For years, Ely Bair dealt with migraine headaches, jaw pain and high blood pressure, until a dentist recommended surgery to realign his jaw to get to the root of his health problems.
The fix would involve two surgeries over a couple of years and wearing braces on his teeth before and in between the procedures.
Bair had the first surgery, on his upper jaw, in 2018 at Swedish Medical Center, First Hill Campus in Seattle. The surgery was covered by his Premera Blue Cross plan, and Bair鈥檚 out-of-pocket hospital expense was $3,000.
He changed jobs in 2019 but still had Premera health insurance. In 2020, he had the planned surgery on his lower jaw at the same hospital where he鈥檇 been treated the first time. The surgery went well, and he spent one night in the hospital before being discharged. He was healing well and beginning to see the benefits of the surgeries.
Then the bill arrived.
The Patient: Ely Bair, 35, a quality assurance analyst. He has a Premera Blue Cross health plan through his job at a biotech firm in Seattle.
Total Bill: Swedish Medical Center billed Bair $27,119 for the second surgery in July 2020. This was Bair鈥檚 share of the negotiated rate, after the hospital took $14,310 off the charge. His insurer paid $5,000. Bair owed additional bills to the surgeon and the anesthesiologist.
Service Provider: in Seattle, part of the largest nonprofit health system in the Seattle area, which is affiliated with , a major Catholic health care network.
What Gives: Bair hit two maddening health system pitfalls here: He expected his new plan to behave like his previous one from the same insurer 鈥 and he expected his mouth to be treated like the rest of his body. Neither commonsense notion appears true in America鈥檚 health system.
Typically, large companies, such as Bair鈥檚 employers, 鈥渟elf insure,鈥 meaning they pay their workers鈥 health costs but use insurance companies to maintain provider networks and handle claims. When Bair changed jobs, his insurance coverage changed even though both employers used Premera. Bair paid $3,000 for his first surgery because that was the out-of-pocket maximum under his plan from his previous employer, which covered oral and maxillofacial surgery.
Bair expected that using the same hospital and the same insurance carrier would mean his costs would be similar for part two of his treatment. Bair鈥檚 oral and maxillofacial surgeon 鈥 the same doctor who performed the first procedure 鈥 checked Bair鈥檚 benefits through his insurer鈥檚 online portal and thought it would be covered. Premera also sent his doctor confirmation agreeing that the second procedure was medically necessary.
About three months after the surgery, Bair was shocked to get the large hospital bill 鈥 about $24,000 higher than he expected.
When he called Premera, he learned his new plan had a $5,000 lifetime limit on coverage for the reconstructive jaw procedure known as orthognathic surgery, which is sometimes regarded as a dental rather than a medical intervention. His doctor said that information was not noted in Bair鈥檚 benefits when the practice reviewed them through an online portal. Premera told Bair he should have known about the limit because it was listed in his detailed, hard-copy, 86-page member-benefit booklet.
The Affordable Care Act in 2014 eliminated lifetime and annual caps on insurance coverage for categories of treatment such as prescription drugs, laboratory services and mental health care. While the ACA lists broad categories about what is considered an 鈥渆ssential health benefit,鈥 each state decides which services are included in each category and the scope or duration that must be offered. Bariatric surgery, physical therapy and are examples of care for which insurance coverage can vary a lot by state under . Orthognathic surgery is not considered an . It is sometimes performed for cosmetic purposes only. Also, plans sometimes regard the surgery as part of orthodontia 鈥 which frequently involves limits on coverage. But for Bair, it was a clear medical necessity.
Without an ACA requirement for orthognathic surgery, Premera and self-insured plans are allowed to provide various levels of benefits and can impose annual and lifetime caps.
Premera spokesperson Courtney Wallace said Bair transferred from a plan with his former company that did not have a lifetime maximum to a plan with a $5,000 lifetime maximum benefit.
Martine Brousse, a patient advocate and owner of , which helps patients with health care billing disputes, said Bair acted appropriately by using a doctor and hospital in his health plan鈥檚 network and checking with his doctor about his insurance coverage.
She said Swedish should have told him before the surgery 鈥 which was planned weeks ahead of time 鈥 how much he would have to pay. 鈥淭hat is a failure on part of the hospital,鈥 she said.
Sabrina Corlette, co-director of the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms, said it doesn鈥檛 seem fair that his first employer covered the cost of his surgery but the second employer did not. She said the $27,000 bill seemed excessive and the $5,000 lifetime limit very low. 鈥淓ssential health benefits serve a really important function, and when there are gaps or holes people can really get hurt,鈥 she said.
Resolution: Bair鈥檚 doctor told him the hospital charge was at least three times the amount Swedish charges uninsured patients for the same surgery. Bair said Swedish offered to let him pay the bill over two years but did not make any other concessions.
Swedish would not say why it did not verify Bair鈥檚 insurance benefits before the surgery or let him know he would face an enormous bill even though he was insured.
鈥淗ospital pricing is complex and nuanced,鈥 Swedish officials said in a statement. Bair鈥檚 bill 鈥渨as inclusive of all the care he received, which included specialized services and expertise, equipment and the operating room time. He had a jaw procedure that had a maximum benefit from his insurer of $5,000. He was billed the balance not covered by his insurer.鈥
The hospital system said it also has an that generates estimates tailored to patients鈥 coverage and choice of hospital.
The online tool did not come up with anything on the term 鈥渙rthognathic surgery,鈥 however.
Bair appealed three times to Premera to reconsider its decision to cover only $5,000 of the cost of his procedure. But the insurer rejected each one saying he had exhausted his lifetime orthognathic surgery benefit and he was responsible for any additional care. When Swedish wouldn鈥檛 lower his cost, he filed a complaint in December 2020 with the state attorney general鈥檚 office.
A few months later, Swedish reduced Bair鈥檚 bill from over $27,000 to $7,164.
鈥淏ecause neither the patient nor his provider was aware of this limitation in coverage prior to the procedure, the surgeon advocated on the patient鈥檚 behalf to get the bill lowered,鈥 the hospital told KHN in a statement.
Bair agreed to pay the lower amount. 鈥淭he bill is at least a much more manageable number than the financial ruin $27,000 would have been,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 am just looking forward to closing this chapter and moving on.鈥
His surgeon, who helped him fight the hospital bill and limited insurance coverage, reduced his bill to $5,000 from $10,000, Bair said.
Bair said his employer, Adaptive Biotechnologies, is looking into eliminating its $5,000 lifetime limit for the procedure when it is medically necessary.
Since the surgery, Bair said he gets far fewer migraine headaches and his high blood pressure has been reduced. 鈥淚 feel way more energized,鈥 he said.
The Takeaway: When facing a planned surgery, talk to your hospital, doctor and insurer about how much of the bill you will be responsible for 鈥 and get it in writing before any procedure.
鈥淚n theory, you should be able to rely on your provider to confirm your coverage but, in practice, it is in your best interest to call your insurer yourself,鈥 Corlette said.
Even though the ACA eliminated lifetime and annual caps on coverage, that applies only to services deemed essential in a patient鈥檚 state. Be aware that certain surgeries 鈥 like jaw surgery 鈥 lie in a gray area; insurers might not consider them a necessary medical intervention or even a medical procedure at all. Corlette said health plans should notify patients when they are closing in on lifetime or annual limits, but that doesn鈥檛 always happen.
Also, be aware that even though your insurance carrier may stay the same after switching jobs, your benefits could be quite different.
Kudos to Bair for being a proactive patient and appealing to the state attorney general 鈥 which got him a positive result.
Stephanie O鈥橬eill contributed the audio profile with this report.
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