I had an arthroscopic knee surgery years ago at an out patient surgery place. They called me the night before surgery at 4:30pm to tell me they “are out of network, but bill as ‘in network’” if that makes any sense. They said the surgery was going to be an extra $500 I had to bring in with me the next day.

My wife’s friend works in insurance and told me that they did that on purpose. They knew I had already taken the time off for surgery and was mentally prepared, and they were banking on me not wanting to cancel the surgery at that point.