<prompt> Human: Like the title says, i recently had surgery at an in network surgical center, i verified with my insurance company. I just received a bill in the mail from an anesthesiology services company for 2,700 out of the blue. Apparently the surgery center outsourced the anesthesia and now my insurance is footing me the bill far larger than i can currently afford since i just paid for the surgery. Is there a way to negotiate the cost down so that it is something that i can budget to pay? Edit to add informationI live in Pennsylvania. I called insurance company and they are refiling the claim. Could take up to 2 weeksCalling the surgical center shortly. I will continue to updateEdit2When asking for the cash rate should I have them mail me a new bill with agreed upon amount or pay it over the phoneweb?  <response>: Absolutely. This is sneaky bullshit on the part of the surgical center and anesthesiologist. It is immoral in some states illegal, and they know exactly what they are doing. Unfortunately you are going to have to fight with them. Hopefully you have a professional you can lean on. Are your health benefits through your employer? If so, talk to HR about your problem and get in touch with your companys broker. If they are halfway decent, they will be happy to fight this for you and have plenty of experience with situations like yours.Ultimately whoever is billing you that 2,700 needs to drop the cost ENTIRELY. You should not pay a dime of that. They need to accept what they have received as payment in full. Worst case scenario should be agreeing to an amount less than half of the total and paying that amount over a year without interest. Dont go easy on the bastards though. Take no guff.EDIT: As another poster pointed out, sometimes your insurance company will take care of this for you and get the claim processed as in-network. In that case, they would be the ones getting the provider to agree to what ought to be their contracted rates. It might take awhile on the phone to get to the right person. 