[Noah930]

You get billed by the various parties involved in the procedure: surgeon, facility, and anethesiologist. Those are the big three charges you'll incur. If you had a pre-op clearance or labwork or chest x-ray, those might be billed by the various providers (internist, lab, radiology service, and radiologist) as well. As you can see, you might get 4 or 5 or 6 separate bills. And each provider honestly has no idea what the other providers charge. Maybe ballpark guestimates, but no solid idea. You'll have to deal/negotiate with each bill separately.

I understand your position as the consumer, asking the question of "what's the tab gonna be?" It's a bit ridiculous and disjointed that there aren't clearer ideas on costs PRIOR to the service being rendered. As a surgeon, I try to warn patients about these things beforehand, and let them do their due diligence.