The surprise bill stemmed from the hospital’s chargemaster rate, but the hospital did not provide this information to the patient before her surgery. The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that a woman is not liable for her $229,000 surprise bill from a Centura Health hospital, as the hospital did not disclose the amount to her before the procedure. Lisa Melody French received spinal surgery at St. Anthony North Hospital in Westminster, Colorado, in 2014. The hospital initially estimated that the surgery would cost $57,601, with French responsible for paying $1,337 out-of-pocket. But the cost increased to $229,112 following the surgery. According to the court document, the new price tag reflected Centura’s full chargemaster rates for the surgery. Additionally, Centura determined that it had misread French’s insurance card and she was an out-of-network patient. French was left with the nearly $230,000 bill after her insurance paid $73,597 of the new charge, which was over $300,000. Fren...
