soon showed a bulge in his spine. A specialist told him to go to the closest hospital — immediately.

Doctors at the emergency room said he needed surgery. The herniation was so severe it could cut his nerve, Esposito said, and render him paralyzed.

The surgery was a success, but then the bills started coming: over $650,000 in all.

His insurance company said his back surgery didn't qualify as an emergency and wasn't medically necessary.

<snip>

Carroll added: "I think people have an assumption, right or wrong, that insurance is going to protect them. That's why if we pay that much, we think we're going to be covered, and we're not going to see that surprise bill. So, when you do, people are shocked."

Esposito has already taken $49,000 from his retirement savings. He hired a company to negotiate down some of his bills. After appeals, Esposito's insurer, Oxford United Healthcare, did pay some of his doctors' bills. But he still owes $220,000 — CBS News is still waiting for a response to questions about that balance.

"You work all your life. You work to buy a house. You work to have a house," he said. "You have to save up for everything. We would like to be able to know that we can go to the doctor, that we can get healthy, that we can get taken care of without losing everything we have."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/back-surgery-saved-him-from-paralysis-then-the-bills-arrived-over-650000/