With the changes in insurance due to ACA, is it normal procedure

[Frustratedlady]

for the hospital to ask a large co-pay up front?

A friend's daughter is having surgery for a tumor. She has been undergoing treatments to reduce the tumor and they will do the surgery in a couple weeks.

The hospital notified her she'd have to pay $2000 before the surgery. I've never heard of that. Also, her co-pay was raised from $25 to $85. This is insurance through her school system.

Has ACA changed procedures or have you always had to pay part of the co-pay upfront?

[taught_me_patience]

1. Co-pay is always paid upfront

If not, there is no more incentive to pay AFTER the procedure. Collection rates are pretty low. I just had surgery and had a $500 hospital co-pay. Usually the hospital will discuss payments a week or so before the scheduled procedure.

[Frustratedlady]

2. OK, I wasn't aware of that. Her mother is blaming ACA.

Since she is against most everything Obama, I wanted to check to see if it really had anything to do with the fee up front.