One tip: always make every final effort to stay IN NETWORK with a US health coverage policy. If the costs amount to $200,000, well that certainly does suggest that this top pro that everyone loves so much was a fool and never signed up for any coverage at all. But if you go out of network on a stripped down insurance policy, you can be stuck with GIANT coinsurance expenses. There was recently a guy in Miami who got billed $5,000 for a simple outpatient sleep apnea test after his insurance paid the hospital $4,900 (on a test that cost the hospital about $1,000 to do). The magic question the loved one should ask when you are wheeled in the door: “Is he IN-NETWORK at this hospital? By law, insurance is required to pay EVERYTHING above an out-of-pocket maximum if you are in network, and there is a definite limit on how high those out-of-pocket maximums can go. Also, life time maximums are no longer legal on any policy.
