This was definitely the policy as early as 2020.
My brother had a scheduled shoulder surgery and had to pre-pay for his scans, a portion of the surgery suite (INOVA Loudoun), and a portion of the surgeon's fee. This was not co-insurance or a copay that his insurance policy had for these procedures... but having to pre-pay IS essentially a copay. I think total, OOP, he had to pay $4k. How many people in our area cannot afford to pay that OOP? And he has very good insurance. He doesn't pay anything for two meds he takes, my SIL has her GLP-1 fully covered, and all the supplies and insulin their T1D son needs are fully covered. I wish my kid's T1D supplies were fully covered! What a luxury that would be.
Anyway, I had emergency surgery, also in 2020 at the same hospital (INOVA Loudoun), and while they did not charge my card, they did need to do a pre-auth (believe that's what it's called) on it to make sure I did have the ability to pay. I was on pain meds but my mom, who was with me at the time, confirmed that I signed paperwork where I acknowledged that the portion I could be responsible for was $6k and I could pay. Seems like that wouldn't stand up in court, honestly. In the end, the total bill for my surgery was $42k and my insurance covered all except for $2100. INOVA billing sent me an alert after my surgery that the card that was pre-authorized would be charged $2100 on X date. Call blah blah if I needed to switch cards or make other arrangements.
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